Evening Star Newspaper, May 17, 1937, Page 13

Spoils System May Swing Court Plan Incidents Tend to Con- firm Barter-on-Prin- ciple Tactics. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. ANY well-meaning persons in America who believe implicit- ly in the king-can-do-no- wrong theory, have stood by President Roosevelt through thick and thin. His mistakes, if any, they as- sume to have been mistakes of judg- ment but not of the heart. They do not for a mo- i ment counte- nance any sug- gestion that Mr. Roosevelt w o n his election by any impropriety or that he exer- cises any improp- er influence over members of Con- gress, For the benefit of these persons, if for no others, it would appear that the facts ought to be made avail- sble and the truth ascertained about & number of incidents which come dangerously near accusing the White House of actually using discretionary powers over public funds or public offices to influence the votes of mem- bers of the House and Senate. If Wall street bankers came here and influenced votes by a quid pro quo of a valuable character, or if busi- ness men did it, the words used would be ‘“boodle” and “graft” and the eountry would insist on severe con- demnation of any such practice. Incidents Reported. So the charges and innuendoes are grave enough to mierit attention, be- cause they oonstantly mention the White House, and there is nothing more unfair in a democracy than the making of charges which affect the very vitality of the democratic sys- tem of government. Here are the in- cidents: 1. Postmaster General Farley, emerging from a conference at the White House with President Roose- velt, and being reminded by a re- porter that some Democratic Senators were not going along with the admin- istration on the Supreme Court bill, is quoted by the Washington Post on May 15 as having said: “‘Well, when Benator O'Mahoney comes down here wanting help on a sugar bill, his con- science won't be bothering him, will 1t? Or when Senator Pat McCarran wants aid for his State. It's all in the viewpoint.” 2. On April 28, 1937, Paul Mallon, nationally known writer, related in his dispatch that a Federal job pay- ing $7,500 & year had developed some complications between rival candi- dates and that James Roosevelt, per- sonal secretary to the President, had told Chairman Prall of the Federal Communications Commission that “Papa said the Iowa delegation in the House was going to vote for his Su- preme Court program and, therefore, their candidate for the job must be taken care of.” Viewpoint Deplored. The episode aroused the San Fran- ¢€is0o Chronicle to say editorially: “Certainly the institutions of Amer- #ca, for generations to come, should not turn on who gets a $7,500 job now. That just this pressure is be- ing weed, % notorious. This is the first specific example of it which comes in so blunt and substantial a form.” If the incident is true, then this type of thing was even more strongly condemned by Woodrow Wilson in his book on constitutional govern- ment when he wrote: “There are illegitimate means by which the President may influence the action of Congress. He may bargain with members, not only with regard to appointments, but also with re- gard %o legislative measures. He may use his local patronage to assist members to get or retain their seats ese “Buch things are not only deeply Jmmoral, they are destructive of the fundamental understandings of con- stitutional government and, there- fore, of oonstitutional government it- self. They are sure, moreover, in a country of free public opinion, to bring their own punishment, to de- stroy both the fame and the power of the man who dares practice them.” ‘What did Mr. Farley mean when he said that Senator O'Mahoney and Senator McCarran, Democrats, would find the White House turning a cold shoulder to them when they came ask- ing for executive action on matters affecting their respective States? Cabinet Member Involved. Assuming for the moment that some- body misinformed Mr. Mallon about the alleged conversation between Mr, Prall and Jimmy Roosevelt, can the other incidents be dismissed alsp when David Lawrence, THE EVENING STAR, News Behind the News Split Looms in House Demagogue Club—Roosevelt Evades Query on Price Control. BY PAUL MALLON. HE Demagogue Club (that secret cloak room organization of House legislators) is having more trouble. It seems some of the mére blatant demagogues are forming themselves into a sepa:ate camp to be known as the liberal demagogues. They consider the other members as reactionary demagogues. What caused the split was: Several years ago, the club adopted a resolution restricting any member from using the pet subject of another member without permission. For instance, one had Wall BStreet, another the power people, etc. If a new demagogue wanted to use the Wall Street subject, he just notified the head of the Wall Street craft of the club. It was more or less routine, and nearly every one was permitted to demagogue about nearly any sub- Ject. But now one of those perpetu- ally dissatisfied persons has gone and started something known