The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-11-30

SPeakership er of the house-se-
Fight lection that means
election-the speak
ership fight is attracting much atten-
ton. Heat is being shown and enc
mics are being created in every direc-
ton. There are at least a dozen men,
bers of the house who figure or hope
that the Democratic caucus TO be
held late in December will pick their
name for one of the honor posts,
speaker, majority floor leader or chair
man of the rules committee. at the
moment one can deal only with posi-
bilities, for the stage Of probabilities
is yet in the distance.
Although, as said, the fight is wide
open there are certain straws that
tend to show the way the wind Is
blowing. There are certain back
grounds and conditions as well that
must be accepted as having a mean
ing.
For example, Representative Byrnes
of Tennessee, the Democratic leader
while the late Mr.. Rainey was speak
er, normally would be expected to be
chosen as speaker. But Mr.. Byrnes is
not sure In fact, there are many OBJ
servers who declare that the odds are
against him. For instance, he was not
invited aboard the Presidents special
train to make the recent trip to Har-
rodsburg, KY.
There is a row brewing between the
North and the South. Northern Dem
ocrats resent what they regard as
southern domination of the house
Consequently, some Of the harmonic
ers are attempting to effect a deal
whereby the speakership will go to
the South and the post of majority
leader be filled by northern Demo
crat.
In this combination the names Of
Representatives Rayburn of Texas
and Mccormack of Massachusetts,, fig
ure most prominently. However, this
arrangement has vulnerable spots be-
cause there are many other southern
Democrats who feel they are entitled
to consideration, and they may not
be satisfied with such a combination
On top of all this is a statement
from White House quarters that the
President will remain aloof Mr..
Roosevelt considers the speakership
fight solely house matter, but it must
be added that the Presidents pro-
nouncement has not deferred some Of
his satellites. A dozen or more New
Dealers are active and some say that
they have agreed on Mr.. Rayburn and
Mr.. Mccormack. If that be true Mr..
Roosevelt is in tough spot unless he
wants to declare openly that he does
not favor Mr.. Rayburn and Mr.. Nc
Cormack. In which event he is ex-
pected to antagonize their supporters
1t cannot be gainsaid that Mr.. Ray
burn is in White House favor. He
played ball on the administration
diamond very we'll last winter and was
commended for his efforts. The Ray
burn supporters, however, find them
selves confronted with the old custom
of the house that the majority leader
always should be elevated to the
speakers rostrum and there are
enough old line Democrats in the
house who will want to maintain that
tradition, to create factional trouble
1t is to be seen, therefore. that the
speakership fight holds potentialities
of a controversy that may last through
the entire session. That is the one
thing which the White House most
desires to avoid.
The responsibility which the admin
istration carries in having such COM
plete control of gov
Bor0h ernmental machinery
Crificizes has its thorny cush-
ion despite the abil-
ity to muster a two-thirds majority in
both the house and the senate. One
of the sharpest of the thorns appar-
emily is Senator William E. Borah OF
Idaho, Progressive Republican. Mr..
Borah always has played a lone hand
in the senate and he apparently is go
ing to do so again.
The first harpoon which the Idaho
senator has thrown was directed at
the relief policies pressed through and
administered by professional believers.
Mr.. Borah says there is an enormous
amount of waste in connection with
the relief activities. He says there
are thousands of superfluOus jobs be-
ing maintained out of relief funds I'M
der the guise of distributing the
money. He has called attention as
well to the lack of coordination and
the apparent inability of the relief
heads to arrive at uniform bases for
ministering to the destitute. Having
begun the fight well In advance OF the
opening Of congress MIR. Bo1ah can be
expected to give it momentum from
time to time so that when it reaches
the floors of congress ii can be count
ed on to be more than a puff ball.
OF course, the administration has
fought to ward off just such attacks
as Mr.. Borah has inaugurated. by an
nouncement of employment plans and
transfer of unemployed from relief
rolls to work rolls. / reported to you
several weeks ago that Mr.. Roosevelt
favored elimination of the dole and
the creation of work for which the
present unemployed would be paid.
Yet 1t is being pointed out in many
quarters here that pursuit of such
plan as the President has In mind re-
Quires an immense amount OF study.
Otherwise 1t is liable to flop and If It
goes off half-cocked, undoubtedly the
criticism will be more vigorous.
Mr.. Borah certainly will have a suf-
ficient number of colleagues who view