Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-06-23

WASHINGTON.-The most impor-
tant news story in Washington and
throughout tn e
NetteI- country now is the
Politics use of relief funds
for political pur-
poses. It is not only the most i'm
portant news at this time, but has
been the most important and will
continue to be the most important
for weeks to come. This is so be-
cause the amount Of money involved
is vast and the number Of votes
possible to be influenced by that
money is so great. The stakes are
high and the Inscriptions are go
ing to play for them to the limit
Of their capacity. think that per-
haps the corruption Of the Harding
administration with its shameful oil
scandal was more sensational, but
surely no one condones the present
situation any more than the scan
dals Of the earlier malfeasance Of
Office holders.
In the Harding oil affair, there
was perhaps 5 per cent as much
money involved. Few, if any, votes
Of private citizens were at stake;
certainly, no votes of persons who
through no fault Of their own found
themselves destitute.
It was the late Thomas Walsh,
Montana Democratic senator, who
conducted the earnest fight to purge
the country of the crooks at that
time. And now that the senate again
has taken notice of the conditions,
one cannot help but wonder whether
there will be the same high-type Of
craftsmanship displayed, the same
courage shown by some Republican
or Democratic senator. For the
sake Of the country, I hope that no
stone will be left unturned by the
senate investigation which, though
ordered belatedly and after an irri-
table reaction from the country,
nevertheless was ordered by the
senate.
The senate deserves no credit for
having moved to expose the condi-
ton which Senator Wheeler Of Mon
tana described as playing politics
with human misery" II had three
chances to show its courage and its
craftsmanship before it would take
hold Of what many recognized as a
political firebrand. It ran from those
opportunities in the most cowardly
fashion. under the lash Of New Deal
leaders in the senate. On three
occasions. ! repeat, the senate had
a chance to assert control over the
s.. 1000. 100000 borrowing-spending-
lending bill and prevent, TO some
extent, the further use Of taxpayers
money for electioneering purposes.
And, / repeat, each time the vote
was against inclusion Of preventa-
tive clauses in that appropriation
measure. So, none can say the
credit should go to the senate even
though now 1t promises to uncover
facts which anyone, with an eye
half open, knows exist.
There can be no credit to the ad-
ministration because President
Roosevelt spoke not a word in be-
half Of use of funds for relief and
for the removal of politics. Indeed,
he praised his relief administrator,
Harry Hopkins, for publicly backing
Representative Wearin, the New
Deal candidate for the senate nomi-
nation in Iowa. Mr.. Wearin was
well licked by Senator Gillette, an
old line Democrat. Nor did the Pres
ident tell the senate publicly that he
favored curb on the use of the
money. Quite the contrary. Wheth-
er the President urged them to do
so or not, his board of strategy (the
new name for the brain trust) put
the steam on and made enough SEN
ators vote against the amendments
TO curb politics to insure defeat.
They even forced Senator Barkley