The Washington times., 1938-09-14
The News
News Behind
By PAUL MALLON

IlculdTly muuulluS Is IHc
way Chef Roosevelt has been
adding a little Farmer-Labor
flour here and there.
Best guess is that he is cook
ing up potion which will be
particularly unsavory for those
two young liberal political cpl
cures, the brothers La Toilette,
who, after all, have not been
above mixing q little sour cruel
for Mr.. Roosevelt now and then.
If he is not up to that, he
is moving along the unthink-
able line Of heading a third
party Farmer-Labor ticket in
1910.
At any rate, here is how he
has been flying around the
kitchen so mySteriously Of late:
Ten days ago he started to
make his purge campaign non-
sectarian by announcing he was
for Republican Liberals, too. If
there was any La Toilette answer
to this, 1t was not noticed here,
but q Democratic answer came
from Wisconsin almost imme-
diately. The Democratic Sen
atorial candidate there, F. Ryan
Duffy, arrived next day at the
White House with his travelling
bag to join the Presidential in
vaSion Of Maryland. He was
silent when he arrived, was
silent when he left, and the
White House has been silent
ever since. But it Is well under
stood that when Roosevelt said
he was for Republican Liberals,
he did not mean the Progressive
Party one who is going to run
against Duffy on the La Toilette
ticket in Wisconsin (either Amlie
or Ekern).
THEN MIR. ROOSEVELT went
l. into Maryland against fly
ing Tydings banners and de-
livered the only Farmer-Labor
speech of his life. This dual
appeal seemed to assume more
than q rhetorical meaning, when
next day there came tripping UP
the mansion steps at Hyde Park
Mr.. FArmer-Labor Him self,
Goernor Benson of Minnesota,
who is up for reelection against
a Republican.
The usual meaningless an
nouncement was made that Ben
sons was only a friendly visit,
but those in the know happened
to recollect that Benson is being
strongly opposed by Republican
Candidate Harold E. StaSSen,
and needs all the help he can
get. He arranged the visit and
is supposed to have pointed out
his situation very clearly.
The possibility that he got a
sympathetic answer was evident
when Benson turned up as the
first caller upon the Presidents
special train as Mr.. Roosevelt
arrived in Minnesota to be with
son James.
THE THREAD which ties these
l. facts together in the La
Toilette situation is that Cover
nor Benson and Governor Phil
get along like two liberal bull
dogs in neighboring yards. They
are not enemies, and not friends,
but rather competitors for the
jurisdiction of the Northwest
neighborhood.
II Mr.. Roosevelt Is able to
work with Duffy in Wisconsin
and Benson in Minnesota, he
might be able to give Governor
Phil La Toilette, head Of the only
third party that has so far an
nounced itself, something to
think over very seriously.
No one with q knowledge OF
the situation believes the Presi-
dent is looking any further than
delegates to the 1910 Democratic
convention. He might like to
have the prospect Of himself as
a Farmer-Labor leader discussed,
but the party itself is hardly Of
sufficient scope to justify his
interest.
MOTE: Another evidence Of Mr..
IN Roosevelt'S disappointment
in Governor Phil as a Roosevelt
supporter was the failure Of ne
gotiationS which would have put
Senator Pope of Idaho back into
the Idaho senatorial race as an
independent. The La Toilette
friends have an independent
running now. Efforts were made
to get him to withdraw so that
Pope could get in as the sole
independent, but the La Toilette
friend had wandered off to
Alaska and refused to be found
until prospects fell through.
III 1OOhS ike Tie &ACl-1uO-
i nopoliSts are going after that
subject of banker control
mentioned in the Berle memo,
fast, furiouSly and very secretly.
They are picking no small
witches. First Subpoenas upon
j. p. Morgan were followed by
five more clamped down upon
Guaranty Trust, Banker Trust,
Morgan Stanley, the C. and o.
New York offices and J. and w.
Seligman. All subpOenaS called
for books and papers bearing
on Guaranty Trust control of
the C. and o. board election,
a matter involved in an old
suit brought against Guaranty
by Robert r. Young. It is still