The West & Washington

(See front cover)

Sixteen Augusts ago a California blunder cost Charles Evans Hughes the Presidency. On the eve of a hot Republican primary he carried his campaign into the State where Governor Hiram Johnson was seeking a Senate nomination. Though for hours they were under the same hotel roof at Long Beach, Nominee Hughes and the Governor did not meet. Johnsonites were infuriated at what they called Nominee Hughes's deliberate snub to their candidate. In November Governor Johnson was duly elected to the Senate--but California went Democratic with just enough electoral votes to keep Woodrow Wilson in the White House another four years.

Next week California Democrats will hold a hot primary to nominate a Senator. Franklin Delano Roosevelt will be nowhere in sight. Recalling the Hughes campaign incident as a horrible example of political mismanagement, this year's Democratic presidential nominee rejected all requests to open his canvass in California during August. He refused to jeopardize his middling good chance to carry the State by becoming embroiled in a local contest. From Albany last week he announced that he would stump California--but not until late September when the primary is but a memory.*

Manager v. Swinger. California has had no Democratic Senator since James Duval Phelan's term expired in 1921. On the Aug. 30 primary ballot are six names: Parson M. Abbott, Maurice James McCarthy, Annie Riley Hale, Robert Pierce Shuler, Justus S. Wardell, William Gibbs McAdoo. Abbott and McCarthy are irreconcilable supporters of Alfred Emanuel Smith who still think this is 1928. The candidacy of Mrs. Hale (Colyumist Heywood Broun's mother-in-law) is not taken seriously. ''Bob" Shuler, a radio revivalist, is a political maverick who is also running in the Republican primary. The real race appeared to be between Mr. Wardell, who managed Governor Roosevelt's unsuccessful preconvention campaign in California and Mr. McAdoo who swung the votes at the Chicago convention that nominated Roosevelt. As each candidate claims to be the true apostle of Roosevelt Democracy, the New York Governor could hardly visit the State now and remain neutral.

McAdoodles. Mr. McAdoo helped nominate Woodrow Wilson at Baltimore in 1912. He managed that year's winning Democratic campaign. He served six years as Secretary of the Treasury. He fished for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1920, fought hard for it in 1924. But never has this versatile, long-nosed politician held elective office. His California campaign was his first attempt in his own behalf. In The Blue Streak, his three-year-old Lockheed Vega, piloted by Capt. Harry Ashe, he toured Northern California. He harangued State societies in & around Los Angeles. Typical McAdoodle:

"I'm for my party's platform. I stand squarely upon it--not with one foot on it and one foot on the floor. . . . Although I didn't succeed in getting into the platform a plank for insurance of bank deposits in banks which are members of the Federal Reserve system, I intend to work for such insurance, if elected. I propose to fight for an adequate tariff to protect the oil industry of this State. Twenty-one cents per barrel is wholly inadequate."

As Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. McAdoo floated four Liberty Loans totalling $16,940,000,000.* To the Allied Powers during the War he passed out $7,296,000,000 which, with $2,170,000,000 advanced after the Armistice, became the War Debts. As the man directly responsible for these loans, he made their collection in full a major item in his campaign. Said he:

"If elected I shall fight with all my power for the payment of foreign debts. I will see them paid dollar for dollar./- These loans were made with the intention that they should be paid on demand. But what did the Administrations of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover ever do toward collecting? The latter two let us into 'conferences' from which Uncle Sam emerged with very little left but chin whiskers after the Republicans had trimmed the debts down until only 30% was left."

"Sham." As Dry as ever was Candidate McAdoo early last year before the Wet wave began to engulf national politics. At that time he solemnly pontificated: "Relegalizing liquor will not put food into a single hungry mouth. ... To make liquor the chief plank in the next national platform is to fight a sham battle because the 18th Amendment is here to stay and the quicker we recognize it the better." This year when the deluge started, Mr. McAdoo became less sure of the permanence of the 18th Amendment. He commenced mumbling the familiar weasel: "Referendum." After his party declared for Repeal, he went silent on Prohibition, left primary voters to guess what he favored.

Puffs. A 30-year friendship links Mr. McAdoo and Publisher William Randolph Hearst. When Mr. Hearst picked Speaker Garner as a presidential winner last spring, Mr. McAdoo was his first and only important recruit. Mr. Hearst was as much responsible for the shift play at Chicago resulting in the Roosevelt nomination as Mr. McAdoo. They both feared and hated internationally-minded Newton Diehl Baker as a deadlock candidate. Californians were not surprised this month when five Hearstpapers (Los Angeles Examiner and Herald & Express, San Francisco Examiner and Call and Oakland Post-Enquirer) began puffing the McAdoo Senatorial candidacy in the highly colored Hearst news columns. According to this segment of the Press, everything Mr. McAdoo said and did produced CHEERS-CHEERS-CHEERS.

