Evening star., 1935-01-03
|ThePOliticalMill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

The South won again. When the
House Democrats yesterday elected
William B. Bankhead of Alabama to
be the party floor leader, they did the
expected. But at the same time, the
North and West have been ignored.
generally speaking, in picking the
J Democratic leaders in both Houses Of
Congress. Senator Joseph T. Robin
son Of Arkansas, veteran leader Of
the Upper House, was unanimously
reelected to that Office. Vice Presi-
dent Garner halls from Texas, called
q Southwestern State, but neverthe-
1 less a Southern State, and he is a
Southern man. The new Speaker of
the House, Joseph w. Byrns of Ten
! nessee, may be said to come from q
border State, although Tennessee is
generally credited with being
Southern"
The South won again when II came
| to the selection of a Speaker and the
election of a Democratic floor leader
\ because 1t had able candidates to
offer and because the other sections
of the country we're unable to agree
upon candidates to oppose the South
erners. Both Mr.. Byrns and Mr..
Bankhead have had long experience
in the House and both have demon
/ strated their abilities in many q
House conflict. The fact that Mr.
Byrns would be the party nominee
for Speaker had been known for
sometime. Indeed, the opposition to
him had folded up. After all, he had
been Democratic floor leader and
| under the practice of the Democrats
he was entitled to become Speaker
after the death of the late Speaker
| Rainey had cleared the way for him.
The North and the West may be
disappointed because of the way the
Democratic leadership has gone again
to the South. There may even be
the old criticism raiSed-that the
South Is in the saddle. But there
were plenty of Democrats in the North
and West who preferred to pick the
man they thought best qualified for
floor leader, rather than be guided by
mere sectionalism. O'Connor of New
York had the Tammany stamp on
him, which did not make his chances
any better. He gets, however, the
Craftsmanship of the Rules Commit
tee of the House and becomes over
night one of the triumvirate which
usually dominates in House manage
ment-the Speaker, the majority floor
leader and the chairman Of the Rules
Committee. So, as a matter Of fact,
O'Connor wins anyway. He attained
the Craftsmanship Of the Rules Com
mittee because he ranked second to
Bankhead, who was promoted from
the Craftsmanship to majority leader.
| + y y
The revolt talk among some Of the
Republican members of the House
who did not wish Representative Smell
of New York to be reelected minority
leader came to nothing. On the
showdown in the Republican caucus
yesterday only one vote was cast
against the New Yorker-a single
Kansas member voted for Mapes of
| Michigan rather than vote for Smell.
w. Kingsland Macy, former Repub-
lican State chairman of New York,
made no headway whatever in his
fight to hamstring Mr.. Smell and bring
about the election of a Republican
leader in the House with more pro-
gressive ideas. Smell has served as
Republican floor leader for the last
four years-during two Congresses.
| = y y
What to do with Senator Robert
| M. La Toilette of Wisconsin, recently
reelected as progressive" instead
of member of the G. o. P, was a
problem only for minute in the Re-
| publican Committee on Committees
of the Senate yesterday afternoon.
La Toilette was allowed to retain his
old committee places, to which he
had been appointed as Republican.
This looks like good political sense,
particularly if the Progressive party
in Wisconsin is eventually to return
to the Republican fold. The Repub-
lican Committee on Committees might
have undertaken to give La Toilette
q separate status and make him &c
to the foot Of the list in his assign
ments to standing committees. That
| is the course which was pursued in
relation to Senator Henrik Shipstead
| of Minnesota, Farmer -Laborite SEN
ator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, a
member of the Republican progressive
group with which La Toilette has
trained in the past, happens to be the
Committee on Committees. That may
have had something to do with the
way the Republicans decided to treat
their erstwhile party colleague.
X
Gov. Pinchot OF Pennsylvania, who
soon is to leave the Governors Office
to a Democrat, George H. Earle, Is
likely to be a candidate for Congress
in the old McFadden district, it is
rumored. McFadden was defeated in
the last election by Democrat. He
is out. Mrs Pinchot, the Governors
wife, has tried once or twice to wrest
the Republican nomination for the
House away from McFadden; he de-
feated her. The Pinchots are plan
ming to make another trip to the
South Seas after the Governor steps
out of Office. On their return they
are likely to open their house in
Washington.
While several Of the most promi-
nent Republicans in the Senate will
not be in their old places at the Capt.
tol as result of the November elec-
tions, some of them will linger on in
the Capital City. For example, Sen
ator David A. Reed of Pennsylvania
Is planning to open law Office in the
city, although he will also have a law
cfhce in Pittsburgh, his home. He
built q house here in S street, which
he will continue to occupy part of the
time. Mr.. Reed. who ceases to be a
Senator today, remains the Republican
national committeeman for Pennsyl-
vania. He has no idea of relinquishing
this office, for he retains a strong in
terest in what the Republican party
is to do in the future, and whom 1t is
to name for its presidential candidate
two years hence. Another veteran
Republican Senator who will continue
in Washington is Senator Fess OF
Ohio. Mr.. Fess is to write book.