as the C. U. D. (Committee for Unlimited Demagoguery). This has upset every- thing. The old-line demagogues really just believe in harmless hum- buggery, like the farmer who puts the best apples at the top of the barrel. They would not fool a voter about anything serious, at least not much. This C. U. D, however, seems to be bent on putting things on & more substantial basis. * ok x X Just why the C. U. D. men call themselves liberal is not apparent. The word comes from liberty, but some of the economic regimentation they advocate means anything except liberty. In fact, they seem to recognize no connection at all between the two words liberal and liberty. They are not even liberal about teking other members to dinner, so the old ones say. The only liberality which they espouse is that of un- restricted appropriations of the taxpayers’ money. That seems to be where the liberal title comes from. It is expected the Demagogue Club will issue an order aoon expelling the C. U. D. from its ranks. Then there will be trouble. * % ok X It was not recorded generally, but President Roosevelt was asked straight out in that train interview about the question of the Govern ment controlling indstrial prices. This is the hottest subject around the inner circle now, but in such an intangible way as to escape getting into print. Sly hints have been dropped in choice circles about the possibility of the Government creating an “economic council” to limit industrial production and influence prices. Agriculture Secretary Wallace has openly been playing prophet for such a development. Furthermore, very reliable information indicates Mr. R.'s counselors are split sharply into two camps. One wants him togotrust= busting in a sincere way and thus reach the price problem. The other wants him to revise the social structure of the country’ with some sort of Fascist- like “economic council.” Consequently, newsmen cupped their ears when the question a8 asked of the President. His eyes twinkled and he replied: “No news on that—yet.” The well informed betting hereabouts is running about 2 to 1 that Mr. R. will avoid the economic council idea and go trust-busting. * x X X The basic fact behind the helium controversy will be found in the yet unpublished testimony of the House Military Affairs Committee, taken just 14 days before the Hindenburg explosion. On the stand was James T. Howington of the Girder Corp. of Louisville. He put in the record a state- ment reading in part: “During the last two years there has been a considerable interest in and a demand for helium by foreign countries. France was definitely in the market for at least 10,000,000 cubic feet. Japan would have made & purchase from (my) company of substantial quantities. “The government of Holland has been interested in helium-filled airships for service to the East Indies. The German government, operating the Zeppelins between Europe and South America, has been continuously interested in a source of supply of this non-inflammable gas. This German demand undoubtedly would be measured in terms of millions of cubic feet. “The helium company has been denied the right to sell helilum for export.” ‘That is the story. All nations want helium and the United States has the supply. They want it for ostensible commercial purposes, but it would be & tremendous advantage in time of war. If the United States sold more to France or Germany, diplomatic complications would necessarily ensue. The only answer to the problem was given by Representa- tive Lanham of Texas in the same unpublished testimony: “Since we have this valuable agent, since these countries can not get it, since they have been trying to get it here commercially and are willing to pay a high agency of defense ought to be kept in o S price for it, I think this God-given Such a policy may lead to absurd insinuations that the United States is thus responsible for every hydrogen lighter-than-air ship which falls, but certainly not even a disappointed foreign country will seriously con- sider it so. Unless the United States wants to get entangled in all the politics of Europe and Asia, it will keep its helium for its own use. It cannot sell to all without weakening itself. It cannot sell to one without offending another. Note—It was Mr. Lanham who thought he heard Mr. Howington say the Hitler government definitely asked for helium and he still thinks so. ‘The record does not show it, but records do not always show everything that happens in committees. Chairman Lister Hill of Alabama does not recall it. Mr. Lanham may or may not be mistaken, but an amendment should be made to the line carried in this column several days ago stating the unpublished testimony would show such a rejected inquiry. they are published on the authority of a member of the President’s cab- inet? Another contribution, moreover, to the same discussion ocame recently from Senator Wheeler, Democrat of Montana, who is opposed to the Presi- dent's effort to pack the Supreme Court. Mr. Wheeler is chairman of the all-important Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce. He is one of the