Evening star., 1935-04-22
Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

Donald r. Richberg. present head
Of the N. n. A., got of on the wrong
foot when he issued an indignant
statement Saturday denouncing the
Brookings Institution and charging
that 1t was playing politics. He as
serted that the institution published"
its report attacking the N. r. A. the
day the Senate Finance Committee
wound up its hearings on the bill to
extend that agency of Government.
Gen. Hugh s. johnson, former chief
OF the N. r. A., q star witness for the
New Dealers. had concluded the testi-
mony. Richberg said that the publi-
cation Of this intemperate document"
in aid Of the attack on the N. r. A..
had been timed to blanket" the testi-
mony Of the general in the news
papers. Richberg said this was quite
unworthy Of an institution assuming
the character Of scientific impartial
ity."
Mr.. Richberg's statement. issued to
the press, seems particularly tntem-
perate In the light Of the story told
at the Capitol as to how the report
OF the Brookings Institution on the
N. r. A. actually reached the COM
mittee and how 1t was placed in the
record Of the committee hearings.
More than q week before the Senate
committee hearings were concluded
with Gen. Johnson's testimony-Sen-
ator King Of Utah, Democratic mem
Der OF the committee and hostile to
the N. r. A., suggested to a COM
mlttee assistant that the Brookings
Institution had issued some pamphlets
on price fixing under the N. r. A.
and that he would like to have them
for the use Of the committee. Ac-
cordingly the Brookings Institution
was requested to send these pamphlets
to the Capitol. The institution replied
that it would do so, and also that
1t was just about to publish a book,
giving an exhaustive and fuller report
on the N. r. A., which was then in
page proof, and would be glad to
furnish that material also to the
committee.
The letter Of the BrookingS InSti.
tuition to the committee containing
this information was dated Monday,
April Is, and the hearings did not
close until Thursday. The page proof
was sent to the committee. Senator
King prepared to introduce much of
its salient statements into the record.
Indeed, he had 1t all prepared to
oner Wednesday, the day before Gen.
johnson wound up the testimony on
N. r. A. But, it Is said, the Senator
had an engagement to 60 to the base
ball game that afternoon and hurried
on without putting the matter into
the record. So the Brookings Insti-
tuition report went in on Thursday
The Brookings Institution pared
no press release and had expected to
issue none until later on It's repo.. I.
The request Of the committee for the
page proof and publication of the re-
port did not come from any sugges-
ton Of the institution.
\ i ~
II the Roosevelt administration gets
a public reputation for Withholding
relief funds from States or congress-
ional districts in an effort to punish
political opponents of the President,
it will stir up hornets nest. From a
practical political point of view, it
would probably be better to let some
Of the gravy go the way Of the admin
istration's enemies than to seek to
shut of the source Of supply: better
to choke these enemies to death with
kindness than to arouse the enmity OF
whole sections of the country BY with
holding relief funds. There has been
demonstrated already. however, q will
ingness to crack down on the part of
administration officials. And cracking
down In this case means Withholding
funds or seeking to handle them In
different way. The first point of at
tack was Ohio, where Harry L. Hop
kins, r. z. r. A. administrator, made
charges against Gov Davey. Gov.
Davey replied In kind. Ohio Is q 'piv.
otal" State in elections. II the Roose-
velt administration creates enough
enemies-in addition to the Governor,
who Is Democrat-in that State, 1t
may regret 1t in November, 1896.
4
Down in Louisiana the President
has an active opponent in the person
Of Senator Huey Long, practical die
tator of the State. If Long confined
his activities to Louisiana. the admin
istration might forget him and his
criticisms. But he doesn't. He is even
threatening to run as an independ-
ent candidate for President and has
worried the Roosevelt Democrats con-
siderably. They have found 10 way
to stop Huey yet, although they have
been looking for some handle to put
on the brakes. The row with Long
may be entirely justified. Secretary
1ckes has charged that Long would
use the Government work-relief funds
to build up his own political organ
ization II permitted to do so. So
there has been a threat by the admin
istration not to turn over funds to
Louisiana, allotted for public works.
Judging from the manner In which
Long has built up his dominance Of
the State, Mr.. Ickes may be right.
Long, on the other hand, replies by
saying that the Federal Government
plans to ruin him by spending mil
ioAio uPOA ullAAOllo VI uOlldIc III AOul"
siana through an organization that
will be made up of his political en-
emies. It is just that kind of charge
that the President is seeking to build
himself up for the campaign next
year through the expenditure of re-
lief money-that' may hurt.
Gov. Talmadge of Georgia, another
Democrat who has been harsh critic
Of the Roosevelt New Deal, takes the
view that, despite suggestions that the
administration may crack down on
his State and hold up relief funds,
those funds will be forthcoming. Ap-
parently he Is convinced that the ad-
ministration will not make the error
Of trying to punish him and at the
same time punish the State Of Georgia.
y X
In the light Of growing opposition
to many of the New Deal policies, the
expenditure of nearly i've billions Of
dollars Of relief funds by the admins
tration takes on added importance
politically. How it will be possible to
defeat an administration at the polls