The rewards, were still sume lent for it to be worth an energetic politician's while to be Democratic, A party in the United States cannot survive unless it is watered with patronage, A gentle rain of Southern, local fobs kept the Democratic party alive till. the deluge of 1032, Dut, there is no corresponding gentle rain of Jobs now to. refresh. the parched soil from which Republican-springs and the party is withering from the roots, except in Maine and Vermont there are no Republican State Governments. 'The Republicans have iso lost control of the cities' and of the elly patronage. Not only is the Democratic party machine able to control the political Jobs. in. cities, States and the Federal "government, but a vast new source of influence 1s provided by relief appropriations Which the Republicans "never en-Joyed, There is technically no polities relief, voting Democratic is not an ferential qualification for receiving government ald. But those who got toilet think so and are encouraged to think so by the local politicians. That Jo the first reason for regarding he Republican chances of survival as dubious, the loss of the ety, vote.
Lass of Negro Vote toss of the negro vole. A pellet that Almost equally important isthe
feller money. depended on correct voting, "coupled with astute propaganda of the "Codlin's your friend hot short" style, accomplished what must be regarded. as political Imitaete, Negroes, at east 00 per cent. of them tooped. to the polls fn'the last election and east. their vote for the arly. of the old time owners, the Bemoeratie Party, fud against the party founded by the Great, Emanclpator, Abraham Line tom, the. Republican, third mainstay of the Republican pany went with the defection Srganized Labour's. vole, In." 1952 even #0 stormy a patrol' as" John Cowls, originator' of" the American sit-down strike, campaigned "(hough itis hard to believe) against Roose. Velt and for Herbert. Hoover. Now every Labour leader of any influence an avowed supporter of the Presl= client, "The Democratic. Party by clover publicly, "has managed Sssoelate the" Republican Party Invdelibly with the: worst. forms big. business exploitation. The. Re-Dubtlean party, so the workers. were told, was. the party of economic {eactlon, of the "economic royalist, the money-changer and" the male: factor of great wealth, The profressive elements in the country, the {ug friends of the workers were on the other hand all in the ranks he Democrats No Republican Hopes Next Your In the-Presidential elections the Repuolieans, in apple of the defeetions mentioned above, polled 17,000,- 000" votes "to. 27,000,000, Seventeen milieu ig'a large number and at tst sight would appear to provide a nucleus round which a vigorous party could rally. There is at any rate no reason to suppose" that a party with 17,000,000 votes Is on its way to oblivion. Yet when one third of the Senate and the whole, of the, House elected in 1998 few believe that the Republicans will be able to increase their membership. Parties in America for more than elsewhere depend upon their machinery rather their principles to secure adherents and the oil which rune the party machinery Is the patronage available. But as we have already pointed out, the national State and local patron= age wells have all dried up, s0 far 'a5 the Republicans are concerned, If the Republican party machine Is practically dead, the ' Democratic machine is very much alive. It needs fo be powerful to hold loge '$0 many varied elements. The surprise is that despite ite strength %0, many Democrats. "have been sumMeiently stirred by the Court issue to break away from It. One factor which helped Keep the restless Democrats In line was the existence of the Republican party.
Democratic Traditions in South Tradition dies hard in the South and as long as the Republican name exists the Southerner will vole Democratic even though the policies of the Democratic administration run counter to all his cherished beliefs. /To be anti-Republican is an emotional condition which no amount of reason can undermine,. Southern Democrats, who fought for the preservation of State Rights, will still support an administration bent upon weakening. them and strengthening the powers of the Federal "Government, Sooner an support the political party which led the North to victory.
The Republican label scares the Giogruntled Democrats into party loyalty. "Had the Republicans ess sonsevand leaped into the fray soon a3 the President made his Eroposals for packing the Court, those Democrats who are now him, at least with their votes and votes are what count.
Now that the negro vote is mainly democratic and that the New' Deal Democrats are the advocates of more centralization in government there is no logical reason why Southern Democrats should remain within the party. Its simply a matter of habit, or if' you prefer tradition. 'They' could: never join the Republican Party. Very well then, suggests an tule Republican writer, Mark Sulliven, why shouldn't the Republicans foln the Democrats. That "is what they are doing in this Court Aight. Why not make it permanent? The Republican party should announce, says Mr, Sullivan, that "for next year at least and possibly. also "for 1040 it will cease to function as a party and will unite with the anti-New Deal wing of the Democratic Party, forming perhaps a new party under the name Constitutional' De. moerats. Instead of being denounced a traitor to allow such thoughts to be published, Mr. Sullivan found hig ideas had met with the approval of many Republican leaders, Common Consent Necessary The chief dimieulty about this scheme is that no one can speak for {the Republican party as a whole. Both major parties in "the" United [States consist of @ coalition of 48 State party organisations, largely autonomous witha central comfmitice "Which guides rather then controls," The plan would have rise by common consent of the state organizations, by a spontaneous movement within the party rank and ie by a combination of Democrats. and The long fight now being waged
Republicans' against. the. Presiden Supreme Court proposals will custom both Republicans and. anti: New Deal Democrats to the idea of ce-operation. "Even it they" do not teat the President's proposal the effects of their joint opposition will remain," In 1940 It may seem. per= fectly natural for leaders of both Eroups who fought the President. to call a jolt National Party Con Vention and choose a joint candidate.
Such a development would give treater Sense of reality to American political life. On the one side would be those who believed, with. President Roosevelt, that the complexities f modern America made It impos sible for State governments to retain so much power as before and. im: trative that should bea. greater concentration of power at the centre to control and regulate every type of economic and social activity... On the other side would be those' who opposed centralization and felt that individual freedom and. democratic recesses could best flourish where
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.