AMERICAN ISSUES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20065, 11 October 1939, Page 3

AMERICAN ISSUES

RISF, OF REPUBLICANS PARTY NEEDING A POLICY THE TWELVE POINTS During the first four years of the Roosevelt regime the United States was to all effects and purposes a oneparty country, writes the American correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. The Democratic or New | Deal Party seemed all-inclusive. It overwhelm ignly dominated all branches of the Federal Government, save the Supreme Court itself. Republicans were so far in eclipse that they ceased to be a factor in national'affairs. Most of them voted as regularly and consistently for the Roosevelt policies as did the Democrats —so much so that there was no Republican record upOm which Governor Alf. M. Landon could make a campaign in 1936. He had to blaze his own way. Th.e result, of course, was that Mr. Roosevelt was re-elected by the vote of all but two American States (the State is the unit of voting in the American electoral college). Vermont and Maine alone remained faithful to the party which had dominated the country from 1861 to 1933, leaving out the Cleveland and Wilson Administrations. After 1936, however, signs of Republican revival were apparent in many quarters of the country. Resistance to Mr. Roosevelt, timid and ineffectual at first, grew bolder, more vocal, more purposeful. This opposition, inspired in large measure by .recalcitrancy in the Democratic Party, increased in strength until the 1938 Congressional elections. It gained heavily in those contests, without, however, coming within a mile of taking control of cither the House or Senate. Its most signal achievement was the capture of more than a dozen State Governorships. Republicanism Alive Events since 1936 have proved that the Republican Party is not dead. It was demoralised ar.d dismayed; it had long suffered from acute defeatism; but there was life in the old organisation. It had approximately 20,000,000 voters, if nothing more. And that is a good deal, though its twenty million remained a minority of the electorate. But for more than two- years after 1936, the Republicans were leaderlpss. They had developed no strong men either in Congress or outside. They have developed none since 1938 who are national in their prestige, their following, or their appeal. They have their Mr. Thomas E. Dewey, who ran for the Governorship of New York and was defeated. He is an attractive figure-, and an able one, but he remains a New Yorker. There is Senator Robert A. Taft, son of a former President, and a victor last year in the Democratic State of Ohio,' but he, too, is a provincial, and, what is more to the point is an avowed conservative. His name, but not his political personality, is known to the Country. But leadership has a way of coming to the front in a democracy when a given party calls for it. By 1940, when a new President is to be elected, it is a fair guess that, th.e Republicans will have a field with possible nominees. Where 1 the Republican opposition has been weakest throughout the whole of the six-year tenure of President Roosevelt is in the matter; ol policies. Without Any Eolicy For more than five of the six years it has been bankrupt on the side of policy. It seemed not to know what it stood for, land, taken by and large, it is still drifting. It is vaguely against the New Deal as a political ssytem, but its opposition lacks specifications. J The Republicans did the extra- 1 ordinary thing more than a year ago of appointing a committee under the chairmanship of Professor Glenn Frank, former President of .the University of Wisconsin, to decide just what the Republicans are for and what they are against. That committee has worked tirelessly in its effort to formulate a party platform, but none is yet forthcoming. The committee report has been held back largely through the pressure from Congressional spokesmen of the party. These spokesmen want no declarations at this time, whether binding or not upon Republican legislators. Their claim is that only a Republican National Convention can write a platform. But, realising the importance of having" some set of principles upon which to stand; some line of action that would give encouragement to the rank and file of the party, Republicans in Congress have drawn up a set of pronouncements which is to serve as a substitute for a platform until the next convention can meet and act.

Mr. Joseph W. Martin, jun., of Massachusetts, leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, has put forward these “objectives” in the name of his party associates. They have become known as the Republican "Twelve Points,” and are being proclaimed wherever and whenever minority leadership can gain' a hearing. The Twelve Points These Twelve Points are; — Keep the United States out of war. Move immediately to curb unnecessary, wasteful, and reckless spending. Repeal the repressive tax on undistributed corporate earnings, which has proved harassing and dangerous to' business, large and small. Revise the remainder of the Federal tax structure to eliminate or modify provisions retarding business recovery. Repeal the dangerous discretionary authority which the President now has over the monetary system. Amend the National Labour Relations Act by clarifying the mutual obligations of worker and employer and tile duties of botli towards the public in order to end present paralysing discord. Define specifically tin- area of Government competition witii private enterprise so that business may be able to create jobs, with some certainty as to the future. Restore American markets to the fanner and wage-earner and develop new markets for agricultural products. Adopt immediately legislation to rehabilitate the railroads to make secure the jobs of many hundreds of thousands of workers and the investments of savings banks and life insurance companies. Create a special committee of Congress to inquire into the effect of the Reciprocal Trade Agreement policy on American industry and agriculture. Clarify Federal rules and regula-

lions so industry and business may know what to expect. Reject ail experimental legislation not. clearly helpful in promoting recovery. or which would subject agriculture, labour, or industry to compulsory decrees in a Federal bureaucracy. There is not much that is aflrmative about these objectives. is proposed that one regards as specific or concrete. But the Twelve Points come much nearer giving the Republican Party an intermediate platform than any other declaration that has come from the present party leadership. The party already has decided to reverse the practice of more than 50 years by holding its next national convention after instead of before the convention of the Democrats. That is a strategic decision, and probably a clever one.