Evening star., 1933-12-10
BY RExFoRD GUY TUGwELL.

o1 hkAfOhD GUx TUGWELL.
NATOR PROGRESSIVE Is back
In Washington for the first time
since Congress adjourned In
~ June, and since he counts me
among his friends, he came In
to sit by my fireside out in George
town for an evening. I hxed him
| comfortably IN large chair with q
glass close by and waited to hear what
he had to say. Some forecast of it
had drifted East by way Of the news
papers, so that knew roughly how
high his temperature was and what
he thought Of the administration.
He began in the orthodox way at
Is my belief" he said, that it was q
great mistake for us to have given the
administration SO few definite direc-
tions"
DO you object" I asked, "to the
way the powers you granted have
been used?"
II certainly do" he said. "It seems
like 10 years since last June. A lot
Of good American institutions have
been overthrown almost casually
certainly all the things that have been
done weren't thought out"
| But" I protested, your speeches
for 10 years have demanded the scrap
ping of certain institutions. Let's see
which ones you mean. Is it the COM
petfttve system In business. the anti
trust laws, and all that kind Of
thing?"
Big Business Il Bad"
"You know very WELL" he interrupt
ed, that mean this code business
you people have allowed these fellows
to write their own ticket. They GER
tainly have made the world safe for
big business all right. You had no
mandate from us to do that We be-
heve that big business is bad. We
thought we were protecting the little
fellow"
We'll, you can't do that Just by
making speeches in the Senate and by
passing laws. That kind of thing is
only made certain by the hard work
OF an administration. How much have
you helped in that?"
That's not my business" he said.
"A Senator helps to write laws, not to
run the country"
| Sometimes, Senator, you amaze me.
Were you making laws when you in
sisted on the appointment of a dozen
lawyers from your district in the
emergency administration and when
you asked the Public Works Admins
tration for a new post office for your
city and a fiood-control dam on your
local river out there? The only time
you've been in Washington since June
was when you were trying to force
somebody's hand in such matters.
help in protecting any truly public
interest. We've spent most of our
time lighting of you fellows claims to
some private advantage"
Senator" Becomes Angry.
4 This enraged him. Certainly ]
asked for appointments. Certainly ]
demanded some public works money
Why not? It was the only way tt
get it.
"You fellows" he went on more
calmly, don't know much about mol pol.
itics. II you did you would know tina,
I can't escape any more than the
others on the Hill can from this kind
! OF thing. We have to do it to keer
solid back home. Besides, nothing
asked for or got was harmful in any
4 way. 1t was q real benefit back home. :
I can name at least 10 of you," ]
said, who stayed around and helped
not by making demands about Jobs
and post ofdces, but by taking par,
In discussions, by acting as chairmen
Of committees, or by just hanging
around and really criticizing mistakes
as they were made. How is it thai
those fellows didn't have to make pri-
vate demands which might cut acros.
public plans?"
They don't come I'D for reelection
in 1884" was his cynical comment.
Some Of them do" was able e
say. But we really are arguing about
something no one knows how to dc
anything about. I can see why yo,
are anxious about these things. I know
that your demands for jobs and fol
money spent In your State come from
a deeper source than you like to admit
when you are posing as a practical
politician. You have unemployment
out there, don't you-people with abili-
ties that are not being used. even peo-
pie who are hungry and cold?"
Obtained Relief Funds.
mot now" he said. i've seen tc
1t that We got our share of relief funds
and of public work"
What" I asked, has that got to de
with politics, except that these people
chose you to represent them and the
people Of other places chose others?
Why don't you confess that your heart
was touched by the real suffering OF
real people When you went back home
and that your fine Washington theories
Of craftsmanship merely failed to stand
up under the pressure? When you
came storming down here last Summer
demanding attention for your peoples
needs you were merely being human
Il suppose So" he said slowly. 81
take this thing little hard. You
know how worked over the new legis.
lation we cooked up last Spring.
think can claim to have made some
real contribution to it, too. But II
certainly was one thing to sit on
committees and argue about the coun.
try's welfare and quite another tt
realize that my people people ! know
and grew up with-are in distress
Who wouldn't do something drastic
even If it did upset the machinery 9
little? Just the same"-and here b.
stopped and lit cigarette-"that's M
reason why you should try to blame
our comparatively unimportant inter.
ruptions for all that has gone WRONG