The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-09-03
Exciting But Unsavory

The mess which has been stirred up with regard to
the senate campaign fund Investigating committee ana
Mrs. Ruth Hanna Mccormick Is interesting enough but
more than a little bit unsavory.
What with hiring detectives, alleged tapping OF telc-
phones, the breaking into correspondence files apd what
not. the plot has all the elements of a best seller ard one
wonders whether the participants in this fiasco do not
fancy themselves as actors on the public stage more than
q little.
Mrs. McCormick's admission that she hired detectives
to SPY upon Senator Gerald P. Nye. the committee chair
man, and her terse inquiry What is Senator Nye going
to do about it?" sounds as much like Old Mark Hanna
himself as like his daughter. Incidentally. it opens the
way for another and perhaps a more thrilling chapter,
for the question certainly is apropos despite the fact that
it may be a little strained and inconvenient.
But what with charges OF persecution from the lady
who would be senator and q complaint that detectives
are s~hadowing his every move from a gentleman who has
attained that distinction, the public cannot help but be
a little mystified and withal a little hurt.
Probably the theme song will be worked out at the
next senate session. now not so far away. with the dig
nified members Of the senate singing q chorus OF indig-
nation much after the fashion Of Q Gilbert and Sullivan
light opera.
And then some folks wonder why the people as a whole
have something akin to contempt for the senate. or
perhaps amused federation is q better word.
OF course the business Of investigating campaign ex-
p~enditures doubtless Is . very serious one to Senator
Nye. And the business OF GeCtlng neTSeU eleCCeO - tlc
senate is even more serious to Mrs. Mccormick. That Is
as it should be. Political officeholders, like private citi-
zens. are expected to take an interest in their jobs. and
il, in politics, the Job entails the distribution of a certain
amount of bunk and the kissing Of q given number Of
babies, 1t is all in the days work. The public has no
trouble in understanding that.
But this business of Investigation is another matter.
If corruption exists 1t should be uncovered. The people
are entitled to cleanliness in politics because of the eff
feet of politics upon their daily lives. They may not be
very vocal or very active in demanding it but they ap-
p~reciate 1t.
Never before In modern political history. however, has
a situation similar to that which prevails in this case
existed. It IS amusing to read. but the serious side Is
that these are not the antics Of a group Of children play
ing make-believe but serious business. engaged in by
high public officials.
It has the effect Of making one wonder what this bus
iness Of being a senator has come to. Does it entail
breaking into the home Of a political candidate. tapping
her telephone wires and rifling her correspondence files
as Mrs. Mccormick hints the senate committee has
caused to be done?
Does 1t entail the hiring Of detectives to trail a sena-
tor. assigned to q Job BY the greatest" something or
other body In the world, as Mrs. Mccormick admits?
One hopes not. Somehow it seems a challenge to the
best traditions in American politics.
Al best It can be looked upon only as an unsavory
mess. It will be a good thing II the public ever gets to
know the whole truth about It, because the present eff
lect y to undermine confidence in public cfficiaidon,
had ths United States government.