THE PRESIDENCY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 15 June 1936, Page 2

THE PRESIDENCY

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM PLEDGES ON INTERNATIONAL ISSUES regulation of business ADVOCATED (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) CLEVELAND, 12th June. Twice the Republican convention assembled and twice it went into recess because the platform committee was unable to come to an agreement on the exact phraseology of the planks. Senator Borah was summoned during the day to make his wishes known. The platform when finished was about 3500 words long. It combines all the old traditional expressions in which political promises are framed, yet combines with them to an extraordinary degree New Deal phrases. To that extent it will give the Democrats a marked psychological advantage. It makes the following pledges on issues of international significance: —It affirms faith in protective tariffs and advocates the repeal of the reciprocal trade agreement law and the end of secret negotiation of trade agreements; it promises the restoration of the principle of a flexible tariff and opposes further devaluation of the dollar; it demands the repeal of all laws whereby Congress delegates to the President power to issue and regulate currency; it advocates international stabilisation of currency, but does not indicate when it is to be done; the foreign affairs plank opposes foreign alliances or political commitments as demanded by Senator Borah, opposes American entry in the World Court or the League of Nations, and advocates international co-operation for limitation of armaments and traffic in arms; it pledges every effort to collect war debts, and condemns the Roosevelt Governments’ failure to reopen negotiations with debtor nations. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS On social and economic questions the platform in many respects is a mirror of the New Deal, save that it advocates delegation of powers and responsibilities to States instead of to the Federal Government. It advocates distribution of relief through local agencies, with Federal grants in aid, but States to share the cost of such relief. It also advocates only meritorious public works, condemns President Roosevelt’s Social Security Law, and advocates instead necessary payments to citizens over 65 years of age to protect them from want. Funds for this would be obtained direct from widespread Federal taxation. The platform further advocates unemployment insurance by States. The labour plank , acknowledges labour’s right to collective bargaining “by representatives of their on choosing,” which is the language of section 7a of the National In- . dustrial Recovery Act. It further approves the adoption of State laws .gnd inter-state compacts to abolish sweatshops and child labour and to protect women and children in respect of maximum hours and minimum wages. “This can be done within the Constitution as it now stands.” I The agricultural plank opposes crop control and advocates a “national land use programme,” family-type farms, some system of export bounties for surplus agricultural products, and protection for American farmers against the importation of livestock and dairy and agricultural products. The controversial monopoly plank was a victory for Senator Borah. He dictated its wording. Private monopoly is condemned, and the enforcement of criminal as well as civil laws against monopolies and trusts is promised. Finally regulation of business is advocated by new independent tribunals under specific laws. The platform was unanimously adopted immediately the reading was finished by the chairman. As stated on Saturday Mr Alfred Landon, Governor of Kansas, was nominated by the Republican Convention as the party’s candidate for the Presidency of the United States; and Colonel Frank Knox was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. Alfred M. Landon, Governor of Kansas, has been characterised, since he became an outstanding candidate for the nomination, as a “Conservative Liberal.” When his friends call him a “Conservative Liberal,” says the “New York Times,” they mean that in his relatively brief political career the “Kansas Coolidge” has adopted a mid-dle-of-the-road course, without espousing anything more radical or more conservative than budgetary economy. By his ingratiating ways he has been able to keep his Legislatures fairly docile and content. Landon was born in Pennsylvania 48 years ago. His parents took him in early childhood to Ohio, where he went to primary school. In his early teens the family moved on to the cultural domain of William Allen White. Here Landon attended the University of Kansas and obtained a law degree. He was admitted to the Bar, but never practised law. Instead he found a job in a bank, which he soon abandoned in favour of “wildcatting” for oil, a vocation in which he has been qifite successful. He was a first lieutenant in the Chemical Warfare Service during the World War, then went back to his oil prospecting. He learned to be tough, and, through his fondness for card games, not to show his hand too soon. In 1912, when he was only 24, Landon aligned himself with the Theodore Roosevelt Bull Moose movement, along with White and Henry J. Allen. When Allen became Governor in 1917, Landon became his secretary, but served only a couple of weeks before going to the war. Since then he has been active in political campaigning and has held sundry political jobs. His chance came in 1932, when he was elected Governor on the Republican ticket, while Roosevelt was winning the State for the Presidenty. He was the only Republican Governor elected in that year west of the Mississippi, and he repeated this in 1934. Colonel Frank Knox, “The Chicago Rough Rider,” was born in Boston on Ist January, 1874, and has sold stationers’ supplies, served in two wars, published three newspapers (not counting Hearst’s Boston property), run unsuccessfully for one public office, and played practical politics for many years. He is wealthy and energetic. He went to public school in Grand

Rapids and to Alma College, a Presbyterian school in Central Michigan. He enlisted in the Michigan militia at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, was transferred to Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, and took part in the Battle of San Juan. Hill. After the war he went to work as a cub reporter for the “Grand Rapids Herald,” saved his money, bought a decrepit newspaper 'in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and built it up. He also became active in j local and State politics. Next he | moved to Manchester, N. 11., and bought another paper. He went to the I World War, sought the Republican i nomination for Governor of New Hampshire, served in the Hearst organisation, became publisher of the j “Chicago Daily News,” and was one |of the first publishers to come out | against the New Deal. Everything he I has had in life he has gained for himself, usually against determined op--1 position. Colonel Knox has definite ideas of what ought to be done. He does not speak in platitudes and generalities, though at times his eagerness has appeared to lead him into paradoxes. On the financial side he asks drastic economy and a balanced Budget, but last November in one and the same interview he called for economy and full payment of the soldiers’ bonus. He is opposed to Socialism and Communism on religious grounds. He favours downward tariff revision.