Evening star., 1938-05-26

SdplGdl.
For the last two or three years, 1t
has been asserted by foes of the New
Deal that Harry Hopkins was using
the relief administration to help the
Roosevelt regime stay in Office. but
there was no evidence that the Works
Progress Administrator himself had
any political axes to grind or that he
would tolerate it throughout his Or
ganiZation.
Today. the American people have
before them frank confession. Mr..
Hopkins, by prearranged interview
with a Des Moines newspaper. an
nounced what he thinks should be
done by the voters of Iowa as between
two candidates for the United States
Senate. If the announcement had
been made by Chairman Farley of the
Democratic National Committee, it
might have been assumed that it was
a political step quite naturally taken
by a political chieftain. But the
Works Progress Administration is sup
posed to be a non-partisan institution.
The man at the head of it is not a
member of the Cabinet itself, which,
rs rule, has a more or less political
slant but he is an executive of one
OF the agencies created in national
emergency for the purpose of dealing
with the starving or destitute.
1t will be argued now quite logically
that Harry Hopkins can hardly ad-
minister the w. P. A. job in an
bipartisan way when he feels so
deeply the political currents of the
hour as to interest himself in trying
to defeat Democratic Senator who
happens not to have voted with Pres
ident Roosevelt in his plan to pack"
the Supreme Court. Mr.. Gillette Of
Iowa has shown himself independent
OF the administration, and that ap-
parently Is his crime in the eyes Of
the President.
A. Presidential Adviser.
It IS said that Harry Hopkins is
virtually the No. man in the list Of
presidential advisers nowadays, but
whether he Is No. / or No. S, it Is
known he Is frequently in conference
with the President and wields con-
siderable influence. The fact that he
is as close as he Is. to the President
has led to speculation as to whether
Mr.. Hopkins feels it his duty to ma
nipulate the whole relief administra-
ton to help Mr.. Roosevelt and his
political causes.
These assertions are no longer dis
cussed merely by the opposing politi-
cal party. Within the last ~ hours
Brady NJ Stewart, the campaign man
ager for Gov. Chandler of Kentucky,
a New Deal Governor. who is running
against Senator Barkley for the sena-
torial nomination on the Democratic
ticket, has made serious charges which
1t is hard to see how Congress can
overlook. If what Mr.. Stewart has
written in an open letter to the Presi-
dent is corroborated by a public in
quiry, it means that some one might
we'll be removed from Office. Ger
tainly restrictions by Congress on the
lending fund to prevent
political chicanery has become the
paramount issue Of the hour, now
that the Kentucky charges are in the
open.
Every agency of the Federal Gov
ernment dispensing relief" writes Mr..
Stewart, lis resorting to methods and
policies that are crudely reprehensible
to force the citizens of this great Com
monwealth to support Senator Bark
ley.
Charges Against w. p. A.
''For the first time in our observa-
tion the Works Progress Administra-
ton, which was conceived to feed the
families Of the unemployed, irrespec-
tive of the policies, race or creed of
those to be served, through its direct
ing heads, is seeking to drive hungry
and destitute people to vote for a
certain candidate for Office.
Meetings and conferences have
been held in practically every county
of the State by key men in places of
Importance in the Works Progress Ad-
ministration at which definite instruc-
tions were given to selected agents
that no one should be placed on Fed
.ral relief except upon the advice of
Senator Barkley's campaign managers
in the respective counties.
Furthermore, these same agents
have been required to inform all those
individuals who seek Federal assist
>ance that unless they are for the
candidate for Senator whom the heads
Of the relief administration are sup
porting there will be neither relief
funds nor Jobs for them"
'Can Congress ignore these COM
plants, and can Harry Hopkins him.
.>ak 4.ai "a ixasisk 1axao1a a nora Yalata IN