Show 0 v national topics interpreted by william bruckart wa washington D C Nation lloil si press building washington I 1 believe it was president grover cleveland who made t the h e very president e p i 1 g r a mcatic on the spot statement ment that 1 I will take care of my enemies but please save me effrom sove sov my friends e the distin f rui shed democrat mr cleveland recognized one of the gravest dangers that besets politicians and it was in this connection that he made the famous remark lately I 1 have been thinking that president roosevelt is getting into the spot if indeed he is not already behind the eight ball where le he must have some protection from bis friends he faces a condition with which some observers fear he may not be able to deal as successfully as has been his record the thing that lias has put mr roosevelt in a bad political spot is the outburst of gov george H earle of pennsylvania governor earle it was who burst forth recently with a declaration that mr roosevelt must bruin run for a third term there are p alno no men in the democratic party or any other party who reach knee high stature mentally or morally to franklin D roosevelt according to governor earles appraisal of the present executive governor earles record in pennsylvania is that of an avid new dealer he has followed the roosevelt footsteps in every specification and he has maintained a constant gunfire of chatter in m support of the president and his policies the activities of the pennsylvania governor have been so constant that it led one observer to remark the other day that governor earle apparently ly wanted to be the first man on the roosevelt bandwagon for 1940 2940 this of course had reference to the priority given in political appointments point ments after mr roosevelt became president to those democrats who had been supporters of mr roosevelt before the chicago convention that nominated him but instead of being flattered by the pronouncement by the agile pennsylvania governor I 1 hear from authentic sources that the president was somewhat embarrassed certainly a good many of the new deal wheel horses are embarrassed because they can see hot hom tarle declaration may be used to explode various things politically as mr roosevelt goes through his current term however that picture may develop the fact remains that no dent ever has served a third term in the united states it is a precedent established by george washington and rigidly adhered to thus to have my friend george declare mr roosevelt in the market for a third term at this particular time constitutes a bad political error this is true because at the moment there are more cries of personal dictatorship being voiced in this country than has happened since congress gave the president all of the e extraordinary poi powers vers that he holds there is however another side to the story concerning governor n earle there are playing many who do not politics believe governor earle is stupid politically these persons hold the conviction that the pennsylvania governor knows exactly what he is doing in promoting mr roosevelt for a third term at this time their reasoning is to the effect that it will be im impossible isible to and reelect resident president roosevelt for a third time however much the president may want the job again this same group contends that it would be fatal to the liberal movement loverne nt for mr roosevelt to take any steps in this direction although there are a goodly number of people who a are re convinced that he wants to br break eak this s precedent as he has broken many others ethers in consequence according to this line of reasoning governor earle is is playing his own game of politics hoping that the lightning may strike governor earle of pennsylvania governor earle is promoting frank frankl lin roosevelt tor for the job that governor earle wants it is plain to see that by urging mation and reelection election reelection re of president roosevelt governor earle avoids the barbs and bludgeons that would be certain certai n to come his is way ithe if he were to admit that he Is s a in candidate date thus far i in n advance ot of 1940 someone suggested that the governor govern or wanted mr roosevelt to be the objective of the brick bats until that happy day wh when en the president would step aside a and rid label governor earle as the crown prince of the new deal 0 0 however in talking about 1940 there are baskets ful of men who M A a would be most many ny are willing t to dedicate willing their lives for four or eight years ys in 1 the tin white T house hous e that they could perform the great service of carrying on the principles jai laid d down by franklin roosevelt it will be a great sacrifice of course cours e for most ol of them to leave their present jobs and run for the presidency but a good many of them already have let it be known that they are prepared to make this terrific sacrifice in order to serve their country I 1 do not attempt to enumerate all of them in any discussion of current politics however one cannot ove overlook alook such men as henry wallace now secretary of agriculture or governor murphy of michigan or paul mcnutt now high commissioner for the united states to the philippine commonwealth one must not forget the ambitions of governor davey of ohio or senator barkley of kentucky all good new dealers and true then I 1 think one ought not omit reference to jesse jones chairman of the gigantic federal reconstruction finance corporation who would leave his vast business interests if necessary to serve in the white house nor would I 1 be fair to all of the budding candidates if I 1 omitted reference to john L lewis who has been claiming such yeoman service in behalf of the working men through the committee for industrial organization which is violently antagonistic to the american federation of labor mr lewis of course will deny that he ever intends to desert labor even for the presidency but there are a good many people who think that mr lewis has some little thought concealed in his heart something of a wish or a hope that he too might find himself in the direct path of the political lightning from the democratic national convention in 1940 I 1 do not know now nor do I 1 think anyone else knows what the relative strength is among these various gentlemen who are exhibiting signs of a willingness to serve the nation as the democratic candidate most of those who do me the honor of reading these columns undoubtedly have famous h had ad varying love feast ions as to why president roosevelt held the famous love feast on the island in chesapeake bay at the end of june from conversations with democratic friends in the house of representatives I 1 am quite convinced that not all of thoe who were invited to the jefferson island club for the meeting with the dent were happy over the results of course as everyone knows the three day session which the dent had with democrat senators and representatives was intended to placate all of the little ills and dis agre agreements cements that have arisen these congressmen with whom I 1 have dis cussed the affair were not so sure that the president accomplished his purpose but I 1 am quite convinced that the real purpose mr roosevelt had in in holding a love feast lies much deeper I 1 believe that he foresees the very difficulties that I 1 mentioned earlier namely the dangers of a full list of candidates for the norn nomination in 1940 mr roosevelt is too good a politician not to move early as leader of his party to protect against that sort of thing by dropping words in these free conferences and by making suggestions concerning the general political situation the president was enabled to approach the problem that he foresees without disclosing too much of his hand only time will tell how he has succeeded in the meantime one may properly call attention to the situation that has developed at the capitol particularly in the senate heretofore I 1 have mentioned several times that strained relations existed between the president and certain leaders in congress that condition has not improved to say the least indeed I 1 think it is very much worse probably vice president garner an and d senator robinson of arkansas and senator harrison of mississippi each will deny that which I 1 am about to say but knowledge of it is ii so general around the capitol in washington that a denial will not change my conviction unless I 1 have been reading political signs wrongly for 20 years I 1 am convinced that the strained relationship lation ship between the capitol and the white house now embraces vice president Fres president ident garner and senators robinson amson and harrison the vice president has done remarkable service in behalf of the new deal but I 1 never have beu believed eved that he was wholeheartedly whole heartedly in favor of all roosevelt policies senator robinson has served as majority leader and as such has carried the hod for the president on the floor of the senate day after day fighting for legislation which the president wanted and generally serving as mr Roosevel ts right hand at the capitol my own belief is that senator robinson would have c hanged changed many of the administration policies if he could have done so 80 without endangering dan gering the presidents leadership of the party much the same can be written about senator harrison who has served as th the e chairman of the senate finance committee c a powerful unit in carrying out new deal policies 0 western newspaper union |