, 1935-05-27
WASHINGTON
BY RAY Tucker


Liberals = That private confer
ence recently held in an upstairs
White House roc..1 behind lowered
blinds - with guests stealing IN the
rear entrance - was the most i'm
portant political assemblage since
the 1882 Democratic National Con-
vention. The extraordinary attempt
TO keep Ii masked shows how the
participants from the president
down FEEL about its economic and po-
litical possibilities.
II was a session at which the
president asked for brutal criticism
from senate progressives who cam
paigned for him in 1892 but have
lately been turning against him IN
disappointment. Those invited 70
submit pent-up grievances were
Senators Norris. LaFollette. Wheel
er, Costigan and johnson. The
%cahineteers invited were the two
liberals - Wallace and IckeS. Con-
servatives in the senate and cabinet
we're barred. The symposium spark
ed and sizzled from shortly after
dinner until 2 in the morning, and
the guests did not spare their host.
They told him wherein they
thought he had failed in his pledges
to them and to the forgotten man."
They furnished hirn a bill Of par
ticulars concerning measures which
his friends and party leaders have
blocked or s~idetracked. They read
letters in which their constituents
charged them with having followed
a lost leader They still expressed
their hope in him, blaming his ap-
parent desertion on certain of his
advisers. They alleged that some OF
his advisers have definitely tried TO
keep the facts from him and TO in
Sulate him against liberal thought
and resentment.
Fruits - Their bitterness was a
surprise and a shock to the preSi-
dent. He had senSed that his pro
greSsive friends" we're avoiding the
White House but had been too oc-
cupied with other problems to in
quire into the cause. II was not I'M
I'll he received a disturbing letter
from Felix Frankfurter Of Harvard
that he learned OF the deep dis
satisfaction prevailing among lib
erals on both sides OF the senate
aisle.
Why didn't you tell me this.
pleaded the president after a demo-
cratic inSurgent had detailed his
complaint. In reply the senator ex-
planned that he had telephoned the
White House again and again but
had always been informed that the
president was too busy to see him.
Senator" replied the president in
a grieved tone. "the next time YOU
want 20 talk to me about anything
you telephone Miss Le Hand" mss
Marguerite lie Hand has bean the
presidents personal" secretary fol
many years. The progressive bloc
left the White House with the con-
viction that they had made a deep
impression upon its occupant. They
think the fruits of this mysterious
conclave show already in his deter
mination To force his far-IeachinR
program through congress without
compromise.
Hop - Huey Longs i~nsistence
that he Is a poor man" seeking
only the advancement OF the meek
and lowly is derided by democratic
sleuths who charge that he spends
freely to propagate his share-the-
wealth theories. They suggest that
certain interests inimical 10 the
New Deal are supplying him with
funds for stirring discomfort among
the young.
One Of Huey's most active and ar
dent disciples Is Eugene Daniel OF
New York. Mr.. Daniel figured IN
the headlines not 50 long ago as the
radical Harvard graduate who tear
gaSSed the New York Stock Elk
change and gave the bulls and bears
their first real cry In years. He
visits Mr.. Longs office frequently
and returns to New York with a
wad OF money which ne does not
make by selling the senator's news
paper on street corners.
Mr.. Daniel stages lavish beer
parties after these trips 70 Washing
ton. He boasts that there Is more
money where that came FROM The
Harvard man makes no ATTEMPT "a
wnoop EN- up at political rallies. He
simply collects adolescents In beer
cellars and Greenwich Village gar
oens. Then he fills them with hop
and Huey.
Strange = Republican higwigs are
mortally offended by these marches
on Washington. especially as the pa
rade has just begun. Unless the
COP can diScredit them As riRqed-
up affairs its leaders fear they will
turn out 10 be a distinct partisan
asset betwetl now and the 1885 cleo
ton
That explains Senator Hastings
concern. Although the senate re-
Jected his demand for an inveStiga-
ton. the chairman OF the Repub-
licanS' JOINT Congressional commit
tee Is keeping the issue alive. His
letter asking Secretary Wallace for
his version OF the farmers trek
y viz CPCAAAb @4n III bAAE
engagement.
The senator could find Wallace's
views In q book he wrote long be-
fore he became Secretary OF ARri-
culture. MI. Wallace declared Their
that farmers must demand the same
influence at Washington which cor
porate and labor Hobbies enjoy. He
still feels that IL the u. S. Chamber
Of Commerce can assemble 5000
delegates every year In its palatiaI
structure q block from the White
House. the farmers have the same
right to voice their desires and pro
tests. And the White House
strangely enough = sides with Wal
lace.
Nothing - Senator Tydings pick
ed the worst time in the world &c
suggest an international confer