Faithless McAdoo? Justus Wardell, Mr. McAdoo's most serious primary opponent, is a San Francisco business man who worked hard and well for the Brown Derby in 1928 but switched to his old friend Governor Roosevelt this year. Candidate Wardell, a wringing Wet, promises to offer a Repeal resolution immediately on reaching the Senate. Last week at a Wardell campaign luncheon in San Francisco, a speaker loudly accused Mr. McAdoo of "faithlessness to his party," adding: "He didn't support the nominee in 1928 and he ran away to Europe in 1924. He did nothing to stop the campaign of intolerance and bigotry against Alfred E. Smith. If he did not give a hand to that rabble, he stood silently on the side lines as they went by." Mr. Wardell charged that his opponent "never contributed one iota to the Democracy of California."

Shortridge v. Tubbs. Whoever wins the Democratic primary must in November go up against a Republican Senatorial nominee also to be chosen next week. Long, lean, sepulchral Samuel Shortridge is fighting harder than ever before to hold his Senate seat. Arrayed against him in the Republican primary are "Bob" Shuler (see above), flossy little Representative Joe Crail of Los Angeles and Tallant Tubbs, a rich, chubby young State Senator from San Francisco. Senator Shortridge lately deserted his President and his platform by declaring against the World Court. This flipflop won him favor with the Hearst Press, but cost him the friendly feeling of many a regular party leader. On Prohibition the Senator wooed the Wets with talk of Resubmission, then the Drys with a declaration against Repeal. Most likely beneficiary of these Shortridgean straddles is Mr. Tubbs who stands to gain "regular" votes on the World Court, Wet votes on his outright Repeal plank. Energetic Candidate Tubbs has, during his canvass, startled many a back-countryman by dropping down realistically in remote corners of the State in his autogyro to hold rallies.

Omniscient Senator. That Democrat McAdoo, given a Roosevelt victory in November, would be back in Washington, either in the Senate or out, was an opinion widely held by competent political observers last week. The spectacle of his lean, leathery six-foot-one in the Senate Chamber would be enough by itself to excite headlines. His insistent cackling voice would carry to the Press gallery and beyond.

Were the Republicans attacking the Democrats for lending so much to the Allies? Senator McAdoo would arise and instruct the chamber on what he, as Secretary of the Treasury, had done on foreign loans. Was a bill up to make over the Federal Reserve? Senator McAdoo would oblige with an account of how he, its first chairman, started the system. Railroads? Senator McAdoo had run them for a year as Director General. Labor? Senator McAdoo had raised rail workers' pay $875,000,000 back in 1918. Agriculture? Senator McAdoo, as its first chairman, put the Federal Farm Loan Board on its feet. Deficits? Senator McAdoo, in the Treasury, had piled up a record-breaker of $14,000,000,000. Bonus? Senator McAdoo, as head of the War Risk Insurance, had written policies for more than $35,000,000,000. Reconstruction Finance Corp.? Senator McAdoo had headed War Finance Corp. after which R. F. C. was patterned. Against such massed omniscience few Senators could prevail in debate.

Cackles & Shakes. As if to pave his way into the sacred chamber, Mr. McAdoo dropped into the Senate lobby last July before adjournment. Democrats, aware that he had just nominated their presidential candidate at Chicago, nocked about him warmly, wrung his bony hand. Mississippi's Harrison and Georgia's Cohen sang his praises to the Press. Even California's Republican Johnson had a friendly greeting for him. The McAdoo grin permeated the lobby. "Hello . . . hello . . . hello . . . hello," he cackled to one & all. Suddenly his narrow eye fell upon Senator Shortridge, his probable opponent in November, sitting quietly in a big black leather chair.

"Why, hello! hello, there!" he shrilled before Senator Shortridge could sneak decently out of sight. Bubbling enthusiastically, Mr. McAdoo insisted upon shaking the Shortridge hand.

"A picture! a picture!" demanded news photographers.

"Oh, you don't want me," declared the bashful, eellike Senator as he tried to wriggle away.

"Come on! Let's!" crowed Mr. McAdoo. Cameras clicked and resultant photographs exhibited California's tallest political rivals pumping hands like old friends.

First Call. If not elected to the Senate, what part would Mr. McAdoo play in a Roosevelt administration? That he would play some part is generally taken for granted. Governor Roosevelt owes him an incalculable political debt for delivering 90 convention votes when they meant the difference between triumph and disaster. And Mr. McAdoo did not turn the course of history for nothing. He expected and got the vice-presidential nomination for his and Hearst's man Garner. He stopped the bolt-to-Baker. He crushed Alfred Emanuel Smith, thus avenging Madison Square Garden. Above all, by all the rules of the game, he got first call on any job at Governor Roosevelt's disposal. By rights the Treasury should be his again for the asking. The Ambassadorship to Britain is another possibility. Specific offices, so far as can be learned, were not part of the Congress Hotel Deal that turned the convention to Roosevelt, but involved was one of those wordless agreements that all honest politicians recognize and understand.

Runners. Of more importance than office to Mr. McAdoo, however, was his chance to command the ear of the man who may next occupy the White House. Every President gathers about him a little group of party insiders who may be said to "run" him. He heeds their advice, follows their suggestions. President Harding was "run" by Secretary of State Hughes, Attorney General Daugherty, Interior Secretary Fall and Mrs. Harding. The real powers in the Coolidge administration were Massachusetts' Senator Butler, Secretary of the Treