The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1936-04-16

ing no charges-he merely wants the
list, and says the senate is entitled to
the information.
Graft Not Involved
AS mater of fact, those on the
inside say that there is no particular
question of graft involved In this list
OF the big benefit recipients. No one
has ever questioned that there was
lot of petty graft In AAA payments
collision between county agents and
farmers to bring about benefit pay
ments where actually no reductions IN
acreage were made. Experts In the
AAA, while OF course not claiming to
have anything like an accurate Idea
Of how widespread this sort OF thing
was, point out that 1t simply could not
have happened In the big cases-those
coming within the scope OF the Van
denberg inquiry. They are confident
that this cheating" occurred almost
exclusively In small deals-and that,
while deplorable from moral point
Of view, such money was actually put
to q very good use. In that 1t helped
out farmers who were really hard up.
Nor Is there any contention on the
part of those supplying Vandenberg
and other critical senators with In
formation that the big payments were
crooked Actually most OF the biz
payments, they admit privately, were
for actual acreage reductions, serving
the purpose of AAA In crop curtail-
ments calculated to hold up the prices
Of agricultural staples.
The violent objection to giving up the
figures Is based entirely on Its ex-
pected psychological effect. Obviously
a farmer who right now thinks the
New Deal has been pretty good to
him Is apt to change his view II he
finds that a big New York bank got
thousands OF dollars for every ten he
received. The chap who had hard
time saving his farm is going to be
annoyed to find that the cham
pion Shylock OF his state Is the one
who received the most AAA benefit
checks. And so on.
Worry for Farley
The state OF Maine continues to be
a headache to Jim Farley. Not even
the magic figures OF Emil Hurja have
persuaded the postmaster general that
news OF great Democratic victory
will go ringing through the country
this September, encouraging Demo
cratic workers In doubtful states to
enthusiastic battling for the ticket.
There Is one big surprise In recent
batch OF confidential figures, obtained
from Democratic sources In the Pine
Tree state, and duly reported to
headquarters here. 1t Is that Repre-
sentative Simon M. Hamlin, whose de-
feat OF Congressman Carroll L. Beedy
In 1884 was such a surprise, Is actual
ly much stronger than Representative
Edward G. Moran, Jr, who has the
strongest, normally, Democratic dis
trict.
These confidential figures estimated
that Hamlin would be defeated by less
than 1900, whereas the majority as
signed against Moran was about 6,00O
Apparently the calculators had nc
hope OF defeating Representative Ralph
@. Brewster, from the remaining dis
trict, but the big jolt In their figures
from Farley's point OF view, was ar
estimate of $1,000 for the Republican
gubernatorial candidate
The report further indicated thai
Senator Wallace Fl. White, Jr., woule
defeat Frederick II. Dubord, thu
French Canadian who came so Close
to defeating Senator Frederick Hale
two years ago, by an Overwhelming
majority AS far as the November
election is concerned, this repor
showed every cent spent for the Dem
ocratic ticket after the September cleo
tlon would be just pure waste. 1t flg
ured a much heavier Republican ma
| jority In November than In September
This is not~sunusual, as a matter o
| fact In 1882, Maine electrified thu
| Democratic workers all over the coun
try by electing a Democratic governor
Louis j. Brann, and two OF the tire,
! Democratic candidates for congress
But In November Maine was one OF tn
| six states In the Union that cas-
their electoral votes for Herber
Hoover. ~
Turned on the Heat
In 1884, Farley, eager for ma
tIonal endorsement Of the Roosevelt
administration, turned on all the hea
he could bring to bear In Maine, wilt
the result. that the Democrats actuall
succeeded little better than they ex
pected. Farley was delighted at tn
time. The results encouraged Demo
cratic workers In other states iightin
for the November election.
Now he wishes very sincerely tina
he had not been so successful In 1881
Governor Brann, though popular !
I I hts own FfITfE-is- JJustit nth
neck to the administration. 1t ha
leaned heavily on his bitter enem,
Representative Moran.
Actually the results are importan