Show 0 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart national press ra building Wax washington hington D C washington certain signs of transition or anre e appearing in the political picture they tibey are third party b becoming e co m I 1 n g clear rumblings gs enough to deserve attention what they may mean in the ultimate eon can be made only the subject of a guess politics being what they are but interesting circumstances can be noted as of this day and time third party rumblings gs are beginning to be beard along the whole political front this Is noteworthy because third party rumblings gs usually are confined to a few sectors some important some unimportant the insurgents radicals progressives progress ives and independents all seem to be eTh mining the political horizons of 1930 1930 roughly those factions enumerated have been classifier classified as the sons of the wild jackass an appellation given them by george U H moses of new hampshire when he be was filling a republican seat scat in the united states senate the fact that they remain and that mr air moses has passed out of the political picture Is not the point it was his description of them that gave the country its first grouping of the political factions that have consistently kicked over the traces of the major political parties the fact that these various groups are again examining the potentialities and the possibilities of 1930 1936 brings directly into question the progress made by the new deal in its program of reformation or revolution depending on the political perspective from which you consider the new deal it Is two years since president roosevelt carried his new deal into the white house much water has haa gone over the dam since many experiments peri ments have been tried and many have failed doubtless considerable progress of a satisfactory form has resulted yet tet the sons of the wild i jackass are not satisfied it ma may y be because mr roosevelt has c ceased C ased to pull so many white rabbits out of a hat after the fashion of a magician that has caused unaffiliated factions so much disturbance or it may be because the republicans as ta the e opposition party at present have been utterly stymied in their efforts to perform opposition functions that have proved the temptation for the so called left wingers to capitalize whatever political opportunities remain for exploitation P lol tation I 1 think it Is the general conclusion that the new deal has not come up to expectations of the left wingers perhaps it might be said that nothing that the new dealers can offer will be quite satisfactory to the left aln wingers ers for they are difficult to satisfy their fertile minds are even more productive of experimental ideas than are the minds even of the brain tr usters and no one has ever said a brain trust mind was not fertile at any rate the circumstance Is cut and dried and an abundance of material tor for a third party awaits us by that type of politician observers here agree that one cannot consider the outlook for 1936 and the national elections of that time without considering the influence that these left wingers may wield I 1 believe it Is conceded everywhere that if mr roosevelt succeeds in leading the country through to a higher level of prosperity than now graces our fortunes the republican chances to defeat him ure tire very very low it if on the other hand band conditions continue as they aliey now are sir mr roosevelt certainly Is going to have to battle this progressive setup set up to adopt one label for all of them as well as the conservative group centering largely in the republicans from this it becomes plain that a third party probably would draw away from mr roosevelt all of those radicals and liberals who would go beyond his policies while the republicans public ans obviously will hold their own conservative strength and sap the roosevelt forces to some extent by taking conservative independents from that side all in all it if the third party idea comes through we can look for a fine political scramble from july to november of the 1938 1936 campaign the progressives progress res ives including such men as lafollette of wisconsin norris of nebra nebraska sk a and need hero wheeler of montana leader to name ame only three seem to feel that the new deal program has about jelled belled they know as all political observers know that there are a good many hundred thousand votes scattered around waiting to be cast in favor of a program much more radical than that to which mr roosevelt lias has been willing to agree but the progressives progress ives have a distinct problem of their own it Is an entire absence of an outstanding leader of the hero type who can sound the trumpet and call for the to follow me in e my inquiries among all veins of political opinion have given me no clue to the name of an individual who can head up lip the movement As I 1 said above however boever results cannot be predicted now and one must add to that statement also that one cannot guess at the leadership of this new movement because it will have to jell further furt lier before that leadership appears on the horizon it Is even possible that these current third party rumblings gs will mean no BO more than they have in many cases this Is true because there in the past sight roos roosevelt evelt in theodore is not a at the niom moment cot and some astute poll clans insist there Is not hot one ne in the country if a man of the late teddy teddye should co one 1016 to tb type and qualities probably this third party surface t then hen movement would develop into formidable proportions if one does not show up I 1 do not see how the progressives progress ives will III he be any more in than the scattered fragments of a dozen odd political philosophies of the circumstances that brings us to some cum curn stances in congress at the present I 1 have reported time in previous letters to you that there were signs indicating difficulties for 1 mr roosevelt in boillin br homing illin his gigantic democratic majorities jori ties trig together gether in the house and senate that condition has become somewhat more aggravated than it appeared when I 1 first commented upon it there have been minor defections breaking loose from the democratic majority in the house and in the senate with nith considerable frequency on one or two occasions the defections were exceedingly large and when joined with the republican minor minority ity were almost large enough to constitute the majority strength the democratic leadership has wriggled out thereby saving its skin but the margin of safety was such as to cause sleepless nights not only in the cap capitol itol but in high places in the administration As one of the signs of this growing discontent one lias has only to look back over the last few weeks and observe the continued prodding being given the administration from the democratic side the worst phase of this prodding Is the apparent willingness of many democratic representatives and senators to promote investigations there Is a faction in congress all claiming to be good democrats who are on the trail of seek Far parleys leys postmaster general scalp I harleys farleys Far leys scalp there is another bloc of equally good democrats who would be quite happy to have secretary ickes ousted out of the position of secretary of the interior and who squawked loud and ion long about giving mr ickes control of the relief appropriation pria tion within the last few days a gang has banded together on the trail 11 of donald until recently the man who was closest of any in the administration to the president to add to mr Rich bergs troubles lie he is on the outs with the american federation of labor and it must be said that the federation can do a great deal with many members of the house and senate so when the legislation for continuance of the national recovery administration gets on the floors of congress I 1 think it Is likely this group will tear on off some bark governor eccles of the federal reserve bureau a rather new new dealer and a fast thinker has not helped the administrations situation to in congress any by his bank NIL bill lie has hag antagonized the most virulent fighter in the halls of congress namely senator glass democrat of virginia by the banking proposals which he sponsored senator glass lias has always had a following in the senate and he has it now whatever he does therefore his leadership will be import important an t because he will have not on only ay his 01 own n following but the conservative republicans as well the banking legislation according to the view in many quarters may turn out to be the focal point the issue on which the line of cleavage between the administration new dealers and the conservatives will be definitely established in discussing congressional troubles for the administration no one dares overlook the stocky As A to figure of senator huey long nucy huey long huey just does not like mr roosevelt in fact iiley bluey would like to be president himself political ambitions combined with a vitriolic tongue give huey a broad platform upon which to perform and unless I 1 miss my guess he be Is willing to be increasingly crea reIn singly gly troublesome to the administration nuey huey knows that the administration Is going to overlook no do opportunity for harpooning him angioi the executive departments in one hears hints and sometimes more than hints that nuey huey Is vulnerable and that these weaknesses in his armor will be exposed in due course how much steam the administration can or will turn on Is highly problematical it must be remembered that if for ex ample attorney general cummings cummon a should authorize or direct any ae ac tion against huey the louisiana senator immediately would capitalize those orders as an administration movement to persecute him in other words the administration Is I 1 in n a spot where it can easily make a martyr out of huey the result of that would be to strengthen hueys hues position im measurably I 1 am told that any fight ing back on the part of the adminis adal als tra tr atlon tion in so far as huey long is concerned la Is going to be given long ion ind and serious consideration bemuse huey is a political bombshell 0 western newspaper union |