MR. ROOSEVELT'S OPPONENT
Commonwealth and Forei2n [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Kansas City, June 15th.
SIR,—Kansas is feeling very proud of itself. For the very first time a Kansan has been nominated by one of the two great parties of the nation as its candidate for the Presidency. To the English readers of The Spedator that fact may not seem to carry any particular significance. But here in Kansas City it is a very important fact indeed. Remember that there has only been one President of the United States from west of the Mississippi River ; and that one, Herbert Hoover, had for so long been a citizen of Washington and the world that he counts only as a technical Californian. Remember, further, that among defeated candidates for the Presidency there has only been one from west of the river ; and he, William Jennings Bryan, was nominated in spite of being a Westerner, and defeated because of his Westernism. Governor Landon is the first candidate whose Westernism is accounted a political virtue. He has been nominated by the conser- servative Republican Party because it believes that he, of all the available leaders, has the best chance of beating President Roosevelt. And he comes from Kansas. What further excuse could be needed for proud rejoicings in this section of the country ?
Kansas is enjoying its new political importance. It is no new thing for the Middle West to be the deciding factor in a Presidential Election, the arbiter between the Democratic alliance of South and West and the Repub- lican stronghold in the East. But in the past it has been the large industrial States at the Eastern end of the Middle West—Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, with their great cities of Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago—which have received all the attention. This year it is the farming States to the West that have been given the place of honour, while the industrial States, in the person of Colonel Frank Knox of Illinois, take second place.
It would be a mistake, however, to think that Mr. Landon is merely the Governor of Kansas and nothing else. Senator Norris complains in this morning's paper that he is " a man whose greatest asset is that nobody knows him." This may be true in Washington and New York, or even in Chicago and St. Louis, but it is not true out here. Senator Norris, who comes from the neighbouring State of Nebraska, ought to know better, for Alf Landon has become quite a personality out here in the last few years. To begin with, he is a winner. He was the only Republican Governor, in all the forty-eight States, to be re-elected in the Demo- cratic year 1934. Then he has made a very able Governor, redeeming his pledges, administering his office efficiently, facing some very embarrassing scandals without fear or favour. And thirdly, he and his friends have been pursuing a very clever campaign for the nomination for many months past. After all, it seems highly im- probable that the Republicans would nominate a man whom nobody knows to fight Franklin Roosevelt. And it is even more unlikely that they would nominate him by acclamation on the first ballot, an honour usually reserved for such as Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge, and then only when they are Presidents in office. Alf Landon may not command very many votes in the industrial East. But he commands plenty of votes where they are most badly needed—here in the farming States.
Local patriotism is a strong force all over the United States, but nowhere more so than here. Kansas has for long been more than a bit of a joke to the. East. In part this is due to its rural character, for Kansas is one of the first of the really agrarian States you come to as you go west. It is a true farmer's State, with only one city of 100,000 inhabitants within its borders. It is therefore naturally the butt of the fun that the " city sticker " pokes at the " rube " the whole world over : " Folks don't stay up very late Way out West in Kansas.
They take the sidewalks in at eight Way out West in Kansas."
What is more, Kansas is the inheritor of the eld Puritan morality which once dominated New England. It is, indeed, in a very literal sense, the last refuge of the Puri- tan, for Kansas was settled from the old stack of .Massa- chusetts Bay. To this day first and second generation immigrants and negroes together make up cnly ,about one-tenth of its population. Its physical descent - from Bradford and Winthrop and Williams is only one degree less certain than its spiritual heritage from the rain men. Kansas, even among farming States, is the most jealous upholder of Prohibition and the Sabbath. And thiS again does little to endear it to the wet and licentious East.
Kansas, of course, bitterly resents its reputation. So Governor Landon's nomination is a challenge to show what Kansas can do. Within the party fold, the conven- tion was approached in precisely that mood. Now. that Kansas has captured the party (the phrase flows quite naturally from the pen), Kansas is going to capture the nation. After that, let the East watch out. This flame of local patriotism burns, of course, most brightly in Kansas itself. But it spreads to the neighbouring States, to Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas, all of them " doubtful " States, all of them essential to a RepUblican victory.
Politics is not the only cause for better feelings in these parts. Rain is another. Six weeks ago there were fears, spreading uneasily over the " Dust Bowl " whose edge begins 200 miles west of here, that 1986 would be another drought year. These fears, and the dust, were laid by very welcome rains in the first week of May. The country is still pretty dry and a lot more rain would be very wel- come. As it is, the rain we have had came too late to save some of the wheat, but the Kansas crop. will be 30 million bushels more than last year in spite of that—and it will be sold at a good price. The minor feed crops and the mixed farming of the eastern counties drew more benefit from the rain and are doing very well. What with bigger crops, steady prices and the " soil conservation " (ne crop restriction) bounties, there will be more cash on the Kansas farm this fall than for many months past. The rows and rows of shiny new Fords outside the country movie house on a Saturday night are already the Middle West'S most impressive sight. Perhaps they will be Buicks this winter.
Much of this money flows sooner or later through Kansas City—a market town swollen to half-million size. Kansas City is a standing paradox. The city itself is in the State of Missouri and it is politically controlled by one of the tightest and most Democratic "machines" in- the country. Yet it is in a real sense the capital of Kansas (and of Several other States besides) and the headquarters of the youthful grotip who are rejuvenating the Republican Party. A glorified country cross-roads, it is nevertheless the home of the most promising schools of art and poetry in the country. Altogether a most satisfactory place to watch the Greatest Show on Earth.—I am,. Sir, &c., YOUR CORRESPONDENT IN KANSAS,
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