Show 0 U washington As the political campaign waxes warmer it be comes painfully mud slinging evident that t the ii e ahead fight in 1936 for the suffrage of the i people is going to be very dirty it is going to be bitter and there is no way now apparent that such stich a I 1 characteristic can be avoided I 1 do not believe that either governor landon the republican candidate id or president roosevelt seeking reelection election re as a democrat lean can prevent the hurling of invez tives that are going to be very close to mudslinging mud slinging naturally the president of the united states seldom makes a mudslinging mud slinging speech and governor landon personally is i a mild mannered man who believes in in discussing issues rather than individuals divi duals but the intentions or the desires of these two candidates cannot control the bitterness that is to my mind certain to be found in this cam campaign laign in a large measure As typical of the sort of thing to which I 1 have referred is the recent speech of secretary ickes who in a national radio broadcast became quite ill tempered in his attack on governor landon mr ickes is not known for his composure anyway and when he gets heated up on any subject he is likely to be guilty of remarks that are not becoming to an official of our government or any other I 1 have not the slightest doubt that before the campaign has proceeded much further there will be similar speeches attacking mr roosevelt personally and that while governor landon may not approve there will be unworthy charges hurled at the president mr ickes skated pretty close to the line in his attack on governor landon by various adroit phrases which were designed to create the impression that the republican candidate was either ignorant or dishonest I 1 do not know governor landon personally but I 1 can offer this thought no man is going to be nominated by any political party in a national convention nominated by acclamation unless his record is pretty clear for mr ickes to say therefore in effect that governor landon had sold out to wall street was not the sort of campaign discussion likely to produce confidence among all the people in in their government it is comparable in my opinion to a charge that the president of the united states who advertises himself continually as a friend of the common man was guilty of increasing his own personal fortune through presidential acts and every one knows thi this s is is i not true but to get back to the theme song of the ickes speech it seems to me that the tragedy of his radio pronouncement lies in the fact throughout his discussion he was preaching class hatred every one knows of course attacks on wall street are very common in any political campaign the demagogues use it every hour of every day everywhere they can find any one to listen to them it is ridiculous but it has happened for a good many years so when mr ickes made the charge that governor landon was either unwittingly or knowingly leading a rich in mans an I 1 s fight against president roosevelt he was descending to a rather low level of campaigning I 1 have seen indications of a reaction against the ickes speech in a nother another way john may cause hamilton the re showdown publican national chairman on his recent organization tour of the western states propounded the inquiry that seeks to identify the economic royalists about which president roosevelt spoke several weeks ago aga if the roosevelt campaigners continue this class hatred propaganda I 1 rather suspect from what mr hamilton said in his speeches there will be a perfect barrage of demands to know the names of these economic royalists it may not seem important indeed it seems seem s like it probably is inconsequential but if the republicans let down a barrage on the president of the united states he is likely to be put jn in a bad corner without attempting to forecast what the republican opposition is likely to say I 1 can recall as an observer close to the wheels of government during the roosevelt regime that mr roosevelt frequently was a guest on the astor yacht and that one of his chief advisors for many months was the multimillionaire lio bernard M baruch it seems also that a very rich man henry L doherty was in charge of the nationwide nation wide dance program held on the presidents birthday and mr doherty be A t said is head of one of the great utility chains these are just samples it may be good politics for the president to encourage these attacks without approving them but those of us who knew the late louis mchenry howe are convinced that he never would have agreed to that sort of attack had lie he been alive allec and sl serving as the presidents closest political advisor as he did for a quarter of a century there is a situation in the federal government that threatens to be quite nasty I 1 probe pione pi one refer to the row G men that has developed between the department of justice bureau 0 of f investigation the G men and the Treas secret service corps it is all very much under cover quite secret but the row has come to the surface sufficiently to result in a demotion of two longtime long time members of the secret service J edgar hoover has been well press agenter as chief of the G men joseph E murphy has had almost no advertising as assistant chief of the treasury secret service service in which he has served for more than a quarter of a century mr murphy and one of his subordinates have been reduced in rank their record stained for life the two departments have kept the facts well covered up it seems that something was going on among the G men that the treasury secret service thought they ought to know about they conducted their own inquiry their own investigation into the other staff of investigators that is as much as has been made public except secretary Morgen thaus announcement no of the demotion order I 1 have known each of these men equally twenty years each is entitled to the utmost respect but each operates along an entirely different line hoover with some willingness for publicity murphy with an absolute policy of never letting his name get into the papers it is unfortunate that joe murphy was the goat the board of governors of the federal reserve system took an action recently that action probably is quite mystifies mystifying to the average person they ordered all of the banks of the country which are members of the federal reserve system to keep a deposit reserve with the federal reserve banks 15 per cent greater than ever has been required before with the technical phases of reserve requirements and the mechanical ch operation of this particular order I 1 think we need not be very much concerned but with the principle upon which this action is taken I 1 think every one with a bank account however small ought to be vitally interested they ought to be interested for the very simple reason that this action illustrates better than any words I 1 can write how far the centralization of control of the banking structure has gone this action was taken under the national banking act of 1935 a statute that has been frequently criticised criticized as a political banking act P in the instance ns tance 1 I have just reported the change in the reserve requirements probably will have no serious reaction on us as individuals it probably will not hurt the banks because few banks in the country have had calls for loans in any quantity since business is at such a low level but the point is that under this law the federal reserve board of governors can alter banking conditions over night it can issue new rules and regulations that are wholly impossible of understanding by the average individual but which are alm almost ost riotous in their effect upon the mana management ge of individual banks throughout the country to state this proposition in another way may I 1 describe it in the terms of a private business enterprise if a storekeeper in a small town were subjected to regulation from washington and the regulatory power in the federal government had such discretionary authority as the federal reserve board of governors could that storekeeper ever feel that he was managing his own business I 1 think not then in the case of the federal reserve board of governors it must be added that the president of the board is marriner S eccles who is known far and wide for his radical ideas about banking it can be further said that mr eccles has the ear car of president roosevelt this has been criticised criticized many times of course where opponents of the roosevelt banking policies have contended that the banks can be utilized in any way the administration desires to use them As an illustration of this the federal government has been borrowing billions most banks are chock full of government securities while I 1 do not say it has happened yet because I 1 do not believe it has hap bened yet nevertheless there is a possibility that government borrowings can be forced on the banks under such conditions that is the course of action that has ruined the currency in half a dozen european Europe pr nations western union colon |