Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-05-22
Aspirants Appearing for
Presidential Succession
BY OWEN L. SCOTT.

aspire to his job The reward OF that
job is endless work, bitter abuse, con-
slant trouble and only an occasional
satisfaction.
This seems to many people like high
price to pay in exchange for the right
to exercise vast power, for the chance to
get place in the history books and for
$4,000 year.
Yet the undercover scramble rapidly
getting under way here shows what can
become a record breaking entry list Of
those who would like to make the trade.
All signs suggest that Mr.. Roosevelt
either has given hint to his closest
aides that two terms will be enough for
him. or that he is playing fast game in
which those aides will continue to be
pawns.
At least four members of the present
cabinet, several very important admin
istrators and a whole batch of Senators
are making the motions that men are
supposed to make when bitten by the
presidential bug.
The national party conventions are
still two years away. There are many
far-seeing people occupying points of
vantage in Washington who think that
these two years will be SO fateful for
the Nation that Mr.. Roosevelt will be
both unwilling and unable to rellnqulsh
power in 1910 voluntarily in the midst
of experiments that soon may be forced
upon him by events. AS one of these
crystal-gaZers put it:
1.-The President either is going to throw
up the sponge and admit defeat in his
attempt to establish machinery that can
help to solve this country's economic
problems, or he is going to undertake
experiments next year and the year after
that he won't be willing to entrust to a
successor If he can help it,"
But the jockeying for position row
going on in the official ranks suggests
that President Roosevelt has no such
idea at this time.
The situation within the Presidents
own cabinet is proof enough of that fact.
The twice weekly gatherings of this group
are beginning to take on the appearance
of a convention of White House aspir-
ants. There appears no sign that New
Dealers regard recent straWs as point
ing to swing back to the Republicans.
Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agri-
culture, no longer DISCUSSES his willing
ness to carry on where Mr.. Roosevelt
leaves off His budding boom is really
out of the first stage and is taking on
the character of well-planned drive.
Much the same can be said of the am
billions of James A. Farley, Postmaster
General. Mr.. Farley has spent many
years building political machines for
others to use in riding to power. Now
he is reported to be convinced that the
time has come to ride his own machine.
The aspirations of Harold L. Ickes,
Secretary of the Interior, are bit more
disguised, but. his friends say. are no
less real than those of Mr.. Wallace or
Mr. Farley In the case of Cordell Hull,
Secretary of State, it is matter OF being
pushed. Mr.. Hull represents an ideal in
the field of international affairs that
commands the support OF powerful
groups in this country. and those groups
are pushing the Secretary Of State into
a position that he might want younger
man to fill.
For time, there were signs that Presi-
dent Roosevelt was looking outside his
cabinet for a candidate to be groomed
to receive his blessing.
Robert H. Jackson now Solicitor Cen
eral and since early New Deal days the
man who tackled special tasks for the
President was pushed out in front. Mr..
Jackson has the name. the personality.
the mental qualities and the appearance
that Mr.. Roosevelt likes. The left wing
New Dealers rallied around him. He
was slated for a trial in the New York
Democratic party primaries as candi-
date for Governor, but did not click with
the political powers in that State. AS
result, the left wing group is giving up
Mr.. jackson and is switching to Harry
Hopkins, W. P. A administrator and
another presidential favorite.
Then. of course. there is Paul v. Nc
Mutt, High Commissioner to the Philip
pines and commander of strong politi-
cal machine in Indiana. Mr.. McNutt is
farther out in the open than any other
candidate.
But all of this is only one side of the
picture. These possibilities are more or
less closely tied to the New Deal. There
is a very lively present debate concern
ing the proportions of the Democratic
party leadership that really holds any
New Deal allegiance.
Again there are plenty of candidates
willing to settle the debate by trying to
find out. In the first tests the New Deal
has swept Florida and has divided
honors in Pennsylvania, but it has lost
South Dakota and remains in a highly
uncertain position elsewhere
John N Garner. Vice President, wheth-
er Willingly or unwittingly, heads up the
anti-New Deal forces in the Democratic
party. Mr.. Garner has reached the age
when to be ambitious is to court trouble.
Yet the attention and the publicity that
have gone along with his effort to stop
Mr. Roosevelt in Congress have given
the Vice President an obvious thrill. He
is far from averse to hints that he might
be deserving of promotion.
Actually, however. the Vice President
is more ambitious for his friend Jesse
Jones, chairman of the r. F. c., than he
is for himself. Mr.. Jones has gone along
with President Roosevelt, but his SYM
pathies are with the conservative ele-
ments in the party, and those elements
look upon the r. F. c. head as leader
whose one chief handicap is Texas
residence. The Democratic party has a
practical habit of looking to the North
for presidential candidates.
X X
Two anti-New Dealers in the Senate
who are building fences and playing for
the support of the conservative wing Of
the party are Senator Burton K. Wheeler
of Montana and Senator Bennett Champ
Clark of Missouri. Senator Clark hopes
tn vin the honor that his father missed