Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-08-05
SEEN and HEAR
arOUndHe
NATIONAL CAPITAL
By Carter Field :

Washlngton.-Most significant in
connection with Gov. Herbert H.
Lehman's attack on President
Roosevelt's Supreme court enlarge
ment bill was the fact that the Pres
ident has turned, one by one,
against so many of his former close
advisers and lieutenants.
The recent fight for leadership of
the senate Democrats, to fill the
place made vacant by the death of
Senator Joseph T. Robinson, dem
onstrated this in a striking way.
For all the four years of his first
administration, Roosevelt's closest
confldant among senators was very
generally regarded as Senator
James F. Byrnes of South Carolina
In fact, if Senator Robinson had
died year ago there would have
been little doubt on Capitol Hill that
selection of Senator Byrnes as lead
er would be the thing the White
House wanted.
Actually Senator Byrnes discov-
cred, shortly after the recent bat
tie began, that all the White House
wires were being pulled for Senator
Alben w. Barley of Kentucky. Sen
ator Byrnes found he had no chance
at all. He was caught between two
millstones. So he retired from the
race, and Barley was chosen.
The most effective supporter the
President has had on Capitol Hill
has been the very non-talkative Vice
President, John Nance Garner. The
Vice President was really ousted as
one of the Presidents advisers
months ago, when he became very
vociferous, in the privacy of the
Presidents office, in insisting that
the government should take a strong
stand on the sit-down strikes. Sena-
tor Byrnes lost his popularity at
1900 Pennsylvania avenue for the
same reason.
Favored BarkIey
Neither Garner nor Byrnes had
ever liked the court bill, but they
were following the President on it,
just as Joe Robinson and Pat Harri-
son were.
But the President knew their
hearts were not with him on this
issue-to him the most important of
all. That is why he was for Bark
ley for leader, instead of Harrison.
He has always known he could de-
pend on Barley. Back in 1882 he
was so anxious to get Barley for
temporary chairman of the national
Democratic convention that he
agreed to let Jouett .Shouse be per-
manent chairman if Shouse and his
friends would not oppose Barley
for temporary chairman.
This agreement was made with
Robert Jackson, then secretary of
the Democratic national committee
(the New Hampshire Jackson, not
the Robert H. jackson of New York
who is now assistant attorney gen
eraD. Listening in on an extension
telephone was Harry F. Byrd, now
senator from Virginia.
The Importance Of vigorous tenn
porary chairman at a political ma
tional convention is extraordinary in
any close contest. On him depends
the job of overseeing the selection
of the permanent list of delegates!
Senators Sherman Minton of Indi-
ana and Lewis B. SchWellenbach of
Washington were called in with
Senator Barley and Senator Key
Pittman of Nevada after the death
of Robinson. This gave a clue to
the present situation. They are
among the most radical men in the
upper house.
Wages and Hours Bill
The average senator and repre-
sentative, in trying to figure out just
what he should do to play safe on
the bill regulating wages and hours,
is like a golfer about to drive. He
must remember to get his stance
right for direction, his grip as the
pro told him to keep it, also to keep
his left arm straight, just which part
of his anatomy to move first in
pivoting, and above all to keep his
eye on the ball.
The only trouble with this illus
tration is that in worrying about the
wages and hours bill there are con-
siderably more things to remem-
Der, forgetting any one of which
may prove far more disastrous than
when a golfer tops, hooks, slices or
whiffs.
Who could have foreseen, for in
stance, that freight rates would be
important?
1t started when some Southern
congressman, insisting that the
South must have a differential to
permit its employers to work their
labor longer hours and pay them
less than their competitors in the
same line in the North, gave as one
reason for the necessity of this "ad-
vantage" that the South pays higher
freight rates.
1t so happens that the interstate
commerce commission is now dig
ging into that question, under active
prodding of certain commercial in
terests in the South.
Insiders predict-though predict
ing what the I. G.. G.. will do is al