Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-08-17

majority " no
have the public's interest at heart, a
resolution for investigation is per-
nitted to go through. The misdeeds
Of the Harding administration would
never have come to the surface if the
Republicans had had their way A
coalition of their political opponents
in the Senate made the investigation
possible
The strange thing about the present
situation is that, Notwithstanding the
open violation of the laws of the
United States, with the evidence avail
able and so plain that everybody can
see 1t, no effort is being made to prose
cute the offenders. The simple reason
Is that such prosecution might touch
the official family of the President of
the United States. With all the claims
of virtue that the New Deal has made
in the last four years and with all the
denunclations that have come from
the administration about the clever
little schemes Of tax avoidance and
malpractice of economic royalists, -
not single finger has been raised by
the White House to urge an investi-
cation or begin q prosecution of what
is such palpable case of crooked
government
Liberalism Only Veneer.
The laws of the United States for
bid corporations making contributions
to political campaigns Those laws
are intended to cover Democrats as
well ss Republicans, New Dealers as
well as Old Dealers, champions Of the
underprivileged, as we'll as scionS of
the overprivileged.
The scandals of 80 years ago in
American politics led to the adoption
OF these statutes so that no corpora
ton could have any claim or get any
favor from the Government as a con-
sequence of any contribution.
Today the corrupt practices act on
the statute books could DE enforced BY
United States attorneys or by grand
lurles in the various districts in which
the offenseS have been committed, but
due to the maneuvering of the New
Deal administration, nothing has been
done about it.
This IS a situation which calls for
real liberal" some one of the
rugged virtue of the late Senator
Robert NJ. La Toilette of Wisconsin,
or the probity of the late Senator
Tomas j. Walsh of Montana.
The so-called liberal" journals
which are usually so quick to denounce
wrong doing and immortality in gov
eminent are amazingly quiet about
this whole affair, having succumbed
probably to the old rule in politics
that one does not often pick a fight
with ones own allies.
The scandal over the sale of cam
palgn books to corporations would not
in itself be so striking were it not for
the atmosphere under the New Deal
in Washington which at times fairly
reeks with political corruption. The
political lawyers still ply their trade
and plenty of fixing still goes on
from day to day among those with
political pull" All this is merely a
confirmation of what some of us have
felt from the beginning, namely that
the New Deal on the outer surface has
ism, but underneath has a thick LAYER
OF political selfshness, political greed
and political graft.
This Is More Serious.
In an administration which does not
hesitate to get votes ON Capitol Hill
by promising Congressman patronage
and in an administration, too, where
even an appointment to the high office
OF associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States is used to
reward faithful party lieutenant in
the United States Senate, it is perhaps
not surprising that an inquiry into
the violation of the corrupt practices
law by corporations should be omitted
1t might be well to recall that Presi-
dent Coolidge, when the Teapot Dome
scandal broke, appointed two attorneys
a Republican and Democrat-as
special prosecutors and took the
matter entirely out Of the Department
Of Justice and politics so that the
public would be assured of a fair
prosecution.
1t will be said that there is a
difference between the Teapot Dome
scandal and the one that has now
developed under the Roosevelt ad-
mlnistration. In the former, oil re-
sources in the West were temporarily
given away but subsequently recovered
and cabinet officer, who was bribed
by an Oil man, was brought to trial
and convicted. The whole episode
involved the simple principle of a
cabinet officers honesty in public
office.
The new scandal, however is much
more far-reaching. It involves good
faith toward enforcement of the Fed
aral statutes. 1t involves the whole
Democratic national campaign and
involves collection of funds used to
pay debts incurred in electing a Presi-
cent of the United States to office
1t involves the use of duress in fore
ing corporations, under threat Of re-
priSals, to contribute to a campaign
fund. 1t involves the very integrity
Of democratic government. 1t raises
the question OF whether q law once
written on the statute books shall
become . dead letter just because the
administration in power, which con-
trolls the majority in Congress anc
the Acknowledgement machinery
wishes to squelch prosecution.
A Political Error.
But the New Dealers are making =
great mistake If they think scandal
Of this kind will smolder and die. II
will rise up to plague them again and
again. It is blot on their liberalism
which is not easily erased. The
American people are more or less
accustomed to scandal in public Office
IN municipalities and somewhat &C.
sastoned to believing that Old Deal.
ers used the National Government
fQ their selfish ends. But the Amer.