U.S. POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 126, 30 May 1928, Page 10

U.S. POLITICS

CAMPAIGN REVIEW "AN ARMY, OF FARMERS", SOME EIREWOEKS ; ( United Press Association—By Electric T«l»----gr»ph—Copyrisht. Australian Press Association. (Received 30th May, 1 p.m.) ■ NEW YORK, 29th May. With, a suddenness not at'all'uncharacteristic of American politics one old • —a very old—issue has suddenly; leap: cd into prominence, and just now promises to overshadow, all other issues. .. ■ As preparations are being made for the opening of the Republican National Convention a fortnight hence the Coolidge; veto of ■. the M' Nary-Haugen Bill • has had the effect of concentrating all political attention on tho American farmer and his woes. Two months ago : corruption in high places promised to be the pivotal issue in November, .but to-day, it seems completely forgotten, and the prediction that .corruption .; "will not change a single vote in November" seems unanswerable. The in- : tcresting thing now, however, is ' the v political manoeuvring behind the sudden rise of agricultural aid as such a burning issue. It is, accurately speaking, just "politics," and while' serious enough it can safely be said that it will not decide the choice of the next President, just as it was not a para- \ mount factor in 1924. A MARCH OF FARMERS? The newspapers in the past few days have been" full of accounts from the Middle West depicting 100,000 farmers ready there to lay down their implements and march, upon Kansas City to present an ultimatum lo the Republican Party regarding farm relief. There is no question that just now the farmers feel ready to do this, but on 12th . June there will be no hundred thousand, or even -a single thousand, farm-,. 'ors encamped before the doors of the. convention. . • . A dispatch from Chicago to-day states' that tho farm organisations throughout the West are choosing a committee to send to Kansas City to present the following thesis: "The party is facing ; the greatest crisis in its history, and if the Eastern Republican, leaders will . .. listen to the voice of the West and heed the demand for economic justice, victory will follow, but if they con- , .tinue indifferent to the needs and rights . of tho Maize Belt and the farming • States, if they force the nomination of a- candidate opposed to farm relief^ no . matter who he is, then defeat is invited and disaster will follow." ' . , Such a committee will undoubtedly ■"' be present in Kansas City. A similar committee came, to Cleveland in^l92s, but a hundred thousand encamped till- ', crs of the soil is too highly imaginative even for American ..politics. ; „ HOOVER'S QUANDARYi.i , Both tho technical experts and-more moderate Democrats agree .that President CooHdgo was wholly right-in vetoing tho M'JSTary-Haugcn Bill. They, say, that is, that the farmer is sick and needs tho doctor. Congress in the ■ : form of this Bill sent a crystal-gazer, to diagnose the disease* of the agriculturalists, and the President rightfully kicked the magician down the front ; steps of White House. . The great cry from tho West, how- '. over,' has its political roots ■ iii the: > quick-mindediiess of Hoover's enemies in again concentrating their attaclc upon him. Hoover is against this Bill, therefore Lowden's henchmen have shaken tho farmer wide awake and said to him that from Hoover he can get as little as from Coolidge. ' Hoover is in a quandary if he wishes to get Coolidge's personal support, and, this is the important factor. He caiir not reply to his.enemies. It is interesting to no.te that Senator Curtis, who announced his candidacy on the plea that he is the friend of the farmer, also' voted against the 8i11,.' for the reason that he is Coolidge's friend and would like to get Coolidge's personal- support for his ca-ndidaey. Lowden, with Dawes as the so-called "dark horse" behind him, thus again looms as an ■ important figure. The . question is. - what will Lowden be able to do at Kansas City. . . ' . . THE CORRUPTION ISSUE. " Thus it is that tho farmer has the unique opportunity of becoming the ' pampered child of the Eepubliean Par- . ' ty, not because he is loved for himself,but because he can be used by one factien of the party .po defeat another. . ■ The Democrats, meantime, look with broad satisfaction upon the row in its neighbour's house, for if it,grows intense enough it may mean victory for them. The Democrats frankly never liked tho corruption issue too much. The "machine politicians" among the • Democrats looked .upon it as a twoedged knife. Tho Democratic Party,is itself not without corruption, and if corruption becomes too much discussed, it will frighten away those rich aspir- . ants for various public offices who are willing to make large contributions to 'the parties, and it is these contributions, that make life easy for the ma-, chine politicians. Sober-minded Democrats say that Coolidge and the Republican Administration have only.been in- • terested in aiding big business, and ' that the voter next November can choose between the party that is pledged to work for one group'in the nation, > and the party that will, if it gets into oflice, work for the entire nation: This is in the meantime, however, a very hot. and excited campaign, not lacking in fireworks. - ■-.• •