GLAD NEWS?

Huey Long has said that he thinks he will be a candidate for Governor of Louisiana next year. It may be that he was moved by fatherly pride at the smooth functioning of his Baton Rouge machine. But at least, it's a straw of hope.

Political observers for many months have been convinced that Huey will be a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination next year. The Washington correspondent for the New York Times has pointed out the change in the Kingfish's attitude during the last twelvemonth. A year ago he was belligerent, but not confident; today he excudes confidence, but has lost much of his belligerence.

Recently, he said that he didn't believe in "all these Hitlers and Mussolinis. They don't belong in our American life. And Roosevelt is a bigger dictator than any of them." What's more, if he were President, he wouldn't permit Congress to delegate its authority to him. (Perhaps he let them do it at Baton Rouge just so he'd know how to resist when he became President.)

And now he says he will run for Governor of his state next year, He may, Huey has always treated the Senate with contempt. When he was elected to that body in 1930 he did what no other member over did delayed taking his oath of office for nine months. Perhaps he feels that a withdrawal from the Senate will appeal to the American people; and it well may. Too, by running for Governor he could strengthen his fences in Louisiana. Whatever Huey's purpose was in this latest statement on his future, there is only one thing certain--he will never retire voluntarily from the national stage. Only when the patronizing American public, and the Louisiana portion of it in particular, decides to change its jester will the Kingfish really abandon the political scene.