Evening star., 1948-01-18
A Freshman Talks Back
FIonders Of Vermont
Is Annoying But
Rotes High
By Clarke Beech

In all his several careers, Ralph
z. Flanders has been embarrassing
to some one.
But as q. freshman Senator Of
81, be has been one Of the busiest
and most conspicuous men In the
Eightieth Congress, despite the ira
dition that for the first year or
two Senators are seen but not
heard.
He has talked up TO his Repub-
lican Party bosses In Congress on
the most delicate issues. Yet they
have intrusted him with some Of
the most vital committee work Of
this Congress - the rent-control
problem and the high cost Of hous-
ing and consumer goods.
What Senator Flanders says
about a cure for imitation will prob
ably have q lot to do with the
prices you win pay in the months,
ahead. His work rs = political
economist Is highly regarded IN
many academic and business circles.
Dyed-in-the-Wool Vsrmonter
His friends are at = loss to ex-
plain just what he Is, except q
dyed-in-the-wool Vermonter. (He
even wears Vermont tweeds, ad-'
mitting that a lot Of people think
Vermont wool Is just good for russ)
He is mechanic, an expert
craftsman, an engineer, an investor,
an author Of three books and many
articles on technical and sociology
cal subjects. His inventions include
important developments in the ma
chine tool industry. He is . ma
tionally known lay speaker on re-
ligious subjects. 8.
He was president of the Jones Il
Lamson Machine Tool Co. from
1888 to 1914. For the next two
years he was president of the Fed
eral Reserve Bank Of Boston.
He Is No Politician
OF one thing his friends are
certain: He is no politician. He
freely admits errors and makes no
promise he won't change his mind
in the future. l~...
When campaigning for the Senate
in 1910, he had a picture made
holding in his arms a pig from his
own farm. But he was well dressed
in business suit and white collar.
Canny Vermont farmers laughed
and voted for Horticulturist George
D. Aiken.
I'm strictly an amateur at this
business" Senator Flanders fire.
quently reiterates.
Senator Flanders first proved po-
litically embarrassing on a national
scale in early NRA days. President
Roosevelt and Hugh johnson, NRA
chief, addressing a great meeting
of industrial leaders, told them that
to spread the work. the hours of
labor must be shortened.
The Only Dissenter
Others sat in perplexed silence.
but not Senator Flanders. He got
to his feet and was the lone voice
of dissent in the hushed chamber
He conceded that cutting work
hours would serve to spread unem-
ployment thinner, but he declared
it wouldn't increase production, and
that's what the country needed
Newspapers that day were full of
the nervy Vermonter's remarks.
Next he shocked leaders on the
other side of the political fence.
He told the potent, conservative
New England Council. of which he
was a member, that it should fully
accept the aims of the New Deal,
even though it rejected New Deal
methods. Some members called him
a radical then.
Learning Self.Acquired
He began to do q lot of serious
research on economics after Jones 81
Lamson was badly hurt by the de-
preston. His economics, like most
of his learning, has been self
acquired. He had only eight years
Of formal schooling.
The philosopher John Dewey, an
other Vermonter, called him "the
~ r