Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-18

| wv Probably that part will never
| be answered. In the literally
billions of words that have
been printed during the year and a
month this bill has been pending, has
any one ever read word from per-
son who had sat down in the spirit of a
| Judge, without bias or preoccupation, to
analyze the bill and pass disinterested
| Judgment upon it? Has not practically
every utterance come from person who
began with q conviction, one way or the
other, and argued to support his posi-
| ton?
And II some rare soul should sit down
In such a spirit, from what point would
he start? Would he begin by accepting
ton Is sound principle? Or would he
begin, as some of the political economists
do, with the assumption that free trade
| Is the economic all-good?
In either event the net Of 1t is that
every reader of this article will hear
| from speakers, or see in his newspapers
| during the next four months, many
words about the tariff, about what has
been done during this long tariff Ses-
sion. But rarely or never will he see
| q word that Is judicial, that Is not
| argumentative. The question whether
| this tariff bill and the work of this
tariff session Is or was good or bad
will not be answered. For the purposes
of politics, of the coming campaign,
it does not matter whether the question
Is answered. In politics the important
and decisive question is not whether
tariff Is good, but whether 1t Is pop
ular.
That question will be answered The
strong probability is 1t will be answered
| In the negative-the tariff bill will be
unpopular. 1t will be unpopular be-
cause it will be made unpopular. The
| reason is that the forces that want 1t
| made unpopular are more energetic and
resourceful than the forces that want
| it made popular. When Will Hays was
chairman of the Republican national
committee he had an aphorism. His
axiom Of politics ran: Things don't
happen; they are brought about" That
adage applies to popular moods as well
| as to anything else. The axiom, in
deed, applies especially to popular
moods, to political states Of mind.
Raskob Introduces Simple Rule.
A chief reason why this tariff bill
| will be made unpopular is that John
Raskob Is a good chairman of the
Democratic national committee. Some
| Democrats don't think so. Senator
Simmons, for reasons not associated
l.
very bad chairman, and from time to
time publicly invites him to take his
hat and leave.
Nevertheless, Mr.. Raskob, as Demo-
| cratic national chairman, has brought
| into politics one of the simplest and
! most fundamental rules for success in
big business. The rule is Hire good
men, pay them good salaries, supply
them with ample resources-and then
| go away and leave them"
That Is what Mr.. Raskob has done
about the principal between campaigns
| function Of national committee. Dur
| ing the months between active CAM
paigns-and, for that matter, while
campaigns are under way-the chief
function Of q national committee Is to
put before the public the right kind of
| publicity-that Is, in the present case,
anti-Republican publicity.
That function being before Mr.. Ras-
kob, he did q thing characteristic of
the best in big business. Soon after
this tarih session got under way, he,
together with his associate, Jouett
| Shouse, sought out In Washington the
ablest correspondent connected with a
Democratic newspaper. This object of
search was found in the person Of
Charles Nicholson, then Washington
correspondent of the New York World
The right man being found, Mr.. Ras-
kob employed him, having some diff
Guilty, because an association with news
paper work as long as Mr.. Michelson's
Is not lightly severed.
Mr.. Raskob employed Mr.. Nicholson,
provided him with ample resources and
| surrounded him with conditions de-
| signed to enable him to function efn-
| ciently-and, therefore, to be happy
And Mr.. Raskob, having done that in
the course of the days work, took him
self OF to Europe-and left Mr.. Michel
son on the job OF making the tariff bill
| unpopular. Which job means, unless
something intervenes. electing Demo-
| cratic Senators and Representatives this
| Fall.
That was for politics an extraordinary
| act on Mr.. Raskob's part; for business,
| OF course, it was the most normal thing
in the world. The writer of this article
has watched many national commit
| tees Of both parties selecting employees
over a long period. When a national
committee Is about to expand its activi-
ties, not one time In ten, hardly one
| time in hundred do they go out and
look for the kind of man they want,
| and work to get him. In nearly all
cases they employ some one who applies
for the job. And, as in every field of
life. the persons who apply for the job
especially q job of short tenure
are persons no. already employed The
permanent STATS of both national COM
mittees include men of ability, whose
usefulness Is high and indispensable,
because they are the permanent Gus
todians OF the party's machinery
chairmen come and go. But when a
chairman Of a national committee is
about to take on a new man, the rule
| Is to employ persons of the type Bryan
had In mind when he was Secretary
| Of State and sought jobs for "deserv-
being one who had consistently voted
three times for Bryan.
New Idea in Politics.
That Mr.. Raskob should survey his
| own function as national chairman,
should intelligently and accurately pick
out the most important function under
him, and should then take pains to get
the best possible man in the country
| for that function-that Is something
| new in politicS-new and very effective.
AS result Of 1t the Democratic ma
| tional committee has made this tariff
bill already unpopular and will make
| 1t more so The Republicans, or any
| others who believe this tariff bill is
| good, have hardly chance.
Mr.. Nicholson, who invents, incites,
| writes, perfects and distributes the
| hymns Of hate against the tariff bill
now and recently blanketing the United
States, Is a genius. He is one of fam
| lily of geniuses. In the current who's
Who" are two brothers and a sister
(and also q fourth, a nephew of the
Nicholson family. (How many other
| families have this many, or even more
than one, representatives in this blue
ribbon list of achievement?) Mr..
| out being obliged to face dangerous
European complications.
II therefore Franco Italian tension