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Show Merry-Go:Round By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN WASHINGTON 6e of the least ' under- I stood but most significant features of the neu-trslity neu-trslity fight is the important undercover rola being played by Herbert Hoover. Not for years has tha ex-president been so active. Hut recent radio speech and the similarity simi-larity between his ideas and Lindbergh's were only surface indications of his extensive operations. opera-tions. Hoover's friends in all parts of the country coun-try tell of receiving telephone calls, wires and letters from him spurring them to throw their weight against Roosevelt's neutrality bill. Besides the Lindbergh speech. Hoover Is credited with influencing at leeat two senators and several congressmen to oppos th legislation. legisla-tion. How far Hoover has gone In his behind-the-scenes war against Roosevelt was illustrated the other day when he heard that the president wss considering the appointment of Colonel William Wil-liam Donovan as secretary of war in a coalition coali-tion cabinet. Apparently this nettled the ex-president Why it nettled him, only Mr. Hoover knows. However, turn bark for a moment to Mr. Hoover's hous on S street in Washington' just 10 years ago. Scene 11929 Hoover had just been elected president, though not yet inaugurated, and one of the men who contributed k heavily to his election wss Colonel Donovan. A World war hero and a brilliant bril-liant liberal lawyer, Donovan was the mainstay main-stay of tha Justice department during the Coolidge administration. In the 1928 campaign, he was one of Hoover's closest advisers, and being a Catholic and wet he pulled a useful oar against Al Smith. There- fnM it mimm a nr ! 1 v imiiMtfwl that TWiAvin would become Hoover' attorney general. After Hoover came back from hi goodwill trip to South America. It leaked out that because be-cause he was a wet Donovan would not become attorney general, but instead would b secretary secre-tary of war. Finally. Hoover asked the colonel to come to his S street home. Newspaper men waited outside, expecting a cabinet announcement When Donovan came out he looked flustered. "Did he ask you to become attorney general?" gen-eral?" they asked. "No." "Did he ask you to be secretsry of war?" "No, we sat there rather embarrassed.'' explained ex-plained Donovan, "and finally he asked ma what I thought about the Philippines. I told him I wasn't interested. By that time it was most embarrassing em-barrassing and I left" Sca II 193a Now, ten years later, with reports current that Donovan at last might become secretary of war, though under a Democratic president. Hoover called up mutusl friends and complained com-plained about Donovan's "ingratitude." He further fur-ther suggested that the friends intervene with Donovan and ask him not to tak th job. Jostle Leaks The justice department has been double-checking double-checking certain subordinates to find the sdvance leak about plans to indict Earl Browder for using a fake passport Frank Murphy was all set to move in on tha Communist leader Monday when Representative Representa-tive Thomas let loose his carefully timed blast em Sunday wanting to know why Murphy had been so slow in acting. There also may be a leak regarding the tightening tight-ening justice department net around William Pelley, head of tha Silver Shirts, and Bund Leader Fritz Kuhn. Federal fireworks will break over their heads soon. Steve Early's Lack ' White Hous Secretary Stev Early at last has found a way to beat the races but he's trying try-ing to keep H a deep, dark secret Steve, who shares the general public's delight de-light in watching them run on a brisk fall afternoon, af-ternoon, has been - besieged by well-wisher, each with a "sure thing from th feed box." And each time Steve has bet on a "sure thing" h ha lost th proverbial shirt So recently Steve decided "to hell with the tips." When he goes to th track ha now buys his program and racing form and picks them himself. And much to his surprise. Lady Luck has started smiling. Biggest trouble now is trying to convince his friends how ha doe it They are all certain he has some source of secret information and want to be let in on it Distributed by United Feature Syndicate |