The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1936-02-13

inStallments.
1t Is having an argument inside the
organization over whether this present
legal rate of assessment Is not an un-
necessary burden on the banks Some
of Its advisers believe that just one
more semiannual installment should
be levied, and then no more until
necessity should arise Each semian-
nual installment brings In from $780,
100000 to $50, 100000.
More Consolidating
All of which attracts the envious no
tice of the new heads OF the Federal
Reserve system. SO they want to do Z
little consolidating OF government agen-
cies. complying with the 1882 platform
pledge by taking over FDIC. lock,
stock and barrel, and turning 1t into
a bureau OF the Reserve system.
Director Crowley, OF FDIC. sees very
little virtue In this suggestion, almost
as little as Jesse Jones sees In Crow
ley's ambitions to take away RIGS
grip on a great many banks scattered
over the country.
Meanwhile great impetus has been
given to the old move to unite the In
vestigating bodies Of the governments.
Virtually every department has one,
starting of with the original secret
service In the treasury, now very much
overshadowed by the bureau OF inves-
tIgation In the Department of Justice.
But virtually without exception
every department wants to keep Its
own service, and insists that much
Of the value to Its particular detectives
would be lost II Its Investigators were
made part OF general organization,
spread out over the whole government.
The State department II particularly
sensitive about any idea OF merging
Its investigating work with that OF the
others State department officials be-
lieve that the vital need Of secrecy In
Its operations precludes their being
banded about" as they put 1t, all
over huge national detective force.
In a way, 1t all gets back to what
Herbert Hoover said about the bears
when he was secretary OF commerce,
One kind OF bear was under the In
terror department. another under Ag-
riculture, and third under Commerce.
President Harding went to Alaska tn
straIghten out that sort of thing, and
cut red tape. But the bears are still
under the three departments
Clever Miss Perkins
Just one prominent pro-Roosevelt
figure In all Washington showed long
range political intelligence on com
menting on the Al Smith speech at the
American Liberty league dinner. This
was Miss Frances Perkins, secretary
OF labor. And by strange colncI.
dence 1t Is the first time since inangu
ration that Miss pedkins has done
anything which In the opinion of dis
interested observers was really OF DO.
litical benefit to the Roosevelt cause.
What Miss Perkins did was to keep
the door open for Smith to come back
and to avoid doing anything to make
Smith or Smiths followers any madden
than they already were. In short. she
not only served notice that the door
was open for him to come back, but
put out a welcome mat instead OF
erecting barhed wire ENHANCEMENT
Which latter Is precisely what most
of the vocal Democrats on Capitol
Hill did. And this goes not only for
the hot-headed Southerners, like Sena-
tor James r.. Byrnes Of South Carolina
and Speaker Joseph w. Byrns of Ten
nessee, but for supposedly cold blooded
northern Democrats like Representa-
tive John ]. O'Connor OF New York
chairman OF the house rules committee
His remark that .of all people. Smith
should be the last to attack Roose-
velt," reflects the thought very accu-
rately OF most OF the Roosevelt insId-
ers, but is not calculated to pacify the
Smith following.
And the Importance OF President
Roosevelt's reelection In gratifying
the feelings OF Roosevelt insiders Is
not very great. The President has
those votes anyway. Highly significant
In connection with Chairman O'Con-
nor's remark also Is the expected bat
tie to Gust James J. Dooling from the
Tammany leadership II has been
known for some time that Postmaster
James A. Farley wanted change In
the Tammany control. He wanted one
OF his own men. about whose loyalty
to Roosevelt there could be no ques-
tIon. In the saddle at the Wigwam.
Promises Fight
While Southern statesmen, thinking
they were doing Roosevelt a favor,
were raklng up the bitter memories OF
1909 md citing CmIth'q d{rapnofnt