Evening star., 1936-11-19
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G.. GOULD LINCOLN.


reelection to the Senate. The veteran
Senator carried his State on November
over his Democratic opponent, Gov.
Ross, by some 5000 votes. His vote
in Idaho exceeded that of President
Roosevelt by approximately 5000. This
raises an interesting speculation as to
what might have happened had Borah
been the presidential nominee instead Of
Gov. ALI M. Landon of Kansas. A
prediction was made early in the year by
one Democratic Senator from the West
that If the Republicans nominated BOrah
for President he would carry practically
all of the States west Of the Mississippi.
In the light of the great strength shown
by the President in the recent election It
scarcely seems probable that this proph-
ecy would have been borne out. Never
theleSS, Borah might have given the
President much more of tuSsle in that
part of the country.
y *+ X
President Roosevelt had with him, as
shown in the election, the great mass
of voters in the big cities of the country.
In some of these cities the vote in the
past has been strongly Republican, as
in Philadelphia almost invariably, and
to considerable degree also in Chi
cagO. 1t is doubtful that the nomination
of Borah would. have shaken this
allegiance of the city vote to Roosevelt.
Also it appears that until the Repub-
lcanS are able to get back good part
of this city vote from the Democrats
they will have a tough time winning
national elections.
The retirement of Dr. Rexford G. Tug
we'll from the administration has been
accomplished with considerable smooth
ness and dignity. There is no ripple Oh
the surface. Nevertheless, 1t looks very
much to persons who follow the rami-
fications OF government here as though
another Hull-Moley case had been con-
cluded. Prof Raymond Moley was
Assistant Secretary of State. He was
the original head OF President RooSevelt'S
brain trust" He had the entree of the
White House and the Presidents ear.
There was an unfortunate clash over
divided authority. as could scarcely have
been avoided. The showdown came when
Mr.. Moley made his historic dash across
the Atlantic to the Economic Confer
ence, with ideas that did not conform
with Secretary Hull'S understanding of
the attitude of the President. 1t be-
came apparent that Mr.. Hull did not care
to continue in the State Department
if he were not to be the Secretary of
State in fact as well as in name. The
President in the end backed MI Hull
and Mr. Moley retired.
X 4
In the case of DR.. Tugwell, who be-
came brain truster No. after the resig-
nation of Moley, similar situation had
developed in the Department of Agri-
culture Tugwell had the entree to the
White House. He was a favorite of the
President. The question of control in
the department, while 1t did not SEEM
ingly come to the surface as it had in the
State Department, nevertheless, has
been sometimes irritating. There was
no open breach between Secretary Wal
lace and DR.. Tugwell, who was elevated
to be Undersecretary Of the depart
ment from Assistant Secretary when the
superior office was created. But there
was always the question of control and
of having the Presidents ear
More recently Tugwell became head
OF the ReSettlement Administration,
which has been independent of the De-
partment OF Agriculture and gave Tug
well an independent governmental
status. Now it has been proposed that
the ReSettlement Administration be
placed under the Department of Agricul-
ture and absorbed into the department.
Doubtless good part of the r. A. will
be so absorbed. In the process there was
bound to be a readjustment of control
with Tugwell's control lessening and
oil
The recent election, in which the
President carried all the great agri-
cultural States of the West and Middle
West increased the prestige of Secretary
Wallace Here again is parallel with
Secretary Hull of the State Department,
whose constant fight for the reciprocal
trade agreements as the proper method
of resuscitating Americas foreign COM
merce was apparently indorSed by the
voters. The election showed how the
farmers stood toward Secretary Wallace;
showed that they approved his policies
and his methods of dealing with them.
Dr.. Tugwell in his methods Of dealing
with the farmers has differed somewhat
from the Secretary. The latter sought
always cooperation with the farmers
and relied upon their working out their
own salvation to as great an extent as
possible. Secretary Wallace has called
for an economic democracy, with as little
control from Washington as possible.
DR.. Tugwell, on the other hand, more in
line with the social worker idea, has
sought to direct the activities of the
r. A. as they touch the farmers. with
control coming from the top down, and
from Washington.
The President has backed Secretary
Wallace several times in the past in
matters of control in his department.
There was the case of George Peek,
whose ideas did not run along with
those of Wallace and some of the others
in the department. Peek went out Of
the department and became foreign
trade adviser of the President until he
ran up against Secretary Hull. Then
Peek left the administration and became
its critic. The next case was that Of
Jerome Frank and several other cleft
wingers" in the Department of Agricul-
ture. They, too, were eased out of the
department. And now DR.. Tugwell is
going. Secretary Wallace remains on top
of the heap SO to speak.
In the recent election campaign WAL
lace was in the forefront of the battle.
DR.. Tugwell, on the other hand. took
no part in the fracas, although he him.
self was the constant target of attack
l,,, tha DapuhlinanS and anti -NeW