OCR Text |
Show NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS 1 Written for The) Telegram By Ray Tucker 1 WASHINGTON Glenn Frank. 1 former president of Wisconsin university and now a midwestern editor, has suddenly leaped into the lead for the Republican presidential presi-dential nomination in .1940. His name is on the lips of almost every O O P-er who attended the recent Chicago conclave. He has many hurdles to take. He must get himself a national political reputation, as he has been advised by his friends, and his only metrtod is to defeat Phil La Follette for the governorship of Wisconsin next year no small order. But if he should lick the La Follette radicals in this home state of progreasivism, his name would blink high and frequently in the political briitht lights. He would he a "natural." GOP insiders also envisage Dr. Frank in the role of political Cassandra. Cas-sandra. Even though swamped in 1940, they think his oratorical talents in a campaign might ahake public confidence in new deal theories and philosophies. In a way he would be their John the Baptist for 1944. and as such rate at least a cabinet or ambassadorial ambassa-dorial post. Those who know the professor intimately imagine he would be willing to play such a role. He likes the limelight. Herbert Hoover doesn't yet know what hit him at Chicago, but every enemy he had made in a long public and private career ganged against him at this critical crit-ical moment. They carved him up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Key conspirator was Representative Represen-tative "Joe" Martin of Massachusetts, Massachu-setts, who boosted his stock by his masterful organization and handling of tha opposition to tha third-run proposal. As Alf London's Lon-don's manager at the Cleveland convention, he persuaded the Kansan to write the letter that gave the death thrust to the Hoover idea. Senator Borah needed little urging, but he didn't mind knifing the man who, as president, ran out on him several times. Also present was ex-chairman ex-chairman Henry P. Fletcher, who yearned for a cabinet post under Mr. Hoover but got only the tariff commission chairmanship. Mr. Hoover bore down with all the remote influence he could muster, but to no avail. He got Massachusetts manufacturers to phone and wire Mr. Martin, urging urg-ing him to go along with the ex-preiident, ex-preiident, but it only made "Joe" mad. He fought harder than ever after that intervention. The poll-ticos poll-ticos seized on the chance to convince con-vince Mr. Hoover, once and for all, that he's through done fin- r ished. They don't know yet ' whether he got the point, but they bope so. Likable, red-headed John D. M. Hamilton will resign as Republican Republi-can national chairman within a few months probably in January. Jan-uary. It will herald the beginning of a new deal in the GOP provided pro-vided they can find any fresh cards and croupiers. Mr. Hamilton realizes now that he has incurred the antagonism of almost all factions of the party. Alf Landon barely speaks to him because he teamed up with Mr. Hoover and the eastern clique. Mr. Hoover discovered that John lacked sufficient influence to win the national committee to his proposal pro-posal for a 1938 convocation of the best minds. The capitol hill gang wrested from him the right to fix and promulgate party policies. poli-cies. Everybody seems to like John personally, but they don't regard him as a smart political boss. Mr. Hamilton is understood to have received several flattering offers from New York insurance nd legal firms, paying $60,000 and $75,000 as against his present salary sal-ary of $25,000. But he won't quit while under political fire. When he has stamped out the present blaze, he'll be glad to turn the fire-fighting department over to somebody else. A black-haired, football-playing Kentuckian sponsored by the conservative con-servative "Jack" Garner may become be-come the key figure in the present movement to revise federal taxes supposed to handicap industry and retard recovery. He is the 47-year-old Fred Vinson of Kentucky, who heads the ways and means committee com-mittee named to revise the taxation taxa-tion system. Mr. Vinson has served in the house since 1924 except for a brief exile from 1928 to 1930. In the 1928 presidential campaign he showed his stamina by backing Al Smith in an extremely Hooverish state, and he lost his seat. Possibly Pos-sibly as a reward for his courage, "Jack" Garner, then Democratic spokesman on the ways and means committee, got him a place on that powerful outfit when Vinson came back to congress in 1930. A deep thinker and strong debater, he frequently awerves the house when it considers Important taxation taxa-tion problems. Mr. Vinson won't say yet whether wheth-er he favors liberalization of the rapital-gains-and-loMes tax and the undistributed dividend levy. But the private suspicion on capitol capi-tol hill is that he will champion a more conservative handling of the ' tax system. He happens to be a sensible though ardent newsdealer newsdeal-er believe it or not. The Brussels conference may not settle the Sino-Japanese conflict, con-flict, but it may determine the trend of American policy for many years. It is another new deal experiment. Despite his Chicago speech, president Roosevelt has no intention inten-tion of permitting the men at Brussels to commit the United States to an aggressive stand against Japan that might provoke war or strained relations. He realizes the American people would not tolerate such an attitude. atti-tude. But he would like to learn how far the administration can move in the direction of international inter-national cooperation. The popular popu-lar reaction to Ambassador Davis' performance is expected to cast light on that question. F. D. R. needn't wait any longer for his answer, no matter what Brussels does. The general belief on capitol hill which reflects public opinion is that Europe is scheming to suck us Into its troubled world and dump its problems prob-lems on Uncle Sam's shoulders. The politicos and Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt are determined to sidestep that offer if they can. The bargains which Uncle Sam offers to smart buyers these daya are amazing. Here are a few items advertised for aale to the loudest voice and higheet bidder in a recent catalogue of surplus property sales: "Peewee, a mule, approximately 20 years old, tender-footed and stiff in the joints. "Dick, a mule, about 18. weak tendon that causes left hind leg to drag. "Charlie, also a mule, about 18, windbroken. "Joe, a bay horse, 21. tender feet that make him lame when used regularly." Don't bid unless you can pay cash down in 59-cent dollars. Notes Government small-home small-home building on a tremendous scale is under consideration as a recovery boost . Total farm income in-come has been revised downward 14 billions . . . congress sympathizes sympa-thizes with home ownera and may cut interest on home owners loans , . . Dairy and vegetable interests afraid major crop curtailment may drive farmers into competi I tion with them . . . Senate prob- j ably will concur with house, which has passed bill repealing publics-tion publics-tion of corporation salaries. (Copyright. 1937. for The Telegram) I |