Evening star., 1938-06-20

take a hand in the Maryland Demo-
cratic primary. For four years there s
been grudge between the hardest
hitting member of the Roosevelt cabi-
net and the fortnight anti-New Deal
senior Senator from the Free State
which borders on the District OF Cor
lumbia. The Ickes- -Tydings feud, If 1t
may be so dignified, dates from 1894,
when the late DR.. Paul M. Pearson,
Governor of the Virgin Islands, was
under fire and threatened with re-
moval in consequence of what the
Interior Department considered q vir-
tual ''insurrection" allegedly fomented
by T. Webber Wilson, United States
Judge for the Virgin Islands district.
Pearson was originally appointed by
Ickes' pet aversion, President Herbert
Hoover. Wilson, a Mississippian. owed
his job to the influence of Senator
Pat Harrison. Following violent airing
of the Pearson Wilson controversy be-
fore the Senate Committee on Ter
ritories and Insular Affairs, of which
Tydings is chairman. both men were
transferred. Pearson, who had Ickes'
solid support. became an Official Of
the Housing Administration and Will
son was made member of the Board
of Parole in the Department of Justice.
1ckes and Tydings not only had it
out hammer-and-tongs during COM
mttee hearings on Judge Wilson s
charges against the Virgin Islands ad-
ministration. but in the Temperament
tai manner to which the P. w. A. boss
is addicted. he sounded of outside of
the committee in terms that paid his
respects to the Marylander in no am
biguous style. Among the ten-dollar-
words Ickes flung at Tydings was the
suggestion that the committees whole
attitude in the Wilson Pearson busi-
ness was "effluvial" 1t is not yet
known, of course. to what extent. or in
what manner. If at all. the admins
tration's newest benedict will wade
into the Maryland fray. But. loving a
fight as he does, and credited with a
minimum of fondness for Tydings, as
he is, it seems safer gamble than a
bet on the Louis-Schmeling festivities
that before the Ides Of September the
lord of the manor at Headwaters
Farm will have something to say about
Havre de Grace's favorite son. Being
now resident Of Montgomery County,
Md, which is in the congressional dis
trict presently represented by David
j. Lewis, Senator Tydings' primary
opponent, Ickes may feel he is literally
on legitimate ground in butting into
the current unpleasantness.
You'll run across Marylanders who
tell you they expect the 1888 sena-
torial primary to yield the fattest
money crop" in the States political
history. Representative Lewis is not
heavily burdened with the worlds
goods, but Senator Tydings has plenty
of well-heeled background. He rates
pot only as rich in his own right. but
Is married to the daughter Of Ambas-
sador Joe Davies, himself q sizable
eCOnoInlC rOyallSL ana HUSBAND OF one
of Americas wealthiest women. It's
just been revealed that about $780,
900 was spent in the late Pennsylvania
State and senatorial primaries. Mary
landers don't expect to roll up any
such plutocratic record. but all. the
way from Hagerstown to the Eastern
Shore. the boys are licking their chops
In anticipation OF q campaign which,
they're confident, will be no piker.
Any subtle suggestion that dollars
are rolling on Tydings' behalf will.
of course, be easily countered by the
fact that Davy John Lewis. sturdy
New Deal standard bearer. isn't handi-
capped by the circumstance that
w. P. A. money will be talking In