Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1934. AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 294, 9 November 1934, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1934. AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

The marked popularity and confidence President Roosevelt enjoys is strikingly illustrated in the results of the American Congressional elections, which are described as the most astoundingin the off-year series in the country’s history. The Democrats have been given two-thirds of the Senate seats, and possibly a similar number-will be their good fortune when the final returns are available of the House of Representatives election. The Republican Party to-day, we are informed, is of less account than at any time since its founding. The results more than bear out the forecasts. The New Deal and its administration were the focal point in the contest, upon which the opponents of Mr Roosevelt directed their attack, and lost. There was good reason to believe that Mr Roosevelt would see the return of a Congress favourable to the Administration. The election in Maine takes place in September, and it was this State that two years ago showed the way to the remarkable Democratic success by electing a Democrat as Governor, the first in 18 years and for the first time since the Civil War in the year of a Presidential election. The Democrats also secured two of the three Congressional seats. Two months ago Maine again returned its Democrat to the governorship, breaking a long established condition whereby no Democrat had been twice successful. Maine had been asked by the Republican nominee to defeat his opponent and so repudiate the New Deal. But the State decided otherwise, and now two months later the electorate has given the Democrats a triumphant approval of the Roosevelt policies. A striking illustration of the way the nation is thinking is provided by Maryland. There Governor Ritchie, a Democrat, s who enjoys a wider prominence than many others in such office, was defeated by a Republican because he opposed the New Deal policies and his opponent supported Mr Roosevelt. The purpose of the National Industrial Recovery Act is “to reduce unemployment, to improve the standards of labour, and otherwise to rehabilitate industry and conserve natural resources.” In pursuance of it, the country has embarked upon tremendous experiments. Simultaneously, huge sums have been allocated for public works, housing, farming relief, and in other ways. The Republicans’ hope for success in the circumstances was futile, for as Mr Al. Smith said, “Nobody wanted to shoot Santa Claus,” the reference being to the voting of sums for the purposes mentioned.

Mr Roosevelt is now in his second year of office and the New Deal has withstood its greatest test. But the next two years will be grave ones in his Administration for only a great success will enable him to maintain his remarkable popularity. His measures have been accompanied by some setbacks. In the industrial sphere there have been very serious strikes, costing the coxmtry many millions._ of dollars. The textile strike in September was only ended when Mr Roosevelt intervened, demanding a truce between the parties. These disputes have been accompanied by rioting and loss of life. The revival of trade has not reached the earliest expectations, but there has been, as noted by important companies, an upward movement of value. When Mr Roosevelt entered White House confidence had been shattered and the oTeat mass of the people were in despair. There is an important change to-day. As Sir George

Paish states, Mr Roosevelt was fighting against complete bankruptcy of the people, and was compelled to use every possible means to prevent the breakdown of the country’s credit, and his success so far is undoubted in the financial sphere. In no small degree, he adds, the moderate recovery in the trade of the world has been the result of action in the United States in effecting some restoration of the buying power of American people. He notes, however, that permanent recovery demands much more fundamental remedies than those being- practised. “Recovery lies not in the direction of huge capital expenditures for the expansion of productive power, but in her capacity to sell her surplus production to the world, and in her power to employ her surplus capital in developing other countries.” There are other implications in the Democrats’ triumph, notably, as commentators state, a realignment of the parties as some Republicans support the President and some Democrats oppose his ideology, giving a swing to Right and Left that may not be without interesting results in future political contests. In the meantime, Mr Roosevelt, who is reinforced by the people’s mandate, has many more pressing problems to face before his country’s prosperity is definitely assured.