The Washington times., 1936-07-20
SEE
M'CARL DO
ABOUT FACE
BY EARL GOODWIN

leased from the responsibilities Of
his IS year tenure of office as
Comptroller General, became a
political blood brother Of Cover
nor Alfred M. Landon last week,
he called the attention Of Wash
ington observers to the fact that
the John McCarl Of today is far
from the John McCarl Of the ear
lier days when he was so strong q
supporter and official aid OF Sena-
tor George w. Norris Of Nebraska.
John McCarl, hard boiled Off
cial "No" man Of the government,
with no illusions and apparently
no taste for crusading, was once
Senator Norris's secretary, and IL
was the boost that Senator Norris
gave to Mr.. McCarl which landed
him in the unique and powerful
Job in which he became famous
for his iron clad policy Of stick
ing strictly to the law in admins
terfng the General Accounting
Office.
Constantly ON Move
Probably no man in Congress
has spent SO many years con"
stantly on the move in q pro-
gressive direction as has Senator
Norris. From the time he staged
the revolt against the old Can
non rules of the House up until
this term of office in the Senate
the Nebraska Progressive mas
been constantly fitting with some
political enemy or going to bat
with all his strength for some
political ideal. No other man In
Congress, it is commonly SAID.
has seen so many Of his ideas
bear fruit.
He has been the constant foe
of the private power interests
and has been foremost in putting
over such things as iva, the
Rural Identification Administrar
ton and it's 10-year program; he
is the author of the amendment
to the Constitution abandoning
the lame.iuck session Of Con
greSs and changing the date of
Inauguration; he is the father OF
the idea of the one-bodied or uni
cameral" legislature IN Nebraska.
In all his fight for good gov
eminent, and in his assaults
against "the interests" he had
John McCarl with him for years,
and it is now an odd contrast
to the former political twinship
existing between these two men
that they should fall apart into
different camps on the one great |
thing which typifieS the Norris
Dream of liberal government
namely, the Tennessee Valley
project, where one Of the great
power dams is named for the
Nebraska Senator.
On that experiment in power, |
sociology, conservation, agricul-
ture and what-not, John McCarl
splits violently with Norris-and
as the Nebraska Senator becomes |
a Nebraska New Dealer, Mr.. Nc
Carl takes the other path and
becomes q Landon-KnoX Repub- |
hcan, Sternly demanding q return |
to a practical government which |
has no idealiStic and starryeyed
eXperimenterS on its string. John |
McCSrl made more trouble for
the iva than all the other crit
les. iva officials have told their |
friends privately that Mr.. McCarl |
carried on what they felt was
practically espionage on the &C.
tivitieS in the Tennessee Valley. |
Comptroller General McCarl was
aghaSt at the things he saw in
the way of millions of dollars |
Mr.. McCarl did not have so close |
a hold on iva accounts. This is
a matter which has undoubtedly
made good Landon conservative
out of q former mid-weStern pro-
greSSive.
John McCarl talks the Landon |
language when they discuss run
ming the Government at a lower !
cost; but both of them will no
doubt find that they will not be
allowed to have the exclusive right |
to that subject.
Senator Harry Byrd, Of Vir-
ginia, has been hammering away
at economy and has q Senate |
committee to back up what he
produces from the study which |
the BrookingS Institution Is now
making for him.
Also President Roosevelt has a
rival and somewhat parallel COM
mission studying the shortest way
to get rid Of useless motions and
unnecessary expenses in the ad-
miniStration Of government. On
the Presidents commission is