Evening star., 1939-02-09

velt's letter on the Floyd H. Roberts
case, follows:
The only reason I think the
Presidents extraordinary letter to
his rejected nominee for judge of
the western district of Virginia de-
serves the slightest notice is the
fact that some of the covert implica-
tions should be brushed away. The
Senate itself is amply able to attend
to his attack upon the time-honored
custom of respecting the reasonable
objections Of its members to execu-
tive nominations intended to be Of
fensive to them, but 1 think 1t per-
tinent to summarize the relative
facts in order that the public may
determine the exact truth OF the
matter at issue.
On last March 16, under a two
column picture of Gov. Price and
Honorable James A. Farley. charac-
terized as "chief patronage dispenser
In the Federal Government" thus
obviously to accentuate the signlfl-
canoe of the subjoined announce
ment, there appeared In heavy head
lines in the Richmond Tlmes-Dls-
patch an article captioned Price
Backing Seen Necessary for Federal
job" The body of the article, being
largely quoted from an editorial OF
the chief newspaper proponent OF
iSudge Roberts, printed at his home,
stated that: "Henceforth the IN
dorsement of Gov. Price will be
necessary before any ambitious Vir-
ginian may hope to land an i'm
portant Federal job"
Stating that the editor OF the
paper quoted from had conferred
with the President in Washington
the preceding Monday" the paper
stated without reservation that
"President Roosevelt himself has
made this decision, which means the
Governor is to have the veto power
on all appointments OF any conse-
uuence in Virginia"
Waits Day for Retraction.
AS incredible as this publication
seemed, it did not shock the Virginia
Senators, because they had previ-
ously learned that Gov. Price, eagerly
accepting the delegated function
of Federal patronage dispenser IN
Virginia, had heretofore communi-
Gated with certain Federal officials
recommended by the two Senators
for reappointment on their assured
record as "among the most out
standing officials of their class IN
the United States" To their credlt
1t must be said that not one OF these
officials had sought the Governor S
proffered Endorsement and none had
been willing to join in the effort to
discredit the Virginia Senators.
After waiting day for Gov. Price
to contradict this extraordinary
statement published right under his
nose. 1 addressed the President a
note on March II, drawing his
attention to the obnoxious publi-
cation. In this note I ventured to
sav: "I desire to ask If recommen-
dations made by me as a Senator
of Virginia for important Federal
appointments, requiring the advice
and consent of the United States
Senate, are to be subject to the
effective veto of the Governor Of
Virginia"
It seemed to me then, as it does
now, that this was a perfectly rea-
sonable and simple question, which
might be answered directly and, OF
course, without evasion of any kind.
It was not answered then directly
or otherwise. Instead, the President
wrote me a page essay on the re-
uuirements of the Constitution as to
Federal appointments, whereupon I
ventured to reply that had fairly
intimate knowledge Of the funda-
mental law and nowhere discovered
anything in it requiring Federal
appointments to be made by and
with the advice and consent of a
State Governor.
Failing to get anything of a
pointed nature, beyond this lecture
on the Constitution, 1t seemed to me
then and in my mind is now con-
firmed, that the President approved
the offensive publication which was
the basis of my inquiry. This I
stated in another note.
Reply helO OnSdtISIdCtoIy'
The answer of the President to
this note, which he now thinks was
sin a personal and friendly vein, -
still failed utterly to deny or affirm
whether recommendations by the
Virginia Senators we're to be subject
10 the veto of the Governor OF the
state. True was told to go ahead
In the usual way; but the President
added that he would reserve the
right to consult Nancy Astor, the
Duchess of Windsor, the w. P. A.,
a Virginia moonshiner, Gov. Price,
Or Charlie Mccarthy" I cheerfully
absolve Charlie Mccarthy from
giving advice designed to discredlt
the Virginia Senators, and the rec
ord shows that none OF the persons
named was consulted except Price.
The President, indulging in this
trivial evasion and having dis
claimed a frank answer to my
simple question as to whether
he proposed to subject the rec
concentrations of the Virginia
Senators to the veto power alleged
to have been delegated to Gov. Price,
my colleague and I hesitated to
make any suggestions at all. We
did not do so until specifically asked
by the Department of Justice to send
in a nomination at once, as 1t was
desired to submit the name to the
Senate for confirmation before ad-
tournment. We desired to present
the name of former Gov. George c.
Peery; but I was told by the Pres
4dent he would not appoint man
over go years of age. BY the Attor-
f1ey General was urgently advised
to name a man between 40 and so
years of age, with prospect of long
service. incidentally. this only piece
of advice by the Department of
Justice was totally disregarded in
the nomination made by the Pres
3dent.
. The Senators prevailed on Judge