St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-04-12


Senator John A. Danaher, of Con-
necticut.
The announcement some time ago
of Perry W. Howard, Republican
national committee man for Mis-
sissippi, that he favored Mr.. Reece
was as good a weather vane as
was needed to indicate which way
the Taft wind was blowing. Mr..
Howard has been a political sup
porter of Senator Taft for a num-
Der of years, and if Taft's name is
placed in nomination at the Re-
publican national convention in
1913, he will have in the conven.
ton a delegation from Mississippi
pledged to vote for the Ohioan.
Bob Church, of Tennessee, also
supported Mr.. Reece. They have
been political associates in Tennes-
see politics and personal friends
of long years standing. The cleo
ton of Mr.. Reece, however, has
greater import than that a friend
of Church's is the chairman of the
Republican national committee. 1t
signifies a return to cordial under
standing between Mr.. Church and
the head of the party.
There are other implications in
the election of Mr.. Reece. Senator
Taft vigorously protested to Her
bert E. BrOwnell, Jr., the retiring
chairman, against publication of an
article critical of him in THE Ne
gro Statesman" official organ of
the National Council of Negro Re-
publicans, edited by Joseph V. Ba-
ker, of Philadelphia.
Mr.. Brownell admitted that the
Republican national committee
makes contributions to the National
Council of Negro Republicans, but
said it did not censor or review"
the material which appears in the
Statesman prior to its issuance.
Senator Taft regarded this as an
indefensible position. By making
the contribution, he contended, the
Republican national committee
made itself responsible for attacks
on Republicans. He protested
most vigorously" against any con-
tinuation of financial support to
the Council, and particularly to the
subsidy" to the Statesman which
he classified as a semi official or
gan of the Republican National
committee.
The other discordant note among
colored Republicans is the appoint
ment of Valores Washington, a
member of the Illinois Commerce
Commission. Some charged that his
selection was a move by Mr..
Brownell and Governor Dwight
Green of Illinois to have a colored
man actively pushing the Presi-
Dental campaign of Governor
Thomas E. Dewey in the midwest.
AS the chairman of the Republi-
can national committee, Mr.. Reece
will inherit these issues. How he
will dispose of them remains to
be seen. But these issues are only
part of the fractional strife among
colored Republicans for party lead
ership. 1t will be Mr.. Recess task
to bring accord among them in
order that they may be used eff
fectively in the Congressional cam
paign to win a minimum of 81
additional seats to gain control Of
the House and nine additional seats
to gain control of the Senate.
Recess election was a victory for
the Old Guard. His record in Con-
gress proves him a conservative.
He has broken sectional lines to
vote for anti-lynching, anti-pOll tax
and FEPC, but on most other meas
ures his vote has been regarded as
nOn-prOgressive.
At the hearings on the HASTE
nomination the other day, Senator
Abe Murdoch, Democrat of Utah,
asked Frederick Dorsch, executive
secretary of the Virgin Islands
Chamber of Commerce, to identify
the senders of batch of kilograms
from the islands approving Hasties
appointment.
Dorsch began to read the names
and state the business of the send