Evening star., 1938-04-24
"A. P. Photo.

a. P. Photo.
embodied In legislation subsequently aris-
ing In the House.
At the time Of this embarrassment, Pat
was being harassed particularly by the late
Senator Huey Long who had conceived .
great dislike for the Mississippian and was
rison's defeat In the 1885 elections. Huey's
death ended this feud with Harrison's only
personal foe in the Senate now being his
Mississippi colleague, Senator Theodore
Bilbo.
The Bilbo situation has its root in Missis-
sippi politics. but did not reach the status
Of notoriety until after The Man" Bilbo
had reached the Senate. The break came
when Senator Harrison indorsed Judge Ed
win R. Holmes OF Mississippi for a seat in
the Circuit Court Of Appeals.
Won by Saying Nothing.
Because Judge Holmes once had sentenced
him to jail for contempt Of court, Senator
Bilbo denounced thenominee As personally
obnoxious" and waged vitriolic tight for
recommittal Of the nomination. On the
day his motion was debated, THE Man"
talked nearly five hours. Sensing the tenn
per Of his colleagues. Senator Harrison ap-
piled his oft-successful tactics Of saying
nothing while his enemy wore himself out
At o'clock that night. the Senate rejected
the Bilbo plea by a vote Of 50 to L.
1t was a clash which left a scar one Of
the few to be lasting in Harrisons career,
and the two Mississippians never speak
to each other now
II revenge is any solace to the junior
Senator. he gained . measure of 1t last
summer when he cast . vote against his
colleague In the 80 to 81 vote which gave
Senator Barkley Of Kentucky the majority
leadership in preference to Senator Har-
rison. Whatever credit, or discredit, may
be attached to results Of the leadership
hght, however, must be bestowed upon the
White House.
For despite his loyalty and effectiveness
his close friend. the late Joe Robinson Of
Arkansas, was Senate leader. Harrison was
plainly not the choice Of the White House
when the chips were down to I'LL the i'm
portant vacancy. Climaxing q tumultuous
period Of exerting varying types of pressure
on wavering party members, the White
House struck its final blow against Harri-
son in a Dear Alben" letter to the Ken
lucky candidate and the Mississippian lost
by single ballot.
Takes Defeat Like a Soldier
It is extremely doubtful If Pat actually
coveted the somewhat thankless task Of
becoming majority leader or that he felt
more than q passing degree of bitterness
toward the Chief Executive for making 20
obvious his preference for the Kentuckian
By coincidence the next important rec
ord vote on the Senate floor was that on the
administrations wage-hour bill and Pat cast
his vote in opposition. Interpreters read
revenge motive into the action, but Pat
explained that he had been opposed to the
measure from the beginning and that 1t
would have been most embarrassing for
him II he had been named leader and had
been expected to guide the bill through the
Senate.
AAS A"AAooAooiPpAdAS . AcAucISIup III per.
forming major ounTation on administra-
ton tax theories also Is being interpreted
as further indication Of q determination
to "even the score" but actually that is q
small part, If indeed it Is any part, Of his
motivation.
III and admittedly somewhat dubious of
the wisdom of the penalty tax on undis-
tributed corporate profits when 1t was pro-
posed In 1896, Pat saw to it that his COM
mittee responded to White House wishes to
give the theory trial. Significantly, how
ever, he abided by other opinions to the
extent of reducing the penalty range from
that proposed by the House.
Il am convinced" the Senator declares
emphatically now, that these taxes were
q mistake. I have no use for corporations
that pile up surpluses as means Of avoid
ing taxation nor for persons Of large capi-
tai who do not contribute . fair share to
the cost Of their Government But feel
that our surtaxes have been boosted to .
point Of diminishing returns, the ,undis-
tributed profits tax caused business to be
fearful 1t could not take legitimate profits,
and the capital gains and losses provisions
simply caused capital to freeze up and stay
out Of circulation"
When he isn't devoting himself to taxes,
tariffs OK Democratic politics. Pat is an
ardent sports fan and participant. For
~ 49, - A. .