The Daily News FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1932. AMERICAN POLITICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1932, Page 6

The Daily News FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1932. AMERICAN POLITICS.

About twelve months henqg* the United States will either welcome Mr. Hoover to a new term of office as President or put someone in his place. A presidential election is an undertaking of great magnitude, not only because the electoral method employed, is cumbersome in itself but also because it is interwoven with elections to Congress and to public offices in the various States. Mention was made in the cablegrams yesterday of. the primary elections in Illinois—the selection by parties of their candidates for various positions—and the message on the subject was typically American. It had a great deal more to say about the terrorism employed and the skirmishing that went on than about the actual business in hand, but one or two facts of importance were permitted to emerge, the chief of them being the increase in the Democratic vote, “which,” the report states, “is regarded as another repudiation of the Hoover Administration.” It is too early, of course, to hazard a guess as to how the Republicans and the Democrats will measure up when the real test comes, but it is interesting to survey the preparations already made by the two great parties in American politics for the election of the President. It has been reported that Mr. Hoover is assured of the Republican nomination, though from time to time there were indications of strong opposition within his own party. Not so long ago the insurgent section led by Mr. la Follette threatened danger, but this seems now to be regarded as negligible. Mr. Hiram Johnson, another prpmin-

ent Republican senator, boldly invited the President to retire, and thus earn/the undying gratitude of the rank and file” of the party, but that little outburst seems to have been forgotten. Until he denied them emphatically, rumours were current that Mr. Dawes, the .recent. Ambassador to London, would be in the field, and Senator Borah was for some time the hope of a section of the party. Mr. Hoover to-day is the only candidate seriously mentioned, though perhaps less popular than he was four years ago, for there is a tendency to place upon the shoulders of the President and his Executive a certain measure of blame for the dismal conditions which America is now facing. This is due, no doubt, to the feeling that the Hoover moi*atorium has proved disappointing. It was expected to bring about better conditions in the. commerce and industry of the United States, but the situation is worse than, before. Criticism has been free, and even bitter, but Mr. Hoover emerges as the only .possible. candidate for the Republican nomination. The efforts of the Democrats to find a suitable representative have been no less diverse than those of their opponents. Mr. Hoover’s opponent at the last election, Mr. “Al” Smith, appears to have given place to Mr. rranklin Roosevelt, his successor as Governor of New York, who is now. regarded as almost certain to obtain the favour of the party. Mr. Owen Young, the author of the revised plan of reparations, appeared likely at one stage to be a strong candidate for the Democrats’ nomination. He is the head of a great business corpora-

tion, a man unquestionably possessing great administrative capacity,, and-a particularly skilful negotiator in industrial matters. He . opposes the American policy of international aloofness and is not in favour of exclusive tariffs. Another candidate holding similar opinions was Mr. Newton Baker, who was President Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of War, but he also is likely to.be passed over by the Democrats in favour of Mr. Roosevelt. The struggles • within the parties for nomination and between the parties for power are in the first place, of course, the business of the American people, but the. whole world must be concerned resu^s > Nowadays the possibility of a political change in any great nation is a matter of first rate importance, and in the case of the United States the effect on foreign policy may be serious for Europe. The President possesses exceptional powers, and his authority in respect of his country’s attitude towards other nations makes him a force to be reckoned with in the world’s affairs. There can be no doubt but that in their search for presidential candidates both the Republicans and the Democrats have given more than the usual consideration to the 'aspirants ’ views in regard to America’s relations with other peoples. Not since President Wilson’s time has there been evident among the politicians of the United States such interest as is shown to-day in the probable influence of American policy on the rest of the world. The traditional policy of aloofness appears to the outsider to have been shaken, and it is the undoubted wish of many countries that Mr. Hoover’s action in connection with war debts, America’s participation in the Disarmament Conference at Geneva and her recent co-operation with other nations in respect of China may lead her in the direc-

tion of closer association with the European Powers. It is with that aspiration in mind that the British peoples and others will watch the course of political events in America during the next few months.