| Show Bruc karts washington digest advocates of public ownership make real bid for their plan group of government officials and other interested h ite rested individuals mix alix Alo movement into national affairs and politics by WILLIAM BRUCKART national press washington D C washington behind the t thick hick veil of official secrecy a thoroughly active group of individuals is developing ve a broad plan of public ownership it is using the established machinery of government and it is mixing into national politics to an amazing extent we here in washington have heard recurring and increasing rumors of late that a new public ownership drive was contemplated by the extreme radicals nesting in the new deal henhouse it was a situation however where few details were obtainable the leaders were making use of the veil of official secrecy that always is available for use by those supposed to be servants of the public suddenly however the magnitude of the movement be 41 na Z JOHN W came discernible its scope is astounding it strikes me that it is a situation that contains elements of greater danger than did the infamous plan to pack the supreme court of the united states exposure of the groups intense effort came largely through stupidity orsome of some of its members proof of the underlying motives came in the form of a sudden and slimy at tack W hanes former i undersecretary of the treasury mr hanes was slated to become trustee of the jg Og antic but bankrupt octopus the associated gas and electric company mr hanes has 1 not been named aledas as trustee although his official record has not a blemish cri on it so far as has been found instead dr willard thorp economic adviser to secretary hopkins of the department of commerce denis J driscoll chairman of the pennsylvania public utilities commission and walter H new york lawyer were named billion dollar utility property was to be proving ground the public ownership group wanted to swing the trusteeship tor for this billion dollar utility into the hands ol of the securities and exchange commission as might be done under the SEC law they proposed to use this great property so badly mussed up as proving ground for their public ownership ideals it was contemplated that the associated properties eventually would be welded into TVA and a great north and south system under government ownership would have become a fact act to accomplish this program however it was necessary to dispose of mr hanes hancs who favors private ownership in industry and who wants to see america retain its fundamental da traditions in due course we were treated to publication of the views of senator norris of nebraska who was the father of TVA I 1 doubt very much that the af aged ed nebraskan Neb rashan knew that he was being used in the fashion that was the case dut but the scheme worked and the norris criticism that mr hanes had been a stock broker smeared the former treasury official who had done more to prevent new deal financial mistakes than most of the others the attack on mr hanes however failed to get the trusteeship into the hands of the securities and exchange commission the schemers failed to cover up up their tracks but while they failed on one track they did succeed in getting the gravy of trustee fees for men of their own choosing thorp driscoll and dr thorps beliefs were so contrary to sound views that only a few years ago the senate refused to confirm his nomination as assistant secretary of commerce mr driscolle Dris colls affiliations in pennsylvania show how he has been linked consistently with nearly every wild eyed proposal that had new deal ownership he was licked for reelection election re to congress a term or two ago and became a lame duck appointee to the pennsylvania commission by the then governor george H earle so while it is accepted that the gravy is important it was much more important that the trustees should think right according to radical lights third term for president was in political strategy such is the picture of how the public ownership crowd operates that picture falls fails however to disclose what is going on beneath the surface here is that story the strategy to be used politically contemplates that support of the pay rollers who seek to nominate president roosevelt for a third term shall be had for the public ownership theories in return for support of the third term program A good political horse trade it is good because the public ownership segment figures that an apparent national political party endorsement will be available or folks will be induced to believe there is such an endorsement my information is s that the public ownership crow crowd id is counting on a repetition of conditions in 1932 when it will be recalled mr Roosevel ts political wings covered 57 varieties of political thought and theory important members of the washington group that heads up the public ownership group are placed in nearly every department of the government ern ment they are in key positions whether they are influencing national policies is a question I 1 cannot answer but I 1 can say they are in a position to use such influence very effectively A decision here and a ruling there could be of vast help to such a program without there being any visible connections then as to rumors again we hear bear a great deal of gossip about some members of the supreme court serving as advisers to less experienced perien ced agitators in the executive branch of the government I 1 repeat that I 1 do not know whether these stories are true there have been many signs indicating that frequent conferences take place and no one denies that close ties of friendship exist between several of newer supreme court justices and their in downtown section the rumors therefore are very disturbing to those of us with the old fashioned idea that the supreme court should be an agency to serve the people in a judicial capacity and that its members should confine their activities to that field public ownership advocates are on government payroll the general situation becomes all the more threatening in my opinion when it is known that there have been numerous advocates of wholesale government management of private industry operating on the government payroll some of them have taken the position that the way to obtain government ownership of private industry is to get industry so far into debt that the federal government would have to assume control that is to say only the federal government would have sufficient credit and borrowing power to pay off the debt As I 1 said earlier many details of the snakelike operations of this gang remain in deepest secrecy some facts have leaked out however that cause shivers to run up and down my spine the thing that none of us here know about definitely is whether mr roosevelt has been persuaded to adopt the program some of my informants assure me that it does not matter whether mr roosevelt e ven even knows about the plan because its tentacles extend like those of a je jellyfish into many hidden places in other words a few of the cocky leaders believe the movement has grown so large that it is beyond the presidents control |
