Evening star., 1936-12-28
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

has been q great deal OF talk about an
"era Of good feeling" Generally speak
ing. the country, which Is emerging from
a period of depression, would be inclined
favorably to such an era Of good feeling.
II there are to be reprisals, however, the
feeling Of the. country may change. The
only evidence, so far, from Democratic
sources, that there are 10 be reprisals,
is the notice to Senator Rush D. Holt of
West Virginia that he is to be stripped
OF Senate patronage. He is to lose the
right to appoint some Of his constituents
to jobs in the Capitol itself. He has
been so notified by Senator Hayden of
Arizona, chairman of the Senate Patron
age Committee.
Senator Holt is a Democrat. He had
the termerity to attack the manner in
which relief and relief jobs were being
distributed in his State and in Penn
sylvania. 1t was not chubby. Certainly
during campaign year it was not chubby.
He even went SO far as to have q con-
ference with Gov. ALI M. Landon, the
Republican nominee for President, and
at the conclusion Of the conference to
declare that Landon was a pretty good
fellow, or words to that effect. This. in
the opinion of the Senate Democrats,
was lese majesty. He is to suffer accord
ingly. So far there has been no evi-
dence that Republicans who were critical
Of the administration are to suffer beyond
the ordinary.
Disciplining Of a Democratic Senator
by the party in power may appear to be
entirely natural. But whether it is wise
or not will be revealed by subsequent
events. The Democratic party as it is
now constituted is composed of many
and diverse elements. Whether it can
hang together during the next four years
remains to be seen. They rallied strongly
about President Roosevelt in the last
election. The presumption is, however.
that the President will not again be
candidate to succeed himself in the
White House. II that is correct, the
next candidate for President of the
Democratic party must also be able to
rally these various elements Of the voting
population. The Republican party back
in 1924 and 1925, undertook to discipline
the late Senator Bob La Toilette, the
late Senator Ladd and others who were
unwilling to 60 along with President
Coolidge in that campaign. They were
not very strenuous in their disciplining,
however. But such as it was, 1t did not
get them very far in the end. In that
same year Democratic Senator, Senator
Burton K. Wheeler, ran for Vice Presi-
dent on the ticket with Senator La
Toilette. Did the Democrats at that time
undertake to discipline Senator Wheeler?
They did not. He was welcomed back
into the party. and there he has re-
malned, although progressive always.
X y
Senator Holt, the youngest Senator to
be elected or to take seat in the Upper
House since the days of Henry Clay, is
. dynamic young man. He, moreover,
is a Senator Of the United States, and
IS such has considerable power. The
rules Of the Upper House have not yet
been changed materially. A single Sena-
tor can cause great grief to the majority
party when pet measures are up for
consideration. The late Senator Huey p.
Long of Louisiana is a case in point.
Senator Holt may not be a Huey Long,
nevertheless he has the same oppor-
tunity for causing trouble. From all that
has gone before, Senator Holt may yet
prove ny in the ointment. Much will
depend upon how he takes the "re-
priSals." If he swallows the disciplining
by the Democratic Senators. that is one
thing. If he does not, 1t may be dis
tinctly something else.
There are other indications that all
may not be beer and Skittles" for the
Democrats in the coming Congress.
Already there are signs OF disagreement
among the Democrats. Not all of them
see alike in the matter of appropriations
for relief, not in the matter of the
reorganization of the executive depart
ments and Independent agencies Of the
Government There is a group which
earnestly believes the time is at hand to
use the pruning knife. This goes both
for relief and for the proposed reorgan-
1zation OF the Government departments.
Harry Hopkins. the head of the w. P. A.
and the chief distributor of Federal
relief, for example, has very different
ideas from those held by Senator King
OF Utah and by Senator Byrd Of Vir-
ginia. The President so far has indi-
Gated that he, too, believes there
should be q dimunition Of the appro-
priations for relief. The pressure for
continued big appropriations for relief
doubtless will be very great. Whether
the President and the Congress will be
able to withstand this pressure Is yet
to be determined.
In the matter of Government reorgan-
ization the President already has said
that he believes much can be done to
bring greater efficiency in administra-
ton. At the same time he has said
that he believes little can be accom-
plished In the matter of economy-that
is, in the matter of cutting down ap-
propriations or eliminating agencies that
have been created. Apparently 1t is his
purpose to bring about consultations III
the Government service, to bring about
q arrangement Of the various agencies
without eliminating those now in exist
ence. This does not, however, conform
to the desires of some of the Senators
and Representatives who are out to use
the pruning knife.
The administration may seek to estab-
lish some new and perhaps permanent
policy regarding relief: 1t may produce
some new formula dealing with Situa-
ton that has threatened to get out Of
hand, Is evidenced by the strikes Of
w. p. A. workers and the projected
march on Washington Of the workers
now on relief rolls This is one of the
real problems which confronts the ad-
ministration. Not many persons believe
that the Federal Government can con-
tinue to spend money for relief on the
present scale. On the other hand, many
ILL = II s-E