ROOSEVELT AND SOUTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 August 1935, Page 12

ROOSEVELT AND SOUTH

GEORGIA HEADS REVOLT. Sir Percival Phillips, London "Daily Telegraph” correspondent, writing on June 25 from Atlanta (Georgia), stated: That the bulwark of the Roosevelt Administration known as the "Solid South," is showing signs of instability. The ten States included in this traditional stronghold of the Democratic partv have been badly shaken by the President’s revolutionary policies, and a revolt which was beyond the imagination of the party leaders when he entered the White House has

thown up new forces bent on his downfall. Here in Georgia the most bitter and certainly one of the most picturesque tights which will hinge on next year’s Presidential campaign is already in full swing. Mr Eugene Talmadge, Governor of the State, himself a. lifelong Democrat in a region where Republicans simply do not exist, has staked his political future on eliminating the President from public life. Mr Talmadge came into office last year in violent opposition to the New Deal and all its accessories, on a platform which was highly popular, for the reduction of the State’s taxes and debt, and the strictest economy in expenditure. He carried all but three of the 159 counties, the Conservative exceptions being those which included Atlanta, a suburban town, Decatur, and Athens, the seat of the State university. He has fulfilled all his pledges, ami for the first time in -10 years the expenditure of the State has been kept within its revenue. Since then he has harangued consistently against N.R.A. as fundamentally unsound, and against the method of administering relief works, which, ho said, created a parasitic class, content to live on the Federal dole. The decision of the Supreme Court declaring N.R.A. codes illegal has strengthened his reputation as a political prophet, ami to-day he would

appear to have the State solidly be-. hind him. While the third largest textile manufacturing State, sharing with North and South Carolina the total. production from Southern mills, Georgia is still essentially agricultural, and the faimers have been Mr Talmadge’s especial concern. He crushed the great textile strike last autumn with the use lof Territorial troops and thereby gained the sympathy of the industrialists. The Governor is now calling on the State electorate to rally to his "Fight the dole and pay your way" campaign against the Federal Administration, with complete contld-. ence in his ability to beat the Presi-

dent. , I , WARM SPRINGS’ INFLUENCE. j I Other equally critical, but less vindictive, observers of Mr Roosevelt's experiments are not so sure. Many to whom I have talked—including lawyers, politicians, and business men I—still believe that Mr Roosevelt will I triumph by reason of his peculiar j prestige in this part of the South. I Since he was first afflicted with infantile paralysis the President has spent a good part of every year at Warm Springs, the Georgia health resort. and owing to his treatment there has regained the measure of health which he now enjoys. He refers to Georgia as l*i second home, and to the Georgians as "my neighbours." Consequently these warm-hearted, hospitable people have a really strong affection for him, and pride in his victory over physical disability. I An even stronger argument in favour of his re-endorsement next year is his .L‘soo.ooo.ooo appropriation for lelief work of which a substantial share has come to the South. A friend of Mr Talmadge, who looks upon tile Governor’s declaration of; war to the deatli as "a useless example of liari kari," said to me: "He might beat Mr Roosevelt, but he can't 1 eat four billion dollars." Georgia, in common with her sister Slates, is very pleased to part impute in this fresh contribution from the National Exchequer. The South has

done little or nothing in the way of financing its own relief work for the unemployed. There is a feeling, frankly expressed, that the Federal Administration should bear the burden, and what has already been handed out in one form or dole or another has been taken less with gratitude than as a matter of course. The negroes accept the dole as manna from Heaven, and have not the slightest desire to accept work offered from private employers. The belligerent Governor has another year in which to build his antiRoosevelt machine, and his chance of success depends largely on the condition of the country by then. If there has been a fair measure of recovery it will be attributed to the Roosevelt regime. On the other hand, if the depression continues Governor Talmadge will be able to again say, as he did when the Supreme Court killed N.R.A.: "I told you so,” and the State may be so seriously divided against itself as to bring about the President’s defeat here. One thing is clear: the old Democratic party, as such, does not exist to-day. 1 heard cautious speculation of the possibility of emergence from the present chaos of three new parties representing the Conservative, Liberal, and Radical sentiment of the country. Any suggestion of a coalition of Republicans while they telain the traditional name, is, however, strongly opposed in Georgia.