Taking Stock

The Republicans' annual barnstorming tour in honor of Abraham Lincoln (250 speeches at 600 Lincoln Day meetings) was over. And it was now possible to get some new indications of how the local GOProfessionals sized up the 1948 presidential stakes.

The biggest news was that, at the moment, Tom Dewey was slipping. Across the U.S., the men who will pick the 1948 nominee agreed that his chances had slithered off since last November--when he was head & shoulders above all others. Part of the reason was simply that a lot of GOPsters never liked him and still don't. Part was that the spotlight is now on Washington, not Albany. Talk of a tie-up with California's Earl Warren, which would strengthen his hand in the West, was dying out. On top of that there was the feeling expressed by one Midwesterner: "He has had his chance and now it's someone else's turn."

But the Dewey skid had apparently not helped his neck-&-neck rival Bob Taft (whose press secretary last week explained that Taft was not an "active" candidate). Despite an awed respect for Taft's mind, the pros were as conscious as ever of his lack of political sex appeal. Said a Califor nia GOPster: "Taft is a fine and capable man. If it was a matter of hiring the President of the U.S., he'd be the man for the job. But we're still electing Presidents."

Other contenders were gaining on the leaders. In a poll of G.O.P. Senators. Michigan's Arthur Vandenberg was out ahead of both Dewey and Taft. John Bricker was still holding his own as the darling of the Old Guard; Earl Warren was still the fair-haired boy in the West. A new favorite son was moving up: Massachusetts' Leverett Saltonstall.

"Crumbs & Rats' Nests." But the pros really pricked up their ears over two presidential prospects; whose sudden upsurge of popularity with the pros last week coincided with some constructive advice on Republican policy. One was Massachusetts' young Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., who warned that "the people did not vote for us so much as they voted against the things they did not like. . . . We were not put in office to put back the clock but in order to wind it up, get the crumbs and rats' nests out of the gears and get it going again."

The other was rambunctious Harold Stassen, the only avowed Republican candidate in the ring. In a radio speech before Manhattan's National Republican Club he said: "A high tariff policy no longer suits America. . . . We believe in the increased flow of goods and materials and services and travel around the globe.... The alternative is either to go forward now with the reciprocal trade agreements, or to slide backward in economic isolation."

That kind of talk was as frightening to some GOPsters as it was reassuring to others. But on some points they were all agreed. Despite intraparty wranglings, they were sure they would win in 1948. They were beginning to realize they could not win with just any old candidate; they would have to pick a top-notcher. And they had quite a selection to choose from, ranging from inactive Bob Taft to radioactive Harold Stassen.

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