Show BEHIND THE NEWS GOP GO P Scandal Probes S Fail to Impress Public i By RAY TUCKER The Republicans' Republicans failure or Inability to capitalize on their postwar investigations of the Truman Roosevelt administration tion may turn out outS to be their costliest blunder of the 1948 presidential campaign which has been op opened ned far earlier than had been expected G GOP 0 P leaders leaders leaders lead lead- ers privately make no attempt to conceal their chagrin over their performance in this field The Ferguson Brewster-Ferguson group so far has failed to uncover evidence evidence evi evi- dence of corruption undue use of influence or mismanagement of the kind that shocks the pub pub- lic They have not convinced the American people th that t F D R precipitated or was responsible for the Pearl Harbor disaster which was their major political indictment They had built great expectations on this expose The Reconstruction Finance Corp was expected to provide fertile ferUle soil soU for exploitation for next years year's presidential gle But the attempt to show that Jesse H. H Hk Jones former chairman had favored certain friends and big interests fizzled out In fact a majority of the Capitol hill Republicans sided with Mr Jones If only because of at the shabby habby treatment they thought he received from Mr Roosevelt t The two to other major inquiries the Kansas City vote scandal and the Hughes airplane affair also ir-also r also petered out De Despite pite plans to resume these investigations in the fall it Is generally believed believed be be- that the opposition leadership leader ship will be willing to drop them Top-notch Top Republicans concede concede concede con con- cede that despite the Pender- Pender gast gnat machines machins box ballot-box frauds it will be impossible to depict Mr Truman as a political gang gang- ster He just does not fit that picture And there will be no partisan gain in proving that the Kansas ansas City Democratic organization was and has been crooked for years It took no senatorial investigation to demonstrate demonstrate dem dem- that The Thc show that Elliott Roosevelt Influenced his father to profit Howard Hughes raised a laugh Instead of public blood pressure The crowd in the senate senateS chamber and back home rightly or wrongly cheered the scheduled victims victim and hissed th the sen senatorial cast The fact that no no national political or personal scandals have emerged in the aftermath of ot our w war r impresses im- im presses veteran observers at th the capitol as some sort sort of miracle But there are numerous reasons fo for forthe the ph phenomenon that are not generally realized The G GOP 0 P failure cannot be attributed solely to their lack of investigative talent although Senator Homer A. A Ferguson of at Michigan has been a disappointment disappoint disappoint- ment in the Pearl Harbor and Hughes affairs Detroit's former one man court of at inquiry has not measured meas incas up to such illustrious investigators investigators in in- in as as Tom Walsh Jim Reed Hiram Johnson Thad mad Caraway Burt Wheeler etc And Ana the help he got from his committee ommittee aids and colleagues was decidedly second rate S The The- public ap apathy thy and Indifference indifference fer ference n e has been due mainly to the general belief that war is such a wasteful enterprise that it cannot be conducted without the misspending of billions of ot dollars Moreover even in prewar prewar prewar pre pre- war years year F D R had tomed the nation to the expenditure expenditure expendi expendi- ture of vast sums The same postwar prosperity which reelected Calvin Coolidge In the face of the Harding- Harding Fall Daugherty-Fall revelations is also operating against the G GOP 0 P. P Despite high prices that tend to offset wage increases there is a spirit of eat drink and be merry in the atmosphere Indeed President Truman shares Mr Coolidge's luck The Vermont Y Yankee was not a pal of the Ohio clique and it was wasI I impossible to depict him a as an associate of the dead Marion editors editor's circle Mr Truman had only a speaking acquaintance with a president vho who is also dead and the public c is to hold him blameless for his predecessors predecessor's grand opera re re- re gime President Truman's search for fora a 1948 1918 running mate has taken him far and wide ide for he realizes that his No 2 man must be picked with greater thought and care than the convention gave when it nominated Henry A. A Wallace in 1940 and himself in 1944 He must mutt be a figure who will bring to the ticket a class of or voters whom Mr Truman may not be able to corral The hunt has not been finished but the White House talk usually turns to the name of James V. V Forrestal of New NewYork York In fact it is generally is-generally generally believed that he was chosen as secretary of na na- na- na defense under the new ne setup so 50 as to give him a buildup for tor the nomination Despite his prominence and performance during the war he heis heis heis is well known to the public or the politicos He Is a solid rather than a spectacular figure and not a headline showman The New Yorker has definite assets however He acknowledges acknowledges acknowledges edges the Empire state as his birth and residence state tate He was head of Dillon Read Co investment bankers until he entered federal service ervice Hi His name on the Dem Democratic cratic ticket might attract many conservative conservative conserva conserva- tive tire businessmen and industrialists industrial Industrial- who would otherwise vote voteR R Republican publican or stay at home He Hewon Hewon Hewon won their thel friendship and admiration admiration admiration admira admira- tion during the war years when he served at Washington as a year dollar-a-year man In 1924 when the Republicans S needed a big bankers banker's name to to give the quiet Mr C Coolidge re reinforcement reinforcement reinforcement re- re they picked Charles G. G Dawes of Chicago Mr Forrestal Forrestal Forrestal For For- restal m may my y be his 1948 counterpart counterpart counterpart counter counter- part especially in view of Mr Truman's remote resemblance to the Vermonter S |