UNITED STATES ELECTIONS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21315, 7 November 1934, Page 11

UNITED STATES ELECTIONS

* democratic victory CERTAIN OLD PARTIES MAY BREAK UP L'NPRECE DENTEI.) SITUATION . POSSIBLE (t* KIT ED J'RCSS ASSOCIATION r;Y KLKCTRIU TELE'iBAFH —COrVUltillT.) (Received November (i, 5.50 p.m.) WASHINGTON, November 5. To-morrow 30,000,000 Americans will go to polls to elect 34 senators and the full membership of the House of Representatives. The consensus of opinion is that the Democrats will emerge with a two-thirds majority in the Senate and will possibly lose 30 seats in the House, a result which would be hailed as a hearty endorsement of the New Deal.

Apart 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 A 1 Smith, Democratic presidential candidate in 1928, "Nobody wants to shoot Santa Claus" —a reference to public works and relief measures and to the patronage extended by the Government to millions of citizens. With the Democratic majorities in both Houses a foregone conclusion, and conceding the possibility of a two-thirds majority in the House as well as in the Senate, the election may bring about an unprecedented situation here, namely, a Democratic president and senate with sufficient weight of party vote to ratify foreign treaties, and a House of Representatives Democratic to bring up whatever financial legislation the Administration may require. Possible Realignment A Roosevelt triumph of these proportions would possibly result in the realignment of party systems in the United States, observers believe. With many Republicans adhering, through belief or for reasons of policy, to the Roosevelt ideology, and with some conservative Democrats in opposition, it is not inconceivable that there may develop a definite cleavage to the Right and Left without regard to old party labels. Before Mr Roosevelt's advent, there was only a small actual distinction between the political philosophies of the Democrats and Republicans. While the New York "HeraldTribune," a Republican newspaper, refers to the election as the most important since the Civil War, possibly on the ground that it may mark the dissolution of the old-time Republican party, the fact that all observers concede a Democratic victory of some sort has taken major interest from the battle except for local contests and those of a few outstanding figures such as Senator David A. Reed (Republican. Pennsylvania), and Mr Upton Sinclair, the Radical novelist, who is seeking the Governorship of California Californians strongly favour the chances of Mr Frank F. Merriam. the present Republican Governor, against Mr Sinclair. Mr Sinclair was nominated by the Democrats, but has received no endorsement from Washington. In any case the result will be a victory for the NewDeal, since Mr Merriam supports Mr Roosevelt's policy. The present composition of the Congress is as follows: House of RepresentaSenate. lives*. Democrats .. 60 313 Republicans . . 35 117 Farmer-Labour 1 5 Mr Upton Sinclair, the author and former Socialist, won nomination as Democratic candidate for the governorship of California, but many conservative Democrats transferred their support to Mr Merriam. Mr Sinclair has promised, if elected, to put fnto operation a plan to absorb the unemployed by putting them to work in unused factories to make goods for themselves. From the initial letters of his campaign slogan, "Enjl poverty in California," his proposals became known as the Epic plan. .