Evening star., 1938-05-13
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.


for denomination and reelection. All
the President has said, so far as Is
known, about the scramble for the
Senatorial and gubernatorial nomina-
tions in Pennsylvania is that It reminds
him Of Dantes Inferno" In other words,
the President is not giving his ardent
supporter, Gov. George Earle OF this
State, an official pat on the back, al
though Earle is seeking the Democratic
Senatorial nomination.
The situation in Pennsylvania Is
entirely too hot for the President to
risk sticking his hand out Furthermore,
he really does not have to. There Is no
New Deal and anti-NeW Deal fight in the
Democratic primary. All three Of the
candidates for the Democratic nomina-
ton for Governor-Charles Alvin Jones
of Pittsburgh. It. Gov. Thomas Kennedy
and Charles j. Margiotti-are proclaim
ing their devotion to Mr.. Roosevelt and
his policies.
The President may view with consider
able regret and perhaps some uneasiness
the manner in which these candidates
are tearing each other and the Demo-
cratic organization of Pennsylvania to
ribbons. But there seems very little he
can do about it right now. After the
primary takes place on Tuesday, he may
be able to exert his influence to bring
about reconciliation of the Warning
Democratic leaders In fact some such
move would seem to be indicated for the
head OF the Democratic party. Both the
Jones and the Kennedy camps would
give lot for kind word from the Presi-
dent in advance of the primary vote, and
so would Margiotti.
The only outward sign the President
has given regarding the Pennsylvania
struggle was his request to Senator
Guffey to remain in the Senate, where,
the President said he needed him. That
request was made a couple of months
ago. 1t wasn't really necessary. for the
rest Of the Democratic leaders in Penn
sylvania had ganged up to prevent Guffey
from being the party nominee for Gov
ernor-a nomination which Guffey
greatly desired. The Presidents ex-
preston was regarded as making it easy
for the Senator; to take away the sting
Of the refusal Of the other leaders to give
him the gubernatorial nomination.
X X x
The Kennedy ticket is called the
Guffey ticket-because Guffey swung in
back of Kennedy. presumably to get
even with Gov. Earle, Lawrence, the
State chairman; Matthew H. McCloskey,
jr, the contractor and party leader in
Philadelphia. About the only thing to
aid this ticket the administration has
done has been negative-it has not taken
any positive steps to prevent the w. p. A.
workers from working and voting for
the Guffey ticket. The Kennedy ticket
is counting largely on the support of the
w. P. A. workers. of whom there are
about 229 900 in Pennsylvania. There is
rumor abroad that John l.. Lewis got
word to the White House that if the
administration did not lay off in Penn
sylvania, he might use his mine workers
in Kentucky and other C. l. o. members
to cut down Senator Barkley. the ma
jority leader of the Senate, who is en-
gagged in a battle with Gov. Happy"
Chandler for the Democratic senatorial
nomination in the blue grass State.
Senator Guffey may fall in with any
request the President may make to get
behind the Jones-Earle ticket, provided
that ticket is nominated in Tuesdays
primary. Guffey has always been
good party man. But it is suspected that
the Senator would shed no great amount
of tears if Jones and Earle were both
defeated by their Republican opponents
in November. For that would leave
Senator Guffey the only Democrat hold
ing a major political Office in Pennsyl-
vania. with all the Federal patronage to
dispense and in a position to build up
another organization for himself in the
State.
On the other hand if the Guffey ticket
is successful and Kennedy should be
nominated for Governor and Mayor
Wilson of Philadelphia for Senator, it
might not hurt Guffey irreparably If
these candidates also fell by the wayside
| in November-for he would still be the
Democratic top dog in the State. He
might not, indeed it is predicted he
would not. be in control of the State II
Kennedy became Governor. John L.
Lewis would be the power behind the
| throne in that event.
A story is told here that Guffey said in
| private conversation a few weeks ago
that he expected Pinchot to be the next
Governor of Pennsylvania that he him.
self was looking forward to 1910, when
he naturally would hope to control the
big delegation to the Democratic Ma
tional Convention. This delegation may
| determine the nomination of the Demo-
cratic presidential candidate that year.
There have been rumors, too. that SEN
ator Guf1ey might like to try for the
Vice Presidential nomination in that
| year.
Gov. Earle was one of those Demo-
| cratic Governors who months ago pro-
| claimed themselves for a third term for
President Roosevelt. Just now, how.
ever. the President is not reciprocating
He is not coming forward for Earle in
his campaign for the senatorial NOM
ination. But then Earle has admitted
| that he borrowed some $4,000 from his
| friend, Matt McCloskey, the contractor,
who has obtained some SIC, 900 900 worth
! OF construction contracts in the State,
Such transaction may seem all right
to Gov. Earle-just a friendly thing for
McCloskey to do for h n. It will be
| recalled, however. that Frank Smith, the
Republican nominee for Senator in
Illinois in 1926, received a $125, 900 cam
| palgn contribution from public utility
interests in his State while Smith was
a public utility commissioner. The pub
hcatlon of that fact. brought out by
senatorial committee appointed to in
vestigate campaign expenditures that
| year. prevented Smith from ever taking
his seat in the Senate.
X X X
Two newspaper publishers in Phila-
| delphia, ]. David Stern of the Demo-
| cratic Record and Moe Annenberg of
the Republican Inquirer, will be in an