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Show NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS Written for The Telegram By Ray Tucker WASHINGTON President Roosevelt has reached that tragic stage where he can confide his secret plans to nobody in Washington Wash-ington and expect them to be kept. His politically pathetic dilemma explains the slow - footedness among his advisers and the mood of uncertainty that prevails on Capitol Hill. The president recently told a house leader of his plans for purging purg-ing senators who had fought him on the supreme court reorganization reorganiza-tion measures. He explained that he had forgiven all except Burton K. Wheeler. Straightway the presidential confidant conveyed the bad news to the aenator from Montana. Secretary Morgenthau informed legislators that t h White House wanted any revision of taxes postponed until the regular regu-lar session in Januury. But a cabinet cabi-net member much closer to Mr. Roosevelt begged legislative leaders lead-ers to softsoap business and Industry In-dustry without delay. You can imagine what an impression thes mixed reports creat on Capitol Hill. For some reason Mr. Roosevelt seems to have lost his old spirit of self-assurance. After calling congress into special session, he supplies the legislators with no cud to chew on, and then h goes fishing in the midst of a recession. It's no wonder that business and Industry look to congress rather than to the White House for a passport from the doghouse. Republican scouts on Capitol Hill have unearthed sufficient evidence evi-dence of Herbert Hoover's ambition ambi-tion for the 1940 presidential nomination to hang him, politically. political-ly. So senate and house G. O. P.-ers P.-ers form a unit in opposing his aims for immediate or eventual control of the party. Anti-Hoover sleuths did some smart undercover work before the recent convention at Chicago, unearthing un-earthing facts never before published. pub-lished. They conferred with Alf Landon. and from him they received re-ceived assurance that in 1940 he would be boring for oil rather than delegates. Then they tackled Mr. Hoover, with the 1B36 vice presidential nominee Frank Knox as their salesman. He told the former president of Mr. Lan-don's Lan-don's abdication, and begged for a "me-too" atatement that could not be misunderstood. "Frank." said Mr. Hoover. "I can't give it." It was then that party engineera decided to spike the Hoover proposal pro-posal for a mid-term convention in 1M once and for all. They thought they had buried it and Messrs. Hoover and Hamilton 1 with it. But Mr. Hoover's friends have resurrected it, and another internal battle that will do the party no good is scheduled for St. Louis on December 13. There should be the showdown. Fiercest Republican fight now Involves control of the executive group of the Republican national committee. It is this body which will choose the 100 G. O. P. politico polit-ico authorized to map a political and legislative program for the next few years. Mr. Hoover's overzealous friends have been bombarding members with literature (magazine articles, newspaper stones and books! setting set-ting forth his qualifications to assume as-sume the role of "intellectual leader." lead-er." The anti-Hooveritcs have conferred secretly, counted their votes and they believe they will have a slight majority at the St. Louis conference despite a slick piece of work by th pro-Hoover John Hamilton, party chairman. Mr. Hamilton called the critical meeting for December 13 a day when Representative Joseph Martin Mar-tin of Massachusetts and Representative Repre-sentative Will Taylor of Tennessee Tennes-see may be stymied in the legislative legis-lative chamber by the vote on the wage-hour bill. Both are violently anti-Hoover, but can't forsake their legislative for a political post. Without their presence the Hoover forces may win a tech-meal' tech-meal' triumph., and name a pro- , gram committee to their liking. But it will be an empty victory, for the congressional crowd will boycott the whole affair physically physi-cally and vocally. An undercover movement for unofficial impeachment of Roving Ambassador Norman H. Davis is growing on Capitol Hill. Chief sponsors are Neutralitarian Gerald Ger-ald Nye of North Dakota and Isolationist Iso-lationist William Edgar Borah of Idaho. They envisage Mr. Davis as a threat to America's traditional tradition-al foreign policy of keep-out-of-Kurope. Senate investigators have scoured Mr. Davis' record as a diplomat from post-war days, and they aren't happy over their findings. find-ings. In the first place, they regard re-gard him as excessively pro-British, and they ar fearful of entanglements en-tanglements with 10 Downing Street. They have noted that he has served on foreign missions under un-der such contrasting chief executives execu-tives as Wilson, Harding. Cool-idge. Cool-idge. Hoover and Roosevelt, and they figure that a man who ran perform for so many presidents must be serving snother master-probably master-probably Wall street. The anti-Davis tactics may not assume the form of impeachment proceedings at first. But it is almost al-most certain that some senator will soon arise and ask an investigation investi-gation of the roving ambassador's activities and a full tale of his adventures will make sensational reading. In an unpublicized speech Attorney At-torney General Cummings recently recent-ly proposed a method for striking at anti-trust operations without any elaborate or involved amendment amend-ment of the Sherman or Clayton acts. All except prospective victims vic-tims missed the significance of his remarks. Mr. Cummings in plain language lan-guage advocated a revolutionary change in the trial of corporation defendants as he did when he inspired in-spired the president to sponsor the supreme court reorganization bill. He suggested that alleged trust makers be forced to prove their innocence if the government presents pre-sents a prima facie case against them. Under his legal reasoning the simple fact of identical bida on a government contract would be proof of conspiracy to violate the antitrust laws. It would be an easy way to enforce statutes which the attorney attor-ney general has been loath to invoke. But congress will never subscribe to the theory that a man or a corporation is guilty until he proves himself innocent. That smacks too much of the Mussolini-Hitler system to make headway head-way in the United States. Notes Uncle Sam has collected more in taxes from automobilists than he has spent on highways . . . But if states divert gasoline tax from road work their share of federal aid is decreased ... Building trades unions refuse to consider shading wages to promote pro-mote construction . . . Strong pressure from many .anglea brought labor chiefs together in peace parleys . . . Floor control plans are complicated by demand of states to control their own waters . . . Processing taxes ar emerging as necessary component of form legislation cost of farm relief will exceed half-biilion already al-ready available . . . Textile manufacturers manu-facturers strenuously object to processing tax on cotton . . Government emergency agencies ar quietly curtailing personnel. . . . Cotton carryover is estimated by experts at not less than 11.000.-000 11.000.-000 bales . . . Country would have enough if no cotton were grown next year. (Copyright. 1937. for The Telegram) |