The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-15
TOWNSEND PLAN
GIVING 0RECON'S
c. 0. P. WILLIES'
0ARP Clubs Are Powerful
in State Politics, Stokes
Learns.
BY THOMAS L. STOKES
Times Special Writer

oSllu DIOUuo ONtI OIeBOil. IL III co
the aged and INDECENT with hope,
and gives established political lead
ers the willies.
The virus injected by the Cali
fornia physician has been so effec-
tive in this neighboring state
$4,000 Townsend Club members are
enrolled in this city alone-that no
one calculates politics without it.
Only one thing appears certain in
Oregon, as far as anything in pol
iticS ever is certain, and that is that
President Roosevelt will carry the
state in November-provided there
is no Townsend national third party
TO pull away the voters.
There is much talk here Of such
a party.
Chief interest here is what effect
the Townsend Plan will have on the
political future of Senator Charles
r. McNary, Republican leader, who
is up for reelection.
McNary Is Institution
Except for the Townsend Plan,
no one would worry minute about
Senator McNary, for he is an :nsti-
tuition here, with Democratic as
we'll as Republican support just as
Senator William Bordah is in Idaho
and Senator Herman johnson in
California.
But the Townsend octopus has
begun to send out its tentacles to-
ward the political machinery of the
state, clutching local leader here
and self-appointed leader there.
AS result, you find timid politi-
clans Scurrying to cover. The Sena-
torial and congressional races will
have their Townsend blessed can
didates.
Noisiest just now is Willis F.
Mahoney, a carpet-bagger from ad-
joining Washington who came down
to Klamath Falls, jumped into pol
itics and was elected Mayor after
living there only one year. He is a
pushing sort of fellow who is clever
at picking issues and going places
with them.
Defeated for Governor
1t is he who would have Senator
McNarys scalp.
A Democrat, he ran unsuccessful
ly for the gubernatorial nomination
against the present Governor, Gen.
Charles H. Martin, the ex-Army
officer who served in Congress.
Mayor Mahoney publicly accepted
the call" to run against Senator
McNary on the Townsend Plan
platform at the Jackson Day Din
ner here.
When he was included among the
speakers on that occasion, word
went around that he was going to
talk about the Townsend Plan. He
was warned not to, and apparent
ly this was the understanding. But
the inspiration of the occaSion-or
Old Hickory, or something-got the
better of him and he delivered an
Grafton about the $780, month
pension scheme.
He Accepts Nomination
Warren Irwin, state legislator
who runs piano store, sat right
behind the Mayor. When the speak
er concluded, the legislator jumped
to his feet before the Mayor could
sit down and, raising his arms aloft,
he shouted:
II hear a voice in the wilderness
Il nominate Willis E. Mahoney fol
TT,atf
We'll" said the Mayor, I'll &C
cept the call"
He'd run, he said, on the Town
send Plan. And if the Democrats
wouldn't adopt it. he'd campaign of
his own on the issue. On q prev
ious occasion he'd taken the Demo-
Gratis to task for not trying to beat
Senator McNary. He urged them to
bury their complex about the Sena-
tors invulnerability.
Backers Hope for Break
McNary champions are hoping for
the breaks that time sometimes
gives-either that the Townsend
plan will have died down by No.
vember; that his own advocacy of
higher pensions for the aged than
now provided by the AdminiStra-
ton plan may keep the voters in
line, or that present squabbles
among the Townsend leadership in
the state may destroy the move
ment.
And they are squabbling now.
One internal row broke into the
open a few days ago when c. E.
Hansen, former hot-dog stand OPP
orator, who is oStenSibly head of the
Townsend clubs in this state, sus-
pended the angel" of the move
ment here, one Jack M. Barde, and
revoked his license to speak as a
representative of the Townsend
clubs.
Referendum Shows Strength
Mr.. 6arde, son of a junk dealer,
who has expanded his fathers busi-
ness and now calls it steel COM
pany, recently went out and formed
his own organization by getting a
charter for Townsendites, Inc. This
jab at Mr.. Hansen led to the re-
taliation and suspension.
How strong the Townsend clubs
are was shown in recent refer
endum on several issues.
The Townsend clubs went on
record against a proposed sales tax
to finance the state social security
program, and their influence, along
with that of organized labor and the
State Grange, was held responsible
for its overwhelming defeat. They
would stand for no plan to finance
a social security program that was
not theirs, and, furthermore, a sales
tax now would initiate against their
proposal for a pyramided transac-
tions tax to finance their own