Show SEEN I nn and HE RD HEl RD 9 around nd ld t the tl NATIONAL NATIONAL 5 CAPITAL I fy y Carter Field e WASHINGTON The The army engineers engi engl have certainly made It tough for tor David E E. Lilienthal In that task he has been at for five live years now of allocating the cost of TVA as between between be be- tween navigation flood control and end power It wouldn't be so bad If the army engineers didn't have so much strength on Capitol Hill VIII but they just demonstrated that again this session When President Roosevelt's Roosevelt's Roosevelt's Roose Roose- velt's reorganization bill giving him pretty nearly carte blanche blanehe to combine agencies and distribute governmental functions was being considered the senate committee wrote a special proviso into It statIng stating stat stat- ing that there roust must be no monkey monkey- Ing with the functions and powers of the army engineers I And even Tommy Corcoran didn't try to lobby that out He lie knew It couldn't be done In the case of TV TVA A the army engineers figured that navigation of the Tennessee river could be pro pro- produced produced produced for a cost of Then they went Into the flood damage damage dam dam- age at length and figured out that the average annual damage In the valley from floods was wu Daniel W W. Mead former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers has figured that only of the TVA's proposed expenditures could reasonably be allocated to flood control Mead does make a concession In the direction direction di dl of Senator George W VV Nor Nor- ris He admits that the high dams built by TV TVA A and to be built would aid navigation more than the plan proposed by the army engineers He lie calculates that perhaps as much muchas as should be allocated to i. i navigation Waving aside the point that It ite i e has been proved many times that even the figure Is 11 an economic absurdity and conceding the higher figure this would make the total that should be allocated for navigation and flood control In Inthe Int t the TV TVA A development Coat Cost Half Billion But Dut it Is common knowledge a at t Knoxville that the total cost of TVA all its work completed will exceed d The lowest estimate e recently made Is It Is 11 s true that part of this money hassad has hat s and sad will wUl be spent for development t of the valley valley free free fertilizer soil soli erosion etc Official I figures are no not t tn available but Harcourt A. A Morgan n mentioned in his hll testimony that tha t tons of fertilizer had been bee tn n distributed On the unwarranted basis of th the e TVA estimates Mr Mead contends contends con eon tends it is apparent that It estimates estimates estimates esti esti- mates the cost of power at about abou t mills per kilowatt hour 0 On Ona a more reasonable basis of cost o othe of f the plants and of the power that thai ft t can be sold the probable cost will willbe willbe willbe be from 5 to 7 mills per kilowatt t hour Steam power can ean certainly be generated In the Tennessee valley val yal ley Icy for not to exceed 4 mills per kilowatt hour Actually right In Washington th the e local electric company using to low w grade coal produces current a athe at atthe t the switchboard for 3 mills Anthis And An d this company pays not only bon bond d interest but good dividends which whit h spells a heavy tax bUl bill paid to th the e federal government both direct an and d in the personal Income returns olits ol of o oits f its security holders AU of which tends to answer a question which even Senator Norris has be begun to worry about Why th the delay since 1933 1933 in making all allocations allocations allo allo- o- o of TVA costs as between power navigation and flood control Ambitious Lewis David J Lewis now represents tive from the Sixth Maryland dis triet and the New Deals Deal's choice t to c succeed Senator Millard E. E Tydings who vho bucked the administration o othe on n the Supreme court enlargement program program program pro pro- gram as well as In most of th the theether theother e other ether issues on which President Roosevelt has faced opposition wit wll gratify an ambition of a lifetime 1 if the White House louse is 11 strong strone enough 1 to u put him over A liberal with a lot of conserva conserve live friends Lewis had a strop strong B hold on his district which takes i in n all of western Maryland up until 1 1916 In that year he had his first firs chance at the senate due to one of the most peculiar setups in Maryland Mary lands land's rather extraordinary politics political I history At that time the Democratic boss bos of the state tate was waa Senator Jo John Walter Smith His Ills rival for leadership leadership leadership leader leader- ship was wa his colleague Senator r Blair Lee Blair Lee had won a record for progressivism in th the S Maryland legislature He lie had wanted want ed to be eo governor vernor In the primary Y he had bad bee been beaten by young Arthur Arth C Pue Gorman son of Maryland senator who had been chairman o of f the Democratic National commit tee and had bad led the filibuster tha that t m v talked the force blU bill to death Wf r John Walter Smith had backed backe d young oung Gorman in that successful ul y primary but there was general t re re- e So much so 0 that thousands thousands thou sands of at Maryland Democrats Democrat I rj j when election day rolled around voted for the Republican nominee for or governor Phillips Lee Golds Golds- borough Goldsborough was elected