Evening star., 1938-06-07

party pOllClcS, DuC
it is decidedly something new for the
rank and file to be mixed up in the
political intrigue.
Perhaps the first mistake was made
by the Senate itself, which insisted
on the right to confirm relief admin
istrators. The moment this hap
pened relief got into politics. Not
infrequently the relief administrators
became the heads of the personal
political machines of their respective
Senators.
The vote the other day in the Senate
was significant. Three times the prop
osition to exclude politics from the
Works Progress Administration, Pub
lie Works Administration and relief
agencies covered by the lending
spending" bill was voted down. So it
was no accidental affair but a delib-
crate expression of the will of the
Senate. Many were the surprises in
the three separate tallieS. Men who
have stood up heretofore as independ-
ent of the administration voted for
the right to keep the relief agencies
In politics. The stories as to the back
ground of what happened which are
circulating on Capitol Hill are amaz-
ing.
Barkley Plea Reported.
1t is said, for instance, that Major
ity Leader Barkley, Democrat, made a
personal appeal to his Democratic COL
leagues to vote down the proposal In
Kentucky Mr.. Bsrkley is fighting Gov
Chandler. who naturally controls the
State machine which would not be
reached by Federal legislation. Then
there are other Senators who, once
cleared of the hurdle placed before
them by the New Deal in the pri-
maries, are planning to use the w. P.
A. and P. w. A. backing.
The three votes in the Senate stand
as a public confession of the use of
relief agencies in politics, and while
there is much talk here and there
deprecating it, until an aroused pub
lie opinion condemns what is happen
ing this year, and what occurred in
1886. there will be little inclination in
Congress to put restrictions on their
own individual political machines.
The struggle for power inside the
Democratic party may bring its own
repercussions. The ambitious individ-
uals who run to the White House for
support for candidates pledging 100
per cent New Deal ticket receive
good deal of encouragement from the
young men who surround the Presi-
dent. This angers the Older politicians
on Capitol Hill, who have been accus-
TONED to having things pretty much
their own way in their respective
States-at least so far as the Office
holders are concerned.
Fosters Allegiance to President.
Now it is apparent that the presi-
Dental appointees feel much more
allegiance to the White House than
to the Senators and Representatives
who were instrumental in getting them
appointed.
"Patronage'-as the appointments
to Federal Office through political pull
have been termed-has for a long
time been the curse of Republican as
well as Democratic administrations.
Usually when a President has dis
pensed his patronage, he has risked
loss of control of the machinery in
the various election districts to mem
bers of Congress. Not so under the
New Deal, where there is something to
dole out all the time. The Federal
oft1ces themselves, with their high
salaries, are valuable plums, but the
Federal funds, involving billions of
dollars OF contracts and projects of
various kinds, constitute a new form of
political graft more penetrating than
any other kind in the past.
the New Dealers know how to use
this mechanism ever so much better
than the old dealers. Indeed. when
1t comes to politics of the most brazen
kind, the New Deal has it all over the
boys of the Harding administration
who, with their little houses on K
street, played with a few paltry mil
lions whilst today the stakes are meas
ured in billions and the beneficiaries
are numbered in the hundreds of
thousands. No such political machine
OF power and influence has ever been
built up before in the whole history
of the Republic. The significance of
Its bold application to the primaries
this year, especially noting the pub
lie refusal of the Democrats in the
Senate to do away with the Immoral
procedure, is bound to grow as the dis
interested voters begin to understand
that honest elections may be thing
Of the past in America unless they
forget party lines and unite to wipe
out the parasites who are using tax
payers money for their own selfish
purposes.