Evening star., 1951-03-25

years, tne, Harding ana COOlldge
administrations suffered from the
thumpings administered by Sen
atorS from the Midwest and West.
whom the late Senator George
Moses, Republican, of New Hamp-
shire labeled Sons of the Wild
Jackass." This group furnished
not only the investigators but also
the votes necessary to force
through the Senate the resolutions
providing for the Investigations.
It contained 'progressives" of both
the major political parties-the
Washes and the Wheelers on the
Democratic side and the La Fol-
letteS. the Norrises, the Brook
harts. the Cuttings, the Nyes and
the. Couzepses on the Republican.
AS investigators, these gentlemen
were shining stars. When they
tore the lid Oft was really off.
1t was the senior La Toilette.
Fighting Bob," who introduced
the resolution calling for an in
vestigation of the naval oil leases,
and it was Senator Tom Walsh,
Montana Democrat. who, with the
persistence of a bloodhound on the
trail, drove a deep wound into
the Harding administration.
No Reward for Walsh
The then Secretary of the In
terror, Fall, dumped a whole van-
load of documents relating to the
leasing of Teapot Dome and Elk
Hills oil reserves to Harry. F. Sin
clair and Edward L. Doheny. It
took Senator Walsh a year to 60
through these documents and
come up with the evidence which
he needed to go forward with the
investigation, which led finally to
the fatal ''black bag and put Fall
behind the bars. There was talk
then of Walsh for a Democratic
presidential or vice-presidential
nomination-in 1924. Almost, it
seemed, that the party owed him
something, for in addition to his
uncovering the Oil scandals, he had
proved himself an able and con-
structive leader in the Senate on
legislative matters. But Walsh
made no headway when his name
was suggested for a presidential
nomination. William Gibbs Nc
Adoo, Secretary of the Treasury
under Wilson, came East from
California as the champion of the
"drys" and locked horns with cal"
Smith at the Madison Square Gar
den convention. The Democrats
literally tore themselves to pieces
in that convention. 1t took 1O3
ballots to reach a presidential
nomlnation-that of John w.
Davis of West Virginia and New
York. Senator Walsh had presided
over the raucus affair as perma-
nent chairman of the Democratic
National Convention, and so we'll
had he handled the delegates and
himself that there were loud de-
mands for his nomination for Vice
President. But Walsh would have
none of it, and Brother Charley"
Bryan of Nebraska was named in
his place.
Wheeler Started Probe
Senator Burt" Wheeler, also a
Montana Democrat, who tore the
curtain from Attorney General
Daugherty, the man who had
played a principal part in getting
a presidential nomination for
Harding, refused to go along with
the Davis-Bryan ticket in 1924
and allowed himself to be nomi-
mated for Vice President on the
Progressive" ticket, with Senator
La Toilette of Wisconsin at its
head.
1t was Wheeler who offered the
resolution for an inquiry into the
Justice Department, which, he
said, had sat by and made no move
to look into the looting of Federal
Oil reserves or violations of the
antitrust laws. Wheeler, a fresh
man Senator, took the unusual
course of naming the Senators. in
his resolution, who were to make
the inquiry. The late Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge, Massachu-
setts Republican. denounced this
move, saying that Wheeler was
proposing to break down the re-
Spect in which the Senate's pre-
siding officer was held (the NAM
ing of special committees was left
to the presiding oficer). Wheeler
changed his resolution so that the
Senate would itself elect the COM
mittee. 1t was passed, and the
Senate elected the very Senators
whom Wheeler had named in his
resolution.
The prominence attained today
by Senators Kefauver and Full
bright, because of the investiga-
tions they have conducted, has set
tongues wagging over their pos
slble selection for places on the
Democratic national ticket next
year. And to an almost similar
extent, the discussion of Senator
Douglas of Illinois, who has shown
himself, too, an investigator who
lets the chips fall where they may
and a legislator of great inde-
pendence.
Truman's Running Mate?
Not since the Civil War has the
Democratic Party had the temerity
to nominate a presidential candi-
date from the South, although il
was the democracy of the South
that kept life in the party of JEFF
ferson and Jackson when at times
it appeared that everything was
lost. 1t did. however, go so far as
to nominate the late Senator Joe"
Robinson of Arkansas for Vice
President, running with AL Smith.
The Democrats of that day, IN
the SouthernerS, had de-
cided to throw Smith to the wolves
and get rid of him as a con-
tender for future presidential
Smith tried again IN