The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-04-10

tFSSSSNASAASe
 Yet this is the record chalked up by Joseph F. Guffey of Penn sylvania during the three years he has sat in the Senate.
 Entering the chamber in 1883 he sponsored and put through the now famous Guffey coal law. The next year, over the opposition of . large and power ful shipping lobby, he 1naneuv- cred through Congress the lib- eral merchant marine act un- der which the new U. s. Mari time Commission is operating. And 2 few days ago he had the unique privilege of seeing the Senate overwhelmingly vote en- actment of a new Guffey coal law to replace the first one invalidated by the Supreme Court.
 It is a significant commentary on Guffey's character and poli- tical potency that he accom- plished all this without uproar and bombast.
 Joe doesn't work that way. If he has to, he will make 8 speech. It is a straightforward, undramatic exposition. But he hates to do 1t. Let others do the grand standing is his motto. Joe's forte is keeping out of the limelight, directing the strategy and calling the shots.
 That is why he has achieved so much in tine short time he has worn a senatorial toga and why, while no headline figure, he is one of the most influential and pow erful men in Congress.
 Family of Politicians
 Guffey comes by his high-pow- cred political prowess through family inheritance.
 From the earliest days of Penn sylvania's history the Guffeys have played important roles in the political affairs of the state. The first Guffey landed in Phila- delphia in 17S8. His name was MacGuffey, but he dropped the prefix when he moved west to Westmoreland County, near Pitts burgh, which has been the fam- ily's ancestral home ever since. Two of the early Guffey's, a father of 40 and a son of IS, served four years in the Revolutionary army.
 The Guffeys first achieved political note in the pre-Civil war era when Pennsylvania was . democratic stronghold.
 In the 1844 contest between James K. Poulk, democrat, and Henry Clay, Whig, the race in Pennsylvania was very close The eastern section of the state was strongly Whig and 1t looked as If Polk would lose Pennsylvania's electoral votes. But a democra- tic leader assured him he need not worry.
 "Wait until the Guffeys over the mountains get in their lick," he said. .'It will be . different story then"
 And 1t was. When the final returns were counted, Polk had carried Pennsylvania. Victory was due largely to the huge ma jorities piled up for him by the "Guffeys over the mountains" Wilson Student
 Joe was named for a great uncle, Colonel Joseph Guffey, a power in the Pennsylvania legis- lature just before the Civil war. Young Joe got his active poli- tical training under his father, for many years sheriff of Vest moreland county; also from an uncle, Colonel James M. Guffey, who was leader of Pennsylvania democracy from the sos to Wood-. row Wilson's day.
 Curiously enough, 1t was nephew Joe who unseated the Colonel.
 Joe had been one of Wilson's students at Princeton, where he absorbed Wilson's liberal econ omic and political views and be- came one of his most devoted followers. In the 1912 nomina- tion campaign Joe, who had become a political power in his own right, pumped for Wilson. His uncle backed Champ Clark.
 The tug-of-war between uncle and nephew was friendly but vig- orous. When Wilson won the nomination and later the election, Colonel Jim" not only admitted he had been eclipsed, but sur- rendered the party reins to his nephew. Ever since that time. Joe Guffey has been the recog- nized leader of Pennsylvania de- mocracy.
 Bachelor
 Joe is a bachelor: in Washing ton lives in a large house with two maiden sisters. Miss Ida and Miss Pauleta. He also has OFF THE RECORD