elect elect- ed d the second Republican governor since Ince the Civil war Lloyd having laving been th the first Smith Gets Nervous After that Blair Lee came to the the senate enate but he still hankered for the governorship So he tried again and John Walter Smith had to strain himself a little Uttie to keep Lee I down This began to get on Smiths Smith's nerves So when Lee came up for re- re reelection election as IS senator In 1910 1916 John Walter looked round for tor somebody to o beat him At the time Smith was generally regarded as at the most conservative Democrat In the state and Representative Lewis as 81 the most radical So Smith backed Lewis against Lee Lewis won the nomination thus retiring Lee to private life lite but the thee Lee e Democrats were mad and the Smith Democrats lost interest after they had disposed of Lee The Republicans Re Re- publicans had nominated Dr Joseph I. I France at that time in the state tate senate He JIe was Will comparatively un un- known cnown In fact It has often been said laid that thousands of men voted for him without knowing who he be was was or caring They were voting against Lewis France came to the senate for forone forone forone one term but long enough to plague Woodrow Wilson on the League of Nations Nations Nations-he he promptly joined the when that Battalion of death organized to fight light the Versailles treaty Also long enough to acquire high ambitions lie Ie has been a constant candidate for tor President ever since though never able to get any delegates delegate From his own state Bar Berrys Berry's Path PathA A city elty boss who can deliver a majority of in a Democratic primary for any candidate he chooses even chooses even if it he delays his decision deci lion sion until the day before election election- and a United States lena senator tor who has been doing favors for voters up and down his state stale for tor 26 20 years stand in the way of the continuance of Senator George L L. Berry Derry of Tennessee Tennessee Ten Ten- in the the- upper house The city boss is Ed Crump of Memphis The senator is 11 Kenneth McKellar They have decided that Tom Steward shall be the other lena senator tor from Tennessee There are other candidates besides Berryand Berry Derry Berryand and Stewart One is Ridley Mitchell Mitchell Mitch Mitch- ell of Cookeville who some think will get more votes than Derry Berry Another Another An An- other is 1 E. E W. W Carmack of Mur son of the famous senator senator sena sena- tor There are also Dr John R. R Neal of Knoxville and ond C. C L L. L Powell of Sumner county But Dut Crump and McKellar seldom lose a fight when they are together Actually the most important phase to them is le the governorship and not the Two years ago they backed the present governor Gordon Browning Drowning and won handily McKellar was waa for another candidate at first but yielded to Crump What disturbed McKellar Is that he always always al al- al ways way looks a s long ways way ahead He lie knew that if it Browning Drowning should serve two terms as a. governor and make a lot of friends he might be a strong trong opponent in 1940 when Me Id Me- Me Kellar comes up for re Tennessee has haa the same jort Tort of unwritten law about Its senators which North Carolina Vermont and I many other states have One must be from the western part of the tate state the other from the eastern So McKellar doesn't like the idea of senatorial aspirants from his own awn the western section of Ten Ten- It Its It's Politics Governor Browning Drowning although supported supported sup sup- ported two years ago by Crump apparently did not trust him At Al any rate tale he proposed a county unit system of nominations and forced it through the legislature This would have crippled Crumps Crump's power in wide state primaries forIt for forIt forit It would have reduced Shelby county coun coon ty Memphis to a few votes of the electoral variety somewhat similar to the Georgia plan To make Crump all the madder the bill blU which Drowning Browning forced through would have placed a maximum on the number of votes in each county count v. v This would have strengthened t tie tle smaller counties cut down the power not only of Memphis but of Nashville Chattanooga and Knox v villa Unfortunately for Browning Drowning this proposed law was knocked out of the courts which held that the law disfranchised voters so 10 that thai Crump Crump's ire re was aroused without his claws being belne cut Browning Drowning had appointed Berry to the senate enate after otter the death of ol Nathan thou though Crump was for another roan man The understanding understanding under under- standing in n Washington is fa that Browning Drowning did this at the urgent solicitation of President Roosevelt who wanted a sure New Deal vote in the upper house In Tennessee they say Charles West convinced Browning Drowning of this and that Roosevelt Roosevel had no part in It In fact In Tennessee the story is told that thai this is really what happened to West Roosevelt stood tood by and let Harold liar Har old L. L Ickes kick him around At any ony rate Browning Drowning is now supporting sup porting Derry Berry and end Crump and end Mc Me Kellar have marked both for tor the slaughter Which makes it mos most Inopportune politically for tor Da David vie E E. E Lilienthal to join Dr Arthur EMorgan E E. Morgan in the public branding of Berry as 81 a would would-be profiteer on an submerged marble lands land O e Dell Bell eU Syndicate Service |