leading liberals in the Senate and he ran for the vice presidency in 1924 on the same Progressive ticket with the late Senator La Follette. Said Mr. Wheeler in a public address which was edited out of a film by the Kan- sas Board of Moving Picture Censors and later restored: “You can say that the privilege of appointing postmasters will not be ac- corded me. You can say that I'll get no more projects for my State. You can say what you please, but I say to you, Mr. Farley, to anybody else, that I will vote against this proposi tion because it is morally wrong, it is morally unsound, it is & dangerous proceeding.” Is it a fact that a member of the present cabinet 18 acting on behalf of a President of the United States in establishing a system of political bar- ter for votes in Congress on a major measure of legislation? opyright, 1937.) T0-DAY’S WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, THE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions ma be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. A Voice From the Grave Almost Forgotten Play Revives Germans to Thoughts of Liberty. BY DOROTHY THOMPSON. STRANGE and fascinating thing is happening in Ger- many. An ancient classic German drama, which has been part of the repertoire of the Ger- man theaters for generations, has become a modern political play. When- ever and wherever it is presented the theaters are crowded and at one point in the drame the .., st applause becomes a demonstration. Brief mention of the fact has been made in dis- patches from Berlin. But now that the German newspapers of last month have reached America, I see that what happened in Berlin has hap- pened in many i other cities where the play has been “Dorothy Thompson. performed, and has put the German government in something of a di- lemma. The “Frankfurter Zeitung” in a recent issue devotes a quarter of the front page to an editorial protesting against the demonstrators who “‘under cover of the darkness of the theater indulge in expressions which they are too cowardly to make openly.” As though any one in Germany dared make any political demonstration openly, except on order. The drama is “Don Carlos.” The author is Fried- erich Schiller, titan of German poets, contemparory of Goethe. It is 20 years since I read “Don Carlos” as part of a college course, and I had totally forgotten the old play, and therefore opened its pages the other day to read why and where the German public, under the Hitler dictatorship, have burst forth with 80 disturbing a response. Dawn of Freedom. A long and sometimes turgid drama, written in lofty but rather florid blank verse at the turn of the nineteenth century, my skin nevertheless prickled with excitement as I read and began to see the significance of the reaction in Berlin and elsewhere. For “Don Carlos” 18 one long and eloquent apostrophe to human freedom. The hero of the play is the Marquis Posa, a grandee of Spain, who has set his face against his sovereign, Philip II, the man who eventually brought Spain to ruin. The time is sixteenth century Eu- rope, and everywhere except in Spain the renaissance, with its emphasis on discovery. Truth and freedom, is dawning. Only Spain is still bound in the spirit and ritual of the Middle Ages in their decadence, with Philip himself claiming mystic and divine powers. Posa hopes through Don | Carlos, the Crown Prince, to bring the spirit of the renaissance into his country. Philip Is Told. ‘The high point in the drama occurs in Act III, when Philip, unconscious of Posa’s viewpoint, calls him into audience to ask why he has absented himself from the court. Posa takes the opportunity, as one of the first grandees of Spain, to tell his sover- eign exactly what he thinks of the state of the nation. He begins by describing his journey over some conquered territories: “. + . 80 many rich and blooming provinces, Filled with a valiant, great and decent people. To be the father of a race like this I thought must be divine - deed. and then I stumbled on a heap of dead men’s bones” . . . Philip protests, saying that he had been forced to act so, but Posa in terrupts him: “True you were forced $o act so, but that you Could dare fulfill your task— this fills my soul ‘With shuddering horror!* Startling Parallel. And then begins Posa’s arraignment of his sovereign, which word for word might be an arraignment of the pres- ent German dictatorship. LESTER-HALF A CENTURY OF FINE PIANO BUILDING TODAY'S pianoisthe Betsy Ross Spinet. Compact, yet of beautiful design and finish, it represents the epitome of small piano design and construction. A modern and exclusive Lester scale has given it a tone few pianos this size can offer; whether it be one room or 295" twelve, it is the ideal instrument for the home. There is only one Lester Betsy The sudience, thinking of asses- sinations, concentration camps, se- cret arrests and universal espionage, hears these words: “A milder age will follow that of yours; An age of truer wisdom .. . then the State Will spare her children, and neces- sity No longer glory to be thus man. .. This graveyard's peace! you