The Great Game of Politics
By Frank R. Kent.
WASHINGTON, March
:act point at which the gullibility
: the American people ceases anc
they begin to see through the pre.
tensions of the Pecksniffian type o:
politician and sense the synthetii
;haracter of those obsessed with belief in the monopolistic nature of their
own righteousness has never been determined definitely. But it is pretty
• far along the line.
It has never been better shown thar
by the extent to which this administration has been able to maintain a
front of nonpartisan purity while up
to its neck in the most sordid kind of
partisan politics. The contrast between the lofty idealism professed by
the president and the intensely partisan nature of the whole federal machine, under the direction of his political agent, Mr. Farley, should be
clear to the most obtuse.
* * *
That Mr. Farley, a professed spoils-
lan, has built up under Mr. Roosevelt a gigantic federal machine, now
being used to promote the renomina-
and reelection of Mr. Roosevelt,
fact too plain to argue about. The
j attitude of the president that all his
.opponents are wicked and depraved;
j the noble humanitarian utterances of
the gifted Mr. Hopkins, who pretends
he does not know what politics is,
but none the less makes relief appointments for the Pendergasts, the
Hagues and the Guffeys; the appeals
to class hatred of the Tugwells and
Williamses—none of these things obscures the fact that even now Mr.
Farley is going around from state to
state gearing up the federal organization, stimulating the jobholders to
activity.
His recent visit to New Hampshire
on the eve of the primaries is typical.
There, it was freely asserted, the personnel of the various agencies for relief were active in behalf of Roosevelt delegates. The New York Times
said, following the Farley visit, "The
PWA and other agencies reaching
those who are or were federal beneficiaries are canvassing the state."
Mr. Farley's real pob is politics. He
is devoting all his time to the effort
of reelecting Mr. Roosevelt. Through
him a large part of the 250,000 additional jobholders placed on the federal payroll were named. He put
them on for political purposes anc"
uses them now with complete disregard to criticism. Most of his time
is spent in strengthening the federal
jobholders' machine. Wherever he
speaks they turn out in force—not
only the custom house and postoffice
crowds but the boys of the PWA,
WPA, HOLC, FDI, RFC and al
other alphabetical agencies created
under the name of emergency and
paid for with the people's money.
* * *
In various states the relief orgi
izations are in a slimy political mi
now being openly aired. The Black
lobby investigating committee . has
itself into a snooping agency
for the purpose of harassing individuals and organizations inimical to the
deal while it blinds its eyes to tl
■ :. ties of those who profess adher-
the administration. In this
effort it appears to have had the c
operation of the federal communications commission, which compelled the
telegraph companies to turn
thousands of private telegrams.
* *
presented to congress
from the White House which ever "
friendliest commentators say i
shrewd piece of politics upon the part
of the president, specially designed for
election year. Upon insistence of
administration senators, appropria-
are made out of relief funds
from one agency for projects rejected
by other agencies. It is brought out
that the treasurer of the democratic
committee, Mr. Cummings, is receiving $90,000 in salaries from institutions to which the government has
loaned money. In various ways governmental agencies inculcate fear
among administration critics
business men. The first grow mealy-
mouthed and sycophantic; the s
ond refrain from attending anti-r
meetings or joining anti-ri
deal organizations for fear of being
'checked up."
•* * *
;r in o
