Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1934. THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 25, 9 November 1934, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1934. THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

The Congressional elections that have just been held in the United States provide one of the great surprises of that nations political history, for the Republican party, for so long the stronger of the two principal sections, has been reduced to a strength below that of any period since its founding. Victory for the Democrats was predicted, the prophets finding ground for their belief in the result of the State elections in Maine in September, when a Democrat was re-elected Governor, the significance of this lying in the fact that for eighteen years before the last Presidential election the State had been unswervingly loyal to the Republican party. Another ground for predicting Democrat success was the difficulty the Republicans have experienced in raising funds for their campaign, a condition of affairs that in view of the circumstances of American contests may well be regarded as having contributed in more or less degree to the defeat of the party's candidates. The sweeping victory of the Democrats constitutes approval of the . " New Deal " formulated .by the President. The last Congress agreed to Mr Roosevelt's request that he be given unusual powers, in view of an obviously critical state of national affairs, and he manifested the utmost readiness to exercise them. This boldness was calculated to arouse public confidence, then woefully needed throughout the country. It did so, to a remarkable extent. Aside from the personal popularity of the President, the factor operating in favour of Mr Roosevelt's party is best summed up in the words of Mr Al Smith, onetime Democrat candidate for the Presidency: "Nobody wants to shoot Santa Claus," a reference to the public works and relief measures and to the patronage extended by the Government to millions of citizens. Apart from its immediate aspect of approval of the President's policy, the election is of importance in its relation to the future of the two great parties. Before Mr Roosevelt's advent there was little distinction between the political philosophies of Democrats and Republicans. To-day the sweeping victory gained by a party that, as stated in the cable news yesterday, embraces many shades of thought is regarded by many observers ' as carrying the possibility of a realignment of party systems A definite cleavage to right and left without regard to the old party labels is expected.