hope to end ‘What you have now begun? Say, do you hope To check t.h‘ ripening change in Christendom? . . ., Would you alone in Europe fling yourself Before the rapid wheel of destiny?” ... German airplanes over SBpain! Can- nons instead of butter! Sixty thou- sand Germans leaving Germany, for France, for England, for free lands! And now comes the plea to the King, the plea to the man who claims divine rights over his subjects: “Restore us all you have deprived us of! And generous as strong, let happi- ness Flow from your horn of plenty! Let man's mind Ripen in your vast empire—give us back All you have taken from us, and be- come Amidst a thousand kings, a King in- deed! New Creation Possible. Breathless the audience as it hears the words: “Renounce the mimicry of Godlike powers Which level us to nothing! truth An image of the Deity himself! Never did mortal man possess 8o much For purpose so divine! . .. one pen- stroke now, One motion of your hand, can new create The earth! But grant us liberty of Thought!” The words “But grant us liherty of thought!” are cried passionately, and as they sound a thousand men and women in Hitler's Germany burst into cyclonic applause. It thunders up to where Dr. Josef Goebbels, commissar for propaganda and enlightenment, sits in his special loge. Another propagandist is on the stage! A Ger- man, & Nordic, speaking for freedom from a century past. Grant us liberty of thought! This demonstration was not rehearsed. No brown-shirted Storm Troopers end black-shirted 8. 8. men are here! No waving ban- ners with the swastika; no blare of drums, no massed formations. But the German enlightenment is on the stage, and the spirit of an- other revolution, made not to enchain men, but to set them free. Perhaps Dr. Goebbels remembers inhu- And do Be in that it was an opera, “La Muette de | Porticl,” by Auber, which started the Belgian revolution in 1830. Perhaps he remembers that a play, “The Mar- MAY 17, This Changing World Nations of Europe Changing the Type of Diplomats They Send to Washington. BY CONSTANTINE BROWN. ASHINGTON has become once more the mecca of international diplomacy. What the President of the Uniled States, the Con- gress and the American press are thinking and saying is s matter of real importance these days in the capitals of every country-in the world. ““The question of war or peace depends on the United States,” it is repeated frequently in the European capitals. But what Paris and London ectuslly think is “We can win the war if America plays with us”” Rome and Berlin say “We can make mince meat of our opponents if America would only stay out.” * K X % 1937. It is for this reason the Euro- ‘pean powers have ceased sending to Washington stuffed-shirt, old- school diplomats, who believe that diplomacy is & rite and not an everyday job requiring & keen in- telligence and tact. > ‘The Ambassadors and Minis- ters now being sent across the ocean are young men, who, if required to propagandize, will do it intelligently. That is to say, they will not confine their activities to asking politicians and newspaper men to 24 or 36 person dinner parties or making somewhat childish speeches. Their task is to talk to individuals privately and try to expose the points of view of their gov- ernments honestly and dispassionately. * KK K The Yugoslap government was the first to understand the role of the new diplomacy when it sent to Washington Constantin Fotich, their number one diplomat. Fotich is a simple, unobstrusive man of 46, remarkably well informed on international aflairs. He did not put any swank and did not rush to meet the “important people” of Washington. By important, in the Washington diplomatic dictionary is meant ladies and gentlemen who stand high in the Washington, and may be in the New York social register. Fotich took his time and allowed Americans to discover him. Now he is rated as one of the ablest foreign representatives in Washington. He does not preface his conversations with the classical “You know, I am not to be quoted” and then tell secrets which had been published in every newspaper a year or 30 ago. He just talks and tells what he knows. He practices the Wilsonian idea of public diplomacy. * x X X The French have replaced the Louis XIV school diplomat, Andre de Laboulaye, with the young Soclalist deputy, George Bonnet. The new French Ambassador came to Washington with no more than & college familiarity with the English language. He now speaks our lan- guage tolerably well. He, too, believes in being frank; not quite as frank as his Yugoslav colleague, because France has more at stake here than Yugoslavia and because there are quite & number of questions between the United States and France which prevent official outspokenness. But he has none of the Olympian aloofness of the career Ambassador and enjoys more the com- pany of members of Congress. Government officials—not necessarily only those of the States Department, and newspaper men. In the past an Ambassador never condescended to get into an argument with a poli- ticlan or newspaper man. He would merely reply to friendly