Evening star., 1934-04-12
The Political Mill
By G. Could Lincoln.

cause for Joy. In . State which has
been strongly Republican, except in
1880, when the Democrats elected
Senator, James Hamilton Lewis, and
in 1892, when the State went hell
bent" for President Roosevelt, the
Democrats polled in the primaries
this year more votes than the Re-
publicans.
There was q big vote that never
went to the polls at all on primary
day. But so far there has been no
indication that this vote will be Re-
publican when the general election
rolls around next November. Possibly
q lot of these absent voters have not
made up their minds what they are
going to do. Conditions that exist
next Fall may determine In large
measure how they will vote. At any
rate, 1t would look as though many
of the voters had not made up their
minds they disapproye Of the Roose-
welt administration.
| 4+%A
Senator James Hamilton Lewis, the
Democratic whip Of the Senate and
also the chairman Of the Demo-
cratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
warned his Democratic friends in nli-
nois that they must not become over
confident because Of the primary
results. "You must not overlook the
fact" he said, "that the Republicans
have for many years had a great ma
| jority in Illinois. Why they did not
70 to the polls is still question. The
Republicans have not yet disclosed any
program. The Republican voters in
the State are not, 1t is sure, content
to return to the Hoover policies. How
ever, the campaign Is still in the
making"
The Illinois Senator pointed out
that the great gains made by the
Democrats in point of numbers in
the primary was in Cook County,
which is Chicago and bit Of terri
tory outside. While the Democrats
did well also down State, their real
showing was made in Chicago. Speak
er Rainey made q runaway race for
denomination, defeating his opponent
4 to / or more, and Secretary Ickes
had the satisfaction Of seeing his
choice for Republican nominee from
the congressional district in which he
lives win over the incumbent. This
may not bring q new Democrat to the
House; indeed, it would be strange II
it did in that particular district, which
is Overwhelmingly Republican. But
certainly the result has been a boost
for Mr.. Ickes and the new deal. Only
one Democratic member OF the present
House from Illinois was defeated for
! denomination, Walter Nesbit, Repre-
sentative at large. Michael 1goe OF
Chicago, who has been prominent
figure in Democratic politics for years,
and Martin A. Brennan of Blooming
ton, who at present is Representative
at large, ran far ahead of Nesbit for
the two seats in the House from the
State at large.
President Roosevelt Is returning to
Washington tomorrow after an abb
sence of two weeks, spent in South
ern waters. The afternoon he de-
parted from Washington the House
voted Overwhelmingly to override his
veto of the independent ofices bill,
which contained more liberal pro-
visions for the veterans and the Gov
ernment workers than the President
was willing to grant. Two days later
the Senate did what the House had
done. During the President s. absence
the Senate Banking and Currency
Committee, under the leadership OF
Senator Carter Glass Of Virginia, has
amended the stock exchange bill ma
terially, knocking out the plan to
have the control vested partly in the
Federal Trade Commission and partly
in the Federal Reserve Board, plan
which was said to have the approval
! Of the President. Senator Glass
amendment, adopted by the commit
! tee, provides for an independent COM
mission Of three members appointed
by the President and confirmed by
the Senate. There have been other
indications that Congress was in
clined to act more independently.
The program has not advanced as
rapidly as was hoped. Yesterday the
| Senate adopted an amendment to the
revenue bill levying q tariff tax on
imported vegetable and fish oils,
which had been opposed by the Presi-
| dent on the ground that it was vio-
lative of the spirit of the recently
enacted Philippine independence act.
| *H X
The Presidents supporters in Con-
gress say that the results OF the
Illinois primary, which they inter-
pret as vindication of the new deal
and a strong show Of support Of
President Roosevelt, will help the
President in dealing with the legisla-
tive branch. There remain many i'm
portant matters to come up for con-
sideration, particularly in the Senate,
among them the reciprocity tariff bill,
already passed by the House; the
sugar allotment bill, the revenue bill
which has been amended materially
in the Senate. The silver bloc Is
seeking to force through Congress .
drastic silver bill which the President
has opposed. In the House there Is
clamor for the Mcleod bill to pay
of depositors in the closed banks,
with the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation lending the money on the
assets Of the banks to make such pay
ments. It remains to be seen whether
the Congress will come to heel when
| the President Is again In washington.
| 4 X 4 4
The hearing of Dr. William A. Writ,
Indiana educator, who charged that
some at least of the brain trusters
in Washington looked upon Roosevelt
| as the "Kerensky Of this revolution"
created more excitement than any
thing that has happened since Con-
gress assembled to hear President
Woodrow Wilson'S war message. Part
Of the crowd was drawn by a desire
to hear DR.. Writ disclose the names
Of the conspirators and the other part
in the hope of seeing the committee
tear DR.. Writ limb from limb for sug-
gesting that the new dealers were
trying to upset the Constitution OF
| the United States. The attitude OF
the Democratic members of the COM
mittee investigating DR.. Writ toward
the witness and the hearing In general
gave mighty poor impression.
Whether DR.. Writ had anything to
reveal or not, it looked as though the
committee WAS intent on keeping as