Evening star., 1944-09-15

this though Frank 4. Kent.
there are many who regard his
denial as one of sheer political ex-
pediency. Representative Glare
Luce Of Connecticut showed how
much she believed it on Tuesday
when, having gained unanimous
consent for ten-second speech, she
made the whole House laugh by
shouting, Mr.. Speaker, clear every
thing with Sidney"
Certainly, failure of Mr.. Hanne-
gan to enter a denial would have
gone a long way toward establish
ing the contention that Mr.. Hill
man is the real manager of the
fourth-term campaign; that his
relations with Mr.. Roosevelt are
closer than any one else's; that the
Democratic committee chairman
Mr.. Hannegan, is playing second
ary role in his campaign-all of
which would be highly embarrass-
ing to the fourth-term managers
from Mr.. Roosevelt down.
The fact is that this "clear every
thing phrase is far more than a
wisecrack. 1t is an exceedingly ef-
fective way of calling attention to
really menacing situation.
Aside from the painful position
in which it would leave his presi-
dental candidate, Mr.. Hannegan,
on his own account, hardly could
be expected to let so plausible and
revealing story stand unchal-
.lenged and uncontradicted. But,
whether it is true or not that Mr..
Roosevelt directly instructed Mr..
Hannegan to clear everything
through Sidney" it certainly is
true that a good many things are
being cleared through Sidney"
Cites Examples.
At the convention. for example,
Senator Truman's candidacy for the
second place nomination undoubt-
edly was cleared through Sidney"
So also was the candidacy. of ex-
Justice James F. Byrnes. Mr.. Hill
man approved the first, but turned
down the second. And now Mr..
Hillman's activities, plans and pub
licity are all upon a considerably
larger scale than those of Mr.. Han
negan's committee.
Also there is more energy and
enthusiasm about the Hillman COM
mittee's campaign than about that
of the Hannegan committee.
To such an extent is this SO that it
Is reasonable to say that if every
thing important about the fourth
term fight is not cleared through
Sidney" it should be and that If
MI. Hannogan is not working in the
closest possible touch with Mr.. Hill
man he is making quite mistake.
For it Is Mr.. Hillman who is max
ing the fight. There is no mistake
about that. If any evidence of this
is needed 1t can be gained from the
September 8 news releases" of the
Hillman committee sent out from its
national headquarters and marked
For Labor Press Exclusively"
These news releases" of this date
are very voluminous and, though
they are primarily designed to stim-
ulate the labor press to help in the
great drive for dollar contribution
from every "CIO member and
friend" they cover the whole field
and are by no means confined to
labor questions.
For example, this interesting state
ment is made in the first release:
THE CIO Political Action Com
mittee plans to print and distribute
no less than $4,000 900 pieces of lit
erature dealing with the issues of the
national political campaign. Each
piece Is designed as a weapon in the
hands of American workers and
their friends. . Besides the 50,-
100000 pieces of literature, CIO-
PAC intends to buy radio time,
newspaper space in big towns and
small, rent billboards, distribute
posters, use sound trucks and the
whole paraphernalia of modern
political campaign. The stakes are
the largest in American labor history
and labor intends to do its best to
win its fight"
Unheard-of Quantity.
The national committees cam
palgn is on no such scale as that.
For one thing, 50,000,000 pieces of
literature is an unheard of cam
paign quantity. It will take a very
large sum indeed to print, mail and
distribute. The other activities out
lined in the news releases" are like
wise expensive.
Nothing is said here of the cost
OF the registration drive which the
CIO-PAC is making, but no one can
consider the program as thus out
lined without appreciating that it
Will take more money to carry out
than the Democratic committee will
be able to collect, or than Mr.. Hill
man comedies he will have.
That Mr.. Hillman knows the pro-
gram will require an immense
amount Is evidenced by the kind of
appeal the labor press is directed in
these news releases" to make.
1t is told, for instance, to point
out to the worker" that his dollars
are to match those of the Du Points.
the Sloans and the Rockefellers.
No mention, of course, is made of
the Biddles, the Morgenthaus, the
Davies, the Harrimans and other
rich and liberal contributors to the
Roosevelt campaign funds. One
would think that these were all poor
boys who never had been asked to
come through"
The labor press is also directed to
dwell on the idea that the fruits of