Evening star., 1941-03-14
Senators Offended
By Nicely Notes
Reaction May Influence
Choice of Successor
From West Virginia
BY Jay G. Hayden.

BY Jay @. Hayden.
A sheaf Of Officially recorded memo.
randums in which former Senator and
present Gov. Matthew M. Nicely vari-
ously characterized his senatorial col.
leagues as biggest hog" smart aleck,"
met loss without Insurance." and the like,
may decide the pending West Virginia
senatorial contest.
Nicely resigned from the Senate to
become Governor, fully expecting to ap-
point his successor However, Homer
Holt, the retiring Governor, dug up .
State constitutional provision which says
that no West Virginia official can hold
two Offices at one time. Wherefore Holt
held that Nicely must step out of the
Senatorship before he could become Gov.
ernor and in the interval thus created he
(HolD could name the Senator.
In his effort to hit the presumptive
split-second of Neelys transition from
Senator to Governor, Holt named his ap-
pointee, Clarence Z. Martin of Martins
burg, no less than three times and sent
to the Senate, in varying language, that
number of certificates of appointment.
Nicely wrote letter, January IL, notify.
ing the Senate of his intention to ap-
point Joseph Roster of Fairmont at the
stroke of midnight, and followed this
with certificate Of appointment dated
January 13.
On the ground, as stated by Chairman
Tom Connally of the Privileges and Elec-
tions Committee, that West Virginia is
undertaking to make two Senators grow
where only one grew before" both sets
of credentials were referred to the
committee, where they have languished
for two months
Because Nicely is a 100 per cent New
Dealer, the general assumption was that
his man would be seated without much
difficulty, and so it might have been
except for the disclosure of the sour
rilous Nicely notes. Since these have
been circulated some Senators are bet
ting even money that the conservative
Holt nominee will be seated. 1t Is
authoritatively reported that the Neely-
ties themselves are badly scared and
are responsible for the committees delay.
Nicely was chairman of the Committee
on Rules, function of which is to
allocate office space, seats, extra clerks
and other senatorial perquisites. Under
any circumstances this job requires much
diplomacy, and in its performance Nicely
certainly was no diplomat. Even before
he departed quite few Senators were
angry at him. Senator James e. Muir
ray, Democrat of Montana was so much
so that he introduced a resolution call
Ing for investigation of the Rules Com
mittees procedure in allocating ONCE
space, salaries paid to custodial en-
ployes, etc.
Murray's resolution was referred to
the Committee on Rules and 1t was
when the new chairman, Senator Harry
F. Byrd Of Virginia, dug back into the
records of his predecessors regime in
this connection that the offensive mem
orandums were discovered.
Senator Nicely frequently went to West
Virginia to look over his political fences,
and during these absences requests Of
Senators for office changes were referred
to him by mail. Nicely wrote back
pungently, sometimes to his secretary
and sometimes to the superintendent OF
Capitol buildings. His letters were
placed in the committees file
One Senator had voted against every
thing he (Neely) was for, so-turn him
down fat, Nicely instructed. Another
Senator was "the biggest hog on Capitol
Hill" third was smart aleck," but
he also was a potential troublemaker,
so it was wise to give him half q loaf.
A fifth was dead loss without in
surance," so it was foolish to give him
anything There are many more of the
same sort, applying indiscriminately to
Republicans and Democrats, New Dealers
and non-New Dealers.
Senator Byrd has refused to make
these documents public, but they have
been freely circulated among the Sena.
tors concerned-with result Of decided
ly boosting Mr.. Martins senatorial stock.
He is being helped also by q belief Of
many Senators that in appointing the
n-year-old Prof. Roster, Nicely was
keeping the way open for the return of
himself to the Senate two years hence
Martin in contrast is a e1-year-old
former president of the American Bar
Association, who II widely known in that
State and may prove formidable
contender for reelection in 1s42 II he
wins the present appointment.
The Martin supporters appear to have
an edge from the standpoint Of senatorial
precedent, based on q seat contest oc-
casioned by the death of Henry Clay.
Old and i'll in December, 1851. Clay
formally notified the Kentucky Legis-
lature of his intention to resign on Sep
tember 1, 1852. In pursuance of this
notice the Legislature chose Archibald
Dixon to take over on September /.
However, on June 20, Clay died, and on
July 8, in consonance with the Legis-
lature's earlier action, the Governor
named David Meriwether to I'LL the seat
until September /.