TEST AT POLLS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19777, 3 November 1938, Page 7

TEST AT POLLS

ROOSEVELT’S POPULARITY ELECTIONS AWAITED SENATE AND CONGRESS POWER OF NEW FORCES (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) tßecd. Nov. 3, 9 a.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 1. The American nation will go to the polls on November 8 for the regular biennial national election to elect 37 senators, 435 members of the House of Representatives, and 32 State Governors and administrations.

Despite the probable appearance of six new senatorial figures and a score or so new representatives, duel to the nomination of new men in the primaries, President Roosevelt will probably have to deal with virtually the same Congressional body that has been in office since he began his second term, provided, of course, there is no upheaval at the polls, and an upheaval is far from likely. The Senate at present consists of 76 Democrats, 15 Republicans and five others, including vacancies. Thirty-seven will be elected on Tuesday, including five to fill the vacancies of those who have not finished their terms. It will, therefore, be impossible to overthrow the Democrat Party control in the Senate) since many of these come from the southern States and, therefore, will be Democrats. Hopes of Republicans The make-up of the House of Representatives is 328 Democrats, 88 Republicans and others, including 19 vacancies. The most optimistic hope of the Republicans is that they will capture 25 new seats. Any large?) number would upset all the present diagnosis, but although this would only slightly diminish the Democrat strength, it might nevertheless increase the President’s difficulties with Congress which, during the past years, has learned the art of revolt against him. On the other hand, some observers believe that any loss of numerical strength, would cause the remainder of the Democrats to rally more strongly about him. . There are two political-economic forces which the President findsl more difficult to handle than outright opponents, whether within the Democrat or the Republican parties, the chief of them being the “ham and eggs” social security scheme, a new variant of the Townsend plan, centring principally in California, where the Democrat senatorial nominee, Mr. Sheridan Downey, who defeated the veteran, Mr. McAdoo, despite President Roosevelt’s endorsement, is running under a programme promising £6 every Thursday to persons over 50.

“Crack-Pot Inventions”

Democrat candidates in at least eight other states have been endorsed by followers of similarschemes, and President Roosevelt, who has called the schemes “crackpot inventions,” is trying to combat them by plans to have Congress add, perhaps,' 10,000,000 more persons to the 40,000,000 already eligible for pensions under the present Federal social security scheme. The second force is the La Follette third party movement. It was believed that this would rob President Roosevelt of the Left Wing support, but it is now believed that the movement is basically agrarian and conservative and, actually, Left Wing sentiment for the greater part throughout the country is generally-pro-Roosevelt. So so-called Roosevelt luck seems to be continuing and it is almost traditional in American politics that the Government which is holding office during an upward economic movement, is likely to be returnedLow Price for Produce Against this, however, must be! counted the unfavourable reaction in the agricultural areas due to the low prices of commodities and “red tape” which seems to be the daily operation of the agricultural adjustment administration and the reaction to corruption charges in the administrative of relief funds. Observers, with long-view interests, look to the elections not only to indicate the status of President Roosevelt’s popularity, but what new forces are, or have developed in both the major parties and to what degree these represent’ new national trends. However, this is rather academic. .The people themselves chifly want to know how popular President Roosevelt still is and what clues they can draw from it concerning his intentions to run in 1940 for his third' term.