at- tacks on such questions as war debts with a scornful smile. Bon- net, however, figuratively takes off his coat and gives as much as he gets. The Germans have replaced their neo-Nazi Dr. Hans Luther, Wwho used to see red every time any one even joked about Hitler, Goering or other German official, with Dr, Hans Dieckhoff. Dieckhoff s a career man, who served with the same devotion under the Weimar Republic that he serves with now. He did not participate in the Nazi struggle for power, and considers himself a Nazi now because the whole of Germany is Nazi. He is without a doubt the ablest diplomat the Reich has at the present moment. A young man, barely 47, he understands there are many in this country who do not like his country's system of government. DieckhofI's job will not be an easy one. But if there is a German who can do something to improve relations between the Reich and this coun- try, Dieckhoff is the man. riage of Figaro,” was not unimportant in the history of the French revolu- | tion And unquestionably he wonders | Nearly $3,000,000 is being spent by | what in the world he shall do about Argentina this year in the war on it. Let Friederich Schiller rise from |locusts, the pest being collected in his grave to lead an opposition, or |sacks and burned in huge piles, and | suppress a classic and eternal piece | “flame throwers” for burning locust of truly German literature, armies on the wing are being supplied (Copyright, 1937.) free by the government to farmers. Argentina Fights Locusts. Headline Folk and What They Do Road to Kingdom Hard Going for An- thony Hall. (Due to the absence of Lemuel F. Parton, this column {s contributed by members of the Consolidated Press staff.) B the throne of England, was thrown off a soap box in &t. Peter’s Square, Hereford, and quite completely mauled as a consequencs of his references to the late George V, whom he denounced as a usurper while putting forward his own claim to the Ikingly crown through his alleged de- scent from a son of Ann Boleyn and Henry VIIL whom history ; does mnot record. If, he mid, George Frederick Guelph is right- ly King, it was his duty to proe ceed against the claimant for high treason. But the King ignored Anthony Hall. tihe challenge; possibly thinking—if he thought about the matter at all, which is doubtful—that the shellacking the man received from an unconvinced crowd of listeners was quite sufficiente ly drastic. What now the London publie would do him in event of laying hands upon him following his public ree appearance on the wings of the recent coronation of George VI, with 8 lame, but nonetheless arrogant and contumacious, couplet is per= haps too dreadful to think about. “Prince” Anthony, formerly a police~ man in the Shropshire constabulary, is the son of an American citizen owning property in California, where the aspirant for regal honor attended school before the war. Two of his brothers, Robert and Ambrose Hall, still live in San Francisco, and there is no evidence that they regard their brother's pretensions with any ser- fousness. By trade a printer, he spent coronation day watching his 0Wn presses turn out specimen ‘‘cur- rency,” which, when he takes the throne, “in 1940,” will be redeemed. Thirty-seven years old, an orator with a huge voice and a wealth of adjectives, Anthony first proposed himself as occupant of the British throne in 1931, claiming background as an illegitimate son of Henry VIIL Recently, as the “legitimate king,” he signed a warrant returning the United States to British sovereignty. At least one of the planks of his platform ale ways obtains enthusiastic response from those who gather to hear his curbside oratory: “Purer and cheaper beer.” Trouble is he never stops there, but talks his way into a maze of involved genealogy which never fails in the end to lose him his audi- ence. ACK in 1931, “King Anthony 1" the “Tudor” pretender to Palestine may seek reciprocal trade agreements with other countries. GENERAL CHARLES G. DAWES charts the course of PROSPERITY in a challenging new forecast... How LONG PROSPERITY? Y a new course of the last three great busi- ness depressions from the respective dates fixed in history crashes, Gener: 1934, with steel ingot production reduced by the depression to 33%, made his famous prediction that in July 1935 it would com- mence its sustained rise to capacity, marking the return of prosperity to the United States. In this book, THIS CHART shows Steel Ingoc duction from 1934 to date. It shows how General Dawes’ alf year before the sustained rise in demand, was borne out, almest riphicall Sickon, s b Yo the da indicated. Tt Inrge si charts folded Ia the other, industrial are similarly treated on the basis past depressions. parison wit SEND NO MONEY Merely clip the coupon and 'by CHARLES G. DAWES method of measuring the stock collapse and a gener. by their initial stock market ations. al Dawes, on December 12, These chapters are: In wsing the same methods, he Great Depressions in the now forecasts the approximate date of a al business reces- sion. 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