The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-06-27
As Others See Him

The haste with which Senator Watson repudiated
letters attributed to him indorsing a movement to
raise funds to chase reds" after President Hoover
had dspproved this crusade suggests that it will be
very hard for the President to lose jim He will stick
as senate leader Ce-cite any presidential frowns
Such. too is the # of Frank Kent veteran polit-
zeal writer Of the fillmore Sun, who on Wednesday
printed this little piece about our senior Senatora
comment that may interest Indiana:
Probably the meanest piece of luck Mr.. Hoover has
had since the election was the turn of the wheel that
made James w. Watson. that splendid specimen OF
machine Republicanism and unique product of Indi
politics. which state the khan the crooks and
the government are curiously intermngled admin
istration leader in the senate
From the Hoover angle it is hard to think of
break" than that. Compared with it the other
troubles developed by the extra session of congress
relatively trivial and transient In two or three
years the present tenseness about farm relief and
tariff will be hard to remember. Various incidents
that now seem significant Will be forgotten. 1t may
be the present Hoover adv rses will turn out to be
advantages: that it will prove fortunate thing for
him to have grappled with farm relief and the prickly
tariff problem at the beginning of his administration
and have gotten them behind him. It may develop.
so often happens. that instead of putting him in
hole the Vaccinations and assaults of his enemies
have kicked him upstairs.
All these things and good many more may hap
pen but short Of act Of God there is chance at
all of putting jim Watson behind him, not the slight
est hope OF transferring that transparent statesman
from liability into asset possible way of get
ting rid Of him He will be with him to the bitter end
And as a blessing Jim is the most completely dis
gusad man in the world As blessing, he is entirely
bevCnd suspicion
The truth is that he would be a flop in any ad-
ninistratiCn leader because he was not only
born one but is devoid OF the qualities out of which
leaders sometimes made. But a leader for the
Hoover administration he is worse than flop-he
IS joke OF the principal is that after
his stormy denunciatons of Mr.. Hoover last year
his present efforts to represent and defend him on
the floor Of the senate have disnctiyely ridiculous
slant
The spectacle of this elephantine and reactionary
representative of the Republican Old Guard being
amiaby aTectonate toward the object of his former
amnesty Is one that can not be viewed without
huTnor-even by Progressive Republican, who has
less in the way OF humOr than any other type we
have The diluted nature of his enthusiasm his
modified zeal. ukewarm loyalty and obvious lack of
understanding OF the administration program coupled
with the fact that he and the he is supposed
represent DO not speak the language and have
practically nothing at all in common except they
are both members of the human family. are all so
obvious they can not be missed even by the most
obtuse.
Add to this Jims general ineptitude and you have
senate leadership which makes members of the inner
Hoover circle vince with pain when it is mentioned
and deepenS the burrows in the Presidential brow
Senators on both sides Of the chamber chuckle when
Jim gets up TO urge the administration or
plain the administration position. They bait him
They heckle him. They ask him ridiculous questions
and refuse to take his leadership with real seriousness
There are half dozen Republican senators quicker
witted than he. Nor is he a match delete for the
uinbler fellows among the Democrats or ProgresSives
Perhaps this accounts for his strange absences from
the floor at various critical moments in the last few
weeks and his willingness retreat in the face of as
ssut Half the time he fumbes his job because he
does not know what to DO and the other half because
he does. Altogether it is an absurd situation the
Climax OF which came few days before the recess
when. with an engaging candor, Jim roguishly de-
clared for general revision of the tariff as opposed
to the Hoover declaration for limited revision.
This puts both Mr.. Hoover and Jim in q silly situa-
ton. For the administration leader to be in direc'
conflict with the administration on major policy is
pretty nearly the limit. You wonder one or the other
does not DO something about il The trouble is Mr.
Hoover can't and jim won't Chosen by his colleagues
entitled to the post by the seniority rule ovno the
lneligh OF the leadership, Jim has not the remotest
notion OF renquishing It, The fact that his reaction