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Show I NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS I , Written for Tha Telegram By Ray Tucker ,( WASHINGTON -The Puke of Wimtsor's forthcoming visit to the United States is being handled by a New York advertising agency -whose other clients include makers of rye and bourbon, automobilo magnates and the United States Chamber of Commerce our own "economic royalists. ' The firm's repre-ientaives here have arranged for the ex-emperor to chat with Madame Perkins, A K 1 President William Green and CIO (?hieftain John L. Lewia---at Windsor's request. He asked particularly 1o interview these friends of tha "American working man.' On a transcontinental trip as far tw Sun Kram-isco he will inspect slum clearance projects, rural resettlement centers, factories) fac-tories) in the midwest, government govern-ment power projects in the northwest, north-west, and mines. He can accept no invitations to social or formal functions except with permission of the British government, and night clubs are on the royal black list, Bo, don't crowd, dowagers! Whitehall has hedged his trip with severe restrictions. In fact, he is not supposed to be hero In his own person. His American hont in Austria Charles Bcdaux - will act at his social guardian. Mr. Bedaux will accept .all Invitations In-vitations for himself and, if 'it seems advisable, drag the Duke along as an ' extra man." Burton K. Whoeler has secret reasons for knowing what t he president's friends and biographers biogra-phers mean when they refer to his "disarming attitude." Karly in the summer Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt summoned to the White House William Thatcher, who has represented repre-sented the farm union as legislative legisla-tive agent here for many years. Mr. Thatcher la one of the smartest smart-est farm organizers in the country, with considerable popularity among politico-agricultural leaders lead-ers in Montana and nearby states. F. I). R. is supposed to have asked his visitor to return to Montana, to line up the farm legions against the senator in retaliation re-taliation for his battle against the court bill. It was a fighting talk. Few days later Mi. Wheeler was called to the White House for a conference at which Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt hoped to reach a compromise. He greeted "Burt" with a friendly smile and handshake, and pish-pished pish-pished their differences over the supreme court. He assured the senator that the White House harbored no grudges, and he promised prom-ised administration support in Wheelttr's scrap for reelection. With a glint in his eyes, the .senator a.tked' "How about what you told Bill Thatcher!" So there was-and wili be no compromise. The inside story of President , Roosevelt's sudden shift of strategy at Chicago would back i Oeors Cohan's satire off the boards if the domestic and international inter-national reason tor it were not so serious. F. D. R. originally intended to deliver a typical P W A glonfi-catton glonfi-catton address, praising the bridge builders at Washington and Chicago. Chi-cago. But Ku rope an events had moved so feverishly- the league assembly needed moral support in it anti-Japnnese move - that hs tossed away his mimeographed oration, and enunciated v hat seemed to be a new foreign policy before he had planned to A less agile statesman, Muyor Kelly, filled the ears of world premiers listening in on the short wave (they had been tipped in advance that big stuff was coming) with tales of his city's wondrous waterway!, water-way!, bridges, sewers, streets, , playgrounds. , The Chicago park board had scheduled a civic luncheon in 1 honor of F. D. R., and 500 invitations in-vitations had been distributed to political favorites. But Sumner Welles conceived the bright idea that luncheon with George Cardinal Car-dinal Mundelein would soothe Catholics offended by the Black appointment. The soup was hot before the affair was canceled, and many distinguished Chi-cagoans Chi-cagoans who had hoped to sup with the chief executive went away hungry and grumbling. A serious difference over the methods of improving the economic eco-nomic lot of American farmers : underlies a feud between Sec- 1 retary Wallace and John L. Lewia which has not yet flared into the headlines. In his C T O drive Mr. IewLe aims to enlist agricultural workers, work-ers, especially tenant farmers and small landowners, in a nationwide Farmer-Labor party possibly for use or as a threat In 1940. He preaches that the little fellows 1 must regard farm employers as their enemies, and that they can win the "more abundant life' only through organization. It's a modern mod-ern version of the Marxian theory of class warfare. Mr. Wallace, however, ts not a revolutionist at heart. He advocates advo-cates farm solidarity, from the owner of vast acres down to the il-a-day harvester. He realizes that must farm workers, unlike the urban laborer who can rarely hope to own a factory, expect to buy their own farms some day. His daily preachments prevent the CIO from cultivating supposedly sup-posedly fertile soil, and the lewisites lewis-ites resent it. They call him a "dreamer." , The new deal's vast purchases kept many factories on their feet, but they also set an anti-trust trap for feet which didn't watch their step. Steel and cement Industrie have caught the closest scrutiny. , Fourteen of 17 bids opened at Denver were identical to the last penny $1144 16. Army engineers at l.os Angeles blinked when 31 of 12 bids for steel bars agreed exactly I194.0M H9. At Fort Peck dam in Montana there wasn't a sou's difference in ten offers. Prize case involved 69 n.ivy bids as alike as the same number of peas. Cement contractors con-tractors 40 in one Instance and 4:t in another-also played the same numbers. Trust Butter Jai k-aon's research re-search has satisfied him that the.e coincidences did not result from identical costs -labor, material, ma-terial, taxes, interest, insurance, railroad rates. He doesn't know yet whether he can prove "punishable "punish-able conspiracy," but he considers it evidence that "price competition competi-tion in many industries ts tinder mathematical control to the fraction frac-tion of a cent." F. D. R.'s checkup check-up of these figures always senda him into a rage against corporate bigness and inspires his demand for sharper antitrust weapons. The most eminent progressives) in Mr. Roosevelt's political camp are scouting his play In the La-Cuardia-Mahoney battle for the New York mayoralty. LaGuardia has long been a comrade in the N orris-La Follette army, even in days when it was le.ss powerful and triumphant than now. Senate liberals openly rallied behind him in his Jl33 campaign, N orris offering to speak for him In the metropolis. To them he is a protege in whom they are well pleased because of his performance. They want to see him reelected, especially as he has cast aside partisan politics poli-tics In supporting the new deal. What worries them is the administration's ad-ministration's transparent attempt to unseat him. Always suspicious of "Jim" Farley, they resent but understand his partisan declaration declara-tion for Mahoney. But if tho president agrees to behind-the-scenes plans to fete and endorsa Mahoney at the White House before be-fore election, and thereby strengthen streng-then his candidacy, the senate ! group may counter with a public demand for LaCuardia's reelection. reelec-tion. Nationally, it will stir skepticism toward F. D. R.'s professions pro-fessions that he seeks a liberal-conservative liberal-conservative realignment in the United States. They'll mark him down as just another political double-crasser. Copyright. 1937. for The Telegram |