Evening star., 1934-01-15
The Political Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

The chairman OF the Democratic
Nstional Committee. Postmaster Gen.
eral James A. Farley, fired the first gun
Of the congressional campaign Of 1884
ON Saturday In Cleveland, Ohio, during
an address at the Cleveland auton1o-
tive luncheon. He stated the case for
the Democratic party and President
Roosevelt and made q good job OF 1t.
| Incidentally he took occasion to issue
| warning to those members Of Con-
gress now IN session who undertook to
buck the Roosevelt program. Mr.. Far
ley also took occasion to praise those
/ Republicans in Congress who have
| gone along with the administration in
its efforts to develop the Roosevelt re-
coyery plans. This seems by no means
bad strategy on the part Of the Demo-
cratic chairman. He, like other DEM
ocratic leaders. and perhaps none more
| so than the President himself, realize
that II the Democratic party is to re-
main In power 1t must have the sup
| port of q lot of the rank and file Re-
! publicans and of the independent voters
who wear no party yoke whatever.
"The last Congress-" said Mr.. Far
ley, did not stint in its support Of Pres
ident Roosevelt when he described the
critical situation of the country and
/
gency, and my hat is of to my polit-
ical opponents for their part in that
performance" And he added sig
nifcantly: Moreover, 1 am sure that
| the present session of Congress will be
as industrious and loyal and unselfish
In the Nations service as was It's prede-
| cessor"
| Mr. Farley admitted that some voices
have been raised 'in the old fashion"
against what the President Is seeking
to do. He listed the owners OF these
voices among the "crusted old guards
men and standpatters," relics of an
order which is an but extinct" and the
| inha bitants of that swamp of disap-
pointment, tenanted by those who have
already been relegated to private life by
their constituents" Some of the noise
Of opposition, he continued, has come
from chronic noisemakers, without
influence In their party. q few OF whom
come to the surface in every Congress
to the dismay OF their intelligent and
patriotic colleagues" Mr.. Farley may
have been referring in this uncompli-
mentary language to the Louisiana
Kingfish. Senator Huey p. Long. Un-
doubtedly. he was referring to the Re
publican gadfly of the present Senate,
Senator Arthur Robinson Of Indiana.
who misses no opportunity to deride and
attack the Roosevelt administration and
all its works. Then he ventured into
the field of prophesy. saying:
The people will, at the first oppor-
tunity, take care of the cases of those
who seek to embarrass the President
and make his tasks more difficult. We
have an election of congressman this
Fall. and / will miss my guess II the
| names Of the men to whom I have
been referring are not missing when
! the roll is called convening the Seventy
fourth Congress"
Mr.. Farley's picture Of the President,
of his strenuous efforts to bring order
out of chaotic economic conditions and
| to make the new DEAL successful, is
| in line with the coming campaign for
reelection OF the Democrats in Con-
gress. II. indeed, sounds the keynote
of the campaign. Nor did he overlook
| the weak joint in the Democratic
armor. the huge public debt that is
I being piled up as the recovery program
I is carried out. This is the one point OF
| attack upon which the Republicans
| have with considerable unanimity be-
! gun an assault upon the Roosevelt
! administration. And not all the Re
! publican5 so-called have Joined in this
attack. Some of the progressives on
! the Republican side would shove the
/ public debt still higher. Mr.. Farley
| said of the big expenditures:
Some folk seem TO be appalled, at
! the extent of expenditures incident to
| the recovery program-at the billions
which have been allocated for public
| works, or to take care Of farm and
home mortgages, or in some other way
to aid in the establishment Of normal
credit relations and normal business
| dealings OF course, the amount IS
large. But don't forget that the money
is being spent to provide work for the
! millions who have been without jobs
and who have been subsisting upon
| charity
49,
1t is rather an unusual thing for the
Republican leader of the House to un-
/ deItake to tell the Senate what 1t should
! do with respect to matter which comes
wholly within the jurisdiction of the
Senate and over which the House has
no authority whatever-the ratification
| of a treaty with a foreign nation. Yet
Representative Bertrand H Smell OF
+ New York has issued a public state
ment in which he calls for the ratifica-
ton of the treaty with Canada for the
construction of the st. Lawrence
waterway. 1t happens that both the
| Senators from New York are Democrats
and both are opposing strenuously the
ratification of this treaty. particularly
! on the theory that it will take from
the Atlantic ports of the United States
a great volume of trade with foreign
nations that now passes through them.
y X
! Mr. Smell himself halls from New
| York State He stands forth as a sup
porter of President Roosevelt in this
! fight over the treaty. fight that has
| threatened to become defeat for the
Chief Executive. Mr. Smell attributes
the fight to a coalition Of public util-
itv. railroad and seaboard port inter-
ests. In other words. he lines up the
Democratic Senators from New York
with these interests. perhaps making
an interesting political situation in the
Empire State, particularly as the Re-
publican leader of the House Is stand
ing with the President and the Presi-
dents own party members of the Sen
! ate from that State are opposing him.
! X
Mr. Smell also aligns himself in this
matter with the Progressive Republican
group in the Senate, which is another
strange situation The PrOgressives
are to a man backing the treaty. Mr..
Smell expressed the hope that the Re
publican Senators are sticking to the
pledge contained in the Republican
party platform of 1882 and feel party
obligation to support treaty negot-
ated and consummated under the last
Republican regime and supported by
the last three Republican Presidents" !"
In other words. it is good Republican
doctrine to support the treaty. and Mr..
SHELLS appeal is to the regular Repub-
licans to keep in line for the pact.
The Republican House leader takes
a final shot at Senator Wagner Demo-
crat. from New York, when he says:
THE Senator's eloquent opposition
to the treaty is without doubt the
| heaviest artillery to be had against the
seaway. I predict a diminishing fire
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