Evening star., 1938-01-16

A DAY WITH JACK GARNER
Vice President Guided Simple Loas and Sincerity
Life and in Public Career, With Love for People and
Devotion Nation and His Chieftan.

as hardy as it used to be. "Same
Texas handsake," told him, nursing
crushed fingers after his friendly
greeting: "Ill make up for it. I've
just come froE1 Mrs. Garner. Your
life is in my hands"
His bright, restless eyes wrinkled
with humor and friendliness, Couldn't
think of better hands for it. Go
ahead and pick my bones. I never
made suggestion to any writer in
my life who was writing about me.
And won't now. I won't say word,
whatever it is"
But told him didn't want to pick
his bones. AS matter Of fact, it is
difficult to see how anyone confronted
by those frank, honest eyes and that
fortnight. unaffected smile of his
could regard him as other than the
sincere and simple man
he is; tenacious, indeed, of his con-
Vlctlons, but unquestionably incor-
ruptible in his purposes. He struck his
chest quick blow, just over the heart,
smiled, and said: People love me be-
cause I love people. I've got good
Christian heart"
THAT love of people! He fairly ex-
udes it. But it is discriminating
regard. That is not to say that he is
a man who nurses ill-will for those
who oppose him. But he will fight
such opposition to the finish, without
regard for friendship. Representative
Rankin of Mississippi. referring to
certain Republican adversary, once
said to Garner in the cloakroom,
Jack, you've made that man mad"
Well" observed Garner without
perturbation, Congress is no petting
party. It's battle-ground
That is his philosophy-give and
take, and no animosity afterward. He
does it himself and he expects it of
other men. That is, perhaps, what
Mrs. Anna Dickey Oleson of Min
nesota meant when she rose in the
1882 convention in Chicago to Sec
ond MI. Gamers nomination, with
the remark, John Nance Garner is
a mans man." He would battle the
late Nicholas Longworth long and
on the floor. with keen in
tellectual pleasure. But there never
were two better friends.
''The secret Of getting along with
men is being honest with them and
never telling them anything but the
truth" he once said. AS Bascom Tim
mons has said of him, Intensely hon..
est, he never deceived a man in his
life. Fortnight and direct, he never
broke promise in his life, and I do
not blieve he ever lost friendship in
his life I never saw man cherish
friendships more"
Gamers skill as parliamentarian
Is renowned. Nobody who has wit
messed his skillful handling Of Senate
bills, or watched him presiding over
\ Senate session, can doubht his in
tellectual talents in this respect. His
sound Judgment, his sense Of justice,
his perception Of the fitness Of things,
coupled with an extraordinary expert
snce as a presiding officer, make him
IN outstanding figure when he Yields
5he gavel. He knows all the fine points
If procedure, and It's clever legis-
ator who can get anything by the
Vice President without that officials
fullest realization of what is going on.
He has back of him more than 80
years. familiarity with parliamentary
mechanics. He knows the rules and
Of the Congress and he
S so well balanced and shrewd in
MS judgments that he has been an
invaluable factor in the enactment OF
New Deal legislation.
CONSIDER the background that
prepared him for such service.
He was by turn county Judge of a pio-
neer county, member of the Legisla-
ture, member of the National House of
Representatives and his party's floor
leader, Speaker Of the House and Vice
President of the United States.
He was only IS years old, and he
1913 pounds when he arrived
in Washington to take his seat in Con-
gress in 1908, coming directly from
four years Of service in the Texas
Legislature. He was particularly in
terested in finance, taxation and eco
and his heart was set on men,
bership In the Ways and Means Com
mittee. But that political czar, the
Speaker of the House, Joseph G. Can
non, did not assign this first-termer
to such an important committee as the
Ways and Means. Instead, he assigned
him to one which had not met in years
the Committee on Railways and
Canals.
Garner had his inning later when
George w. Norris and Champ Clark
combined to dethrone Cannon and
Garner aided in the coup. But In 1913
he achieved his ambition with respect
to the Ways and Means Committee
and became q member. BY this time
he had become 80 expert q parlia-
mentarian that his influence was felt
in party councils. Then, as now, he
was fast thinker and q hard hitter.
With small Democratic minority
Garner fought the F'ordney- -McCum-
ber tariff bill. A short time later he
began his long battle with Secretary
of the Treasury Andrew Mellon. In
the Seventy-first Congress he became
minority leader. His fame as an ex-
temporeneous speaker increased, and
he was credited in the House with self
possession and decisiveness. In the
Seventy-second Congress the Demo-
cratic majority unanimously nomi-
mated Garner for the speaksrship.
He made such an excellent record
=.