The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-03-30

an imposing title and a substantial
salary, but with few responsibilities
and almost no authority. Some years
ago a very successful stage farce was
written around the idea of a vice
president named Winterbottom who
kept wandering about his party head
Quarters and could find no one who
knew or cared who he was. And, in
actual history, the vice-presidency has
been used more than once to "get rid
of some man whom party leaders
thought too troublesome. Roosevelt
the first is case in point-he was
kicked upstairs into the vice-presi-
dency because he had made many en-
|emies as Governor of New York, and
he very likely would have been doom
ed to obscurity had not McKinley's as
|sassination taken him to the White
House.
Cactus Jack" Garner seemed to be
the perfect stuff of which run-of- the
mill vice-president should be made. An
able congressman, with decades of
service behind him, he was known as
a hard but unspectacular worker. And
when he assumed his position of vice
president, he seemed to fit we'll into
the classic mold. A good disciplin-
arian and administrator, he apparent
ly took little part in politics. He
wasn't often in the headlines. But
now, times have dramatically changed
and it is around the genial, plain figure
of Jack Garner that much of today's
most important political discussion is
centering. He has become the great
hope of the conservatives in the Demo-
cratic party-and the leader of quiet
but unrelenting "rightist rebellion
against the New Deal.
In view of some of the most astute
political commentators, the Vice Presi-
dent is well suited to this new role. In
origin, training and experience he is
the logical representative of those
millions Of people of whom little is
heard but who nonetheless hold the
real balance of power in America-the
merchant, the farmer, the rancher, the
small town banker and lawyer and
doctor. In political philosophy, he
might be termed a conservative lib
eral-he believes reform should be
achieved slowly and cautiously without
dishearteningor discouraging business.
He has certain gifts of immense po-
litical importance-a nerveless patti
ence Git is characteristic of the man
that he is called the best poker player
in Washington, where famous poker
players abound); a vast knowledge of
the techniques of political strategy; a
talent for making friends; a winning
''home-spun" personality; knack for
terse, individually physsed comments
Ion events. The latter is illustrated by
a remark he is rumored to have made
to the President: you've got to give
the cattle (meaning business) a chance
to put some fat on their bones."
1t is around Garner that the potent
|pro-economy group of Democratic SEN
ators has gathered He is very close
to Senator Harrison, who is leading
the economy drive on the floor He is
strongly in favor of tax revision
though, like the cagey politician he is
he does his talking in the privacy of
his office, and not in public. And il
lis universally reported that he was
largely responsible for persuading the
Senate to reduce the WPA appropra,
ltion asked by the President, to the
tune of $150,0OO,OOO. AS Time OBJ
serves, Extraordinary fact about the
Garner Rebellion is that it's leader does
not for one minute expect to win its
Economy objective; at least, not at
this session of Congress- He is bid,
ing his time, getting in his licks, and
planning for the future.
Highly significant is the fact that
Garner now leads in all the standard
polls for l94O's Democratic presiden,
tial nomination. On the debit side is
the fact that he is 70 now-an age
that is generally regarded as being toe
old for the telling job of Chief Execu-
tive. But he seems to be in the pink
physically as well as mentally. A pow
erful group is getting ready to back
him for the nomination, and there's
certainly at least a fair chance he'll
get it. At any event, he is force to
be reckoned with.
X X X
1t is tragically ironic commentary
on the world we live in that Hitler's
new Czech adventure" came just al
the time when the heads of govern.
ments were drawing deep breaths, re.
laxing and saying that the prospects
for peace had at last frightened. The
eX-house painter likes to do the UNI
expected-and he outdid himself this
time. Further, in the view of some
he may have at last taken the rope
that will eventually hang him.
The seizure of Moravia and Bohemia
was, legally and ethically, far less eX.
cusablc than the previous conquest
which was signed at Munich. He de
liberately violated every promise anc
guarantee, written and verbal, he hac
made there. The immediate reaction
in France, England and this country
was ono of anger and disgust. Anc
| hn, I,,;, -