Preview

The eyes of U. S. politicians were directed toward mid-Missouri last week. There, in the State's 7th Congressional district, was taking place an election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Representative Samuel C. Major. Candidates were: Robert D. Johnson, 47, Dry "fighting Democrat" who had served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Saline County; John W. Palmer, Dry Republican who took the seat away from Representative Major in the 1928 Hoover landslide, lost it back to him two years later. An independent Democrat named L. L. Collins was appealing to the Wet vote.

Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson came from Arkansas to stump for Candidate Johnson, flay the Farm Board, the Tariff. Cigar-gnawing onetime Senator James Reed of Missouri helped too. Outcome of the race in this usually Democratic district was not unexpected, but the vote divided surprisingly. Normally Democratic by 3,500 to 1,500 votes, the 7th gave Candidate Johnson, even though the ticket was split, the whopping majority of 8,990. The Johnson victory brought the total number of Democratic seats in the House of Representatives to 214, tied the Republicans, put the theoretical balance of power once more in the hands of smooth-haired young Representative Paul John Kvale, Minnesota Farmer-Laborite.

Chairman Jouett Shouse of the Democratic National Executive Committee exulted: "This remarkable margin can be construed only as a striking indication of the increasing trend toward the Democratic Party as the agency to try to solve the people's problems in this time of national distress. It is but another evidence of the discontent of the people with the rule of the Republican Party and of the nationwide determination to rebuke that party which has made so continuously the boast of enduring prosperity under its rule. . . . Immediately after the bye-election last November I predicted that the

Democrats will organize the House of the 72nd Congress. I reiterate that belief."

Observers and statesmen agree that the 72nd Congress, which convenes Dec. 7, will be one of the most momentous sessions in U. S. history. It will have to ratify or reject President Hoover's moratorium on Europe's debts. With a huge Treasury deficit on hand, it will have to debate taxation. At the same time it will debate a national Dole and, though the American Legion voted self-denial, there will be a fight to pay the Bonus in cash, in part if not in full. With Bar, Labor and Legion behind them, the Wet members will more militantly than ever agitate altering Prohibition. The World Court and disarmament are two other live issues. All these issues will come over & above the routine business of passing appropriations, an especially hagglesome business when the Budget is unbalanced. And before the Congress can get any of these things done, the evenly-divided House must organize itself and decide which man, of which party, shall succeed the late beloved Nicholas Longworth as Mr. Speaker.

There are still seven House seats, emptied by Death, to be filled by Nov. 3. Unless the inconceivable happens, Democrats will succeed Democrats in the 7th New York, 1st Georgia and the 20th Ohio districts. Republicans are likely to succeed Republicans in the 8th Michigan, 2nd Pennsylvania, ist Wisconsin. In the ist Ohio district lies the possibility of deadlock or Democratic victory. Should the Democracy gain the late Speaker Nicholas Longworth's seat it would have a House majority--218-10-217--provided Death does not again intervene.

In the event of a Democratic majority, the choice will be simple. Grizzled John Nance ("Jack") Garner, onetime cowboy, longtime Democratic floor leader, has the undivided support of his party. But if the G. O. P. retains its regularly Republican district in Ohio, long will be the wrangling and bitter. The leading contestants will be ruddy, stocky Bertram H. Snell, the upstate New York cheesemaker, chairman of the Committee on Rules, and long-legged John Quillin Tilson of Connecticut, the Republican floor leader. Because he is "reactionary," Mr. Snell will be fought by the Wrestern irregulars. Because he is "ineffectual," Mr. Tilson will be shunned by many of his fellow Eastern "reactionaries." Who, then, would be offered as the Republican compromise? Last fortnight Observer Clinton W. Gilbert's often accurate political finger pointed to bald, bespectacled Carl Edgar Mapes of Grand Rapids, Mich., 18 years a Congressman. Universally respected and trusted, 56-year-old Congressman Mapes substituted for Speaker Longworth more often than any other member of the House. He is quiet-spoken, famed for fair play, an expert on legislative procedure. In Congress he voted for the Bonus, the Federal Farm Board and the present Tariff. He votes and drinks Dry, belonged to the Committees on Elections (1913-21) and Accounts (1919-21). As chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia he was

"Mayor of Washington" for two years. For the past ten years he has served on the '"exclusive" Committee on Interstate & Foreign Commerce, so called because a member may serve on no other committee. He dropped his support of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 when the G. 0. P. split, but has voted Progressively for the Norris Muscle Shoals bill. No Congressman spends more time on the nation's business than Representative Mapes. He has a little law office in Grand Rapids' Widdicomb Building, seldom gets home to it.

In Wisconsin last week the Administration received a setback. Backed by. the La Follette brothers and Senator John J. Elaine, Thomas R. Amlie defeated State Senator George W. Blanchard for the Republican nomination for Congressman from the ist District, the seat formerly filled by the late Congressman Henry Allen Cooper. Candidate Amlie campaigned as a Wet, criticized the Administration's unemployment and Tariff policies. Opposed to him in the election Oct. 13 will be George Herzog, who is conceded little chance of winning.

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