Show 0 4 OX MI 16 00 0 0 no to win washington it is curious how trade winds blow in politics we here in washing phenomenon ton have just wit in in politics hessed what can well be called a phenomenon it grows out of the primaries in two widely separated states florida and pennsylvania the fact that it was a democratic primary in each instance however makes possible this analysis and discussion of details taking up the primaries in their order there was the primary in florida where sen claude pepper per cent new dealer in dorser of townsend old age pensions and himself indorsed endorsed indor sed by james roosevelt son and secretary of the president licked the pants off of his challengers he polled more votes than rep J mark wilcox and former gov dave combined it was without doubt a new deal victory for which the president can clairn claim justifiable credit the second primary was that in pennsylvania where there were three thre e candidates for the united states senatorial nomination among the democrats and three for the democratic gubernatorial nomination there were two candidates for the republican nomination for each j of these offices as well but that fact will be treated later few party primaries in modern times developed the bitterness that flamed in the democratic test in pennsylvania it was the first time that organized labor as such had come out into the open with avowed candidates and it was the first time democratic national chairman farley has taken a hand in attempting to tell the voters of a state what to do in addition there was a state party committee which insisted upon selecting a slate of candidates in n regulation boss fashion so there ti C pre all of the elements of a rough io I 1 it t and it happened according to v cast mr farley made an eleventh hour bour public appeal to the democrats of pennsylvania for harmony he asked them to nominate governor earle tor for the united states senate governor earle was the choice of the state committee faction mr farley also asked that the penn sylv anians nominate gov thomas kennedy secretary secret ary treas tre as aurer of the united mine workers for the governorship mr kennedy was thrown overboard by the state committee but he had the open in dor of john L lewis head of the C 1 I 0 labor union he also had the backing of sen joseph guffey who has constantly served as president Roosevel ts voice in the united states senate the farley recommendation thus cast out charles alvin jones of pittsburgh state committee selection for the governorship and it threw mayor S davis wilson of philadelphia into the discard as far as the democratic senatorial nomination was concerned mayor wilson was a lewis C I 1 0 guffey candidate the farley announcement made on the day before the primary built up resentment even from the men he indorsed endorsed indor sed governor earle barked loud and long so did lieutenant governor kennedy mr earle won mr kennedy lost mr jones won and shouted about it mayor wilson lost and bellowed about the interference and after the smoke cleared away mr farley said promptly in ef feet lets all get together and elect our democratic candidates john D M hamilton republican national chairman wrote a state ment while the biting sun gun was coming words up on the day following the primary he bounced biting words right off of mr Far parleys leys head in substance he said the pennsylvania primary showed 1 the voters of any state resent interference from the national headquarters as regards their party nominees 2 the voters of pennsylvania showed I 1 they hey will have nothing to do with john L lewis despite the fact that probably that state is the most tightly organized tor for the C 1 I 0 of any state in the country 3 the demov brats of pennsylvania are tiring or of the crackpot crack pot brains of the roosevelt administration mr hamilton further called attention to the fact that two present democratic members of the house of representatives were defeated for representative stack an n admirer of father coughlin radical radio priest and representative crosby author of townsend plan bills in the house were supplanted tile the republican chairman sought to connect their defeat witti with a trend away from radicalism which he says is inherent in the new deal because mr stack sometimes went beyond new deal ground now as to the republican battle james J davis present senator was over G mason owlett backed by the republican state committee and judge arthur H james was nominated for the governorship over former gov gif ford pinchot who like mr kennedy was approved by john L lewis and his C 1 I 0 as acceptable so again the voters took things into their own hands and their state committee selections were taken on where the voters liked the man but to get back to the premise upon which I 1 started it has been most interesting to note the veering of the political winds shortly after the florida primary there was a hurrying for cover by dozens of democrats in the house of representatives senta tives they thought they saw in those results a swing again to the new deal a restoration of the presidents popularity new deal spokesmen around washington did not let any grass grow under their feet they used the florida results to advantage in good political fashion they whispered and hinted and sometimes said out loud that the boys who went against the new deal would get their spanking and to their credit it must be said they did a good job for example I 1 am convinced the vicious wages and hours bill that was locked so securely in a house committee would never have been brought out except for the reaction from the florida primary seldom if ever has there been so much haste in signing a petition for report of a bill as was observed in the case of that legislation generally speaking I 1 believe it is a fact that new deal backbones were stiffened all along the line by sen ator peppers which assures election in florida came then the pennsylvania primary a vote that was preceded by charges of graft maybe bribery bossism maybe etc and the farley harmony attempt in the day before the polls were taken and came then a sudden revival of the fight that anti new deal democrats were making prior to Flo vote maybe the florida vote did not involve new deal issues maybe it was peppers machine maybe it was this and maybe it was that anyway their thoughts were running maybe pennsylvania is a better barometer and each one is analyzing that vote in an effort to apply the result to his own district whatever their conclusions are there is one thing definitely established organized labors most ambitious political effort flopped it was washed out of the road the pennsylvania rout of organized labor of the john lewis brand is made the more significant because of the link with the white house disclosed through mr Far parleys leys in dor of mr kennedy it may be of course that president roosevelt did keep hands off but it is quite another matter to convince the average person that the white house was not involved for one thing the pennsylvania results seem to show that the john lewis claims of political strength can be discarded as so much hooey another thing to remember about the democratic primary results in pennsylvania projects itself into the future to 1940 to be exact the victory by mr jones in the fight for the gubernatorial nomination destroys the control of pennsylvania democrats so long exercised by senator guff guffey ey he cannot be called the boss again under any stretch of the imagination and when it is time for election of a successor to mr guffey the best political judgment available predicts mr Guf leys feys disappearance as an entrant As to the 1940 projection attention ought to be directed to the fact that probably mr jones and not mr guffey will determine what democratic presidential aspirant shall have the great block of 72 votes in the national convention this seems certain whether mr jones wins or loses the race for governor he is established as head of the party all of the indications now perceptible I 1 promise an alignment of the jones faction now controlling with the more conservative group nationally including sen pat harrison vice president garner and men of that type so it is seen that the pennsylvania primary can and is almost certain to have an important reaction on national democratic strategy in addition to these circumstances there is talk g going around now 0 that the an T II 11 at talk about new deal fact faction io n kentucky in kentucky is determined ter mined to do business in that state of course senator barkley Bark lcy the roosevelt majority leader in the senate whose selection to the job was made in the famous dear alben letter has a tremendous bulge cold analysis of the situation does not afford much comfort for the forces of A B happy chandler who seeks the barkley scalp the point is however that anti new dealers among the democrats think the pennsylvania situation may possibly be reproduced in kentucky a western colern newspaper union |