Evening star., 1953-08-02
Farley to Serve Nation
In New Hoover AGENCY
Writer Tells How Trick
Reelected Roosevelt in 1886
By Frank R. Kent

By Frank R. Kent
Acceptance, by James A. Farley of an
appointment from Republican Presi-
dent to a nonpartisan commission
headed by former Republican Presi-
dent deserves little more attention
than it got. Possibly Mr.. Farley may
have served before on a nonpartissn
agency dedicated to reform. efficiency
and economy. But if so it cannot now
be recalled. This seems his first.
For Mr.. Farley is a Democrat OF
Democrats. His party regularity is
without flaw. There have been times
when he voted for candidates whom
he diSliked and diStrusted. There have
been times when the principles ex-
pounded by his party sharply clashed
with his own convictions. Yet after
the nominations were made and the
platforms adopted, no matter how
badly they smelled, there never has
been a time when he did not support
both to the hilt.
Considering all this it was rather
a warming thing when Mr.. Farley so
promptly accepted, expressing graft.
tude to President Eisenhower for the
assignment and asserting that he re-
garded it as an honor to serve. under
Herbert Hoover The fact is that even
in 1882, when Mr.. Farley was doing his
best to defeat Mr.. Hoover for re-elec-
ton, he respected him as a man and
as a statesman Neither before, later
nor during that campaign did he join
in the outrageous smearing Of Mr..
Hoover which established a new low In
political mendacity. Certainly he did
all he could to beat him. but never did
he get down to the low level of so many
of the Roosevelt aides.
X
In the months ahead it is reasonable
to predict that Mr.. Hoover will flnd
no man on the commission who will
give him more wholehearted support
than Mr. Farley. Especially Mr.. Farley
ought to be useful in framing the rec
ommendation to put the Federal Post
Office on a solvent basis. Better than
almost any one else Mr.. Farley knows
that the vast Post Office deficits are
due to the low rates at which the great
weekly, monthly and daily magazines.
periodicals and newspapers are carried
through the mails. Also better than al
most any one else, Mr.. Farley knows
the political strength of the resistance
to raising these rates. BY putting his
full weight back of this recommended
ticn, sure again to be the report OF
the new Hoover Commission, Mr.. Far
ley might do a really great service.
He might build a higher monument
to himself than the one he erected in
1886 when he engineered what many
regard as the greatest political coup
in American politics. 1t may be worth
while to recall the facts in more de-
tail than they have been given. The
chief one is that for more than 70
years the Negro vote in States where
it was counted, to wit, Massachusetts,,
New York. New Jersey. Pennsylvania.
Maryland, Missouri. Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan and Connecticut,
had been solidly and unshakably Re-
publican. the basic asset of that party.
Early in 1886 Senator Joseph F..
Guffey of Pennsylvania went to Mr..
Farley then Democratic national
chairman. and sold him the idea that
if Mr.. Roosevelt would cooperate"
by making Negro appointments in his
State he would carry it. The astute
Farley reasoned that If that could be
done in consistently Republican Penn
sylvania it could be done in all the
other States with a sizable Negro vote.
couple of days later Senator Guffey
and Mr.. Farley went to the White
House and laid the plan before Mr..
Roosevelt.
Would Mr.. Roosevelt Cooperate?
He jumped at the chance. Right away
he named an influential Negro Pitts
burgh editor as an Assistant Attorney
General. the highest public Office any
Negro had ever filed. He then paved
the way for an unprecedented number
OF minor Negro appointments. These.
under direction of Mr. Farley, were
limited to the IL States listed
above. Having gotten this patronage
essential well started, Mr.. Farley
launched a great propaganda drive
from the National Committee. He put
on It's payroll scores of Negro teach
ers, preachers and speakers. These he
sent out to spread the New Deal gospel
TO the Negro voters in the II States.
Inc rarley-GuT1ey plan paid OF In
a big way. Roosevelt not only carried
Pennsylvania but all the other States
given the special treatment. After the
election. Mr.. Farley admitted it could
not have been done but for the help
of Mrs. Roosevelt, whose popularity
among the Negroes was greater than
that of her husband, and of Harry
Hopkins. head of the WPA, who in
the weeks before election put an al
most incredible number of Negroes on
the payroll. In brief, the Democrats
transferred in important electoral
States literally millions of votes from
the Republican Party, thereby making
each one count two. The Republicans
were stunned. Nor have they yet been
able to get them back. Even in 1852
the Negro vote in these IL States
was largely Democratic. 1t is not sur
prising the politicians regard that
1886 Democratic theft as the slickest
political trick of all time. But in con-
trlbutlng to the restoration of national
solvency Mr.. Farley now has an oppor-
tun1ty to do service to his country
in which he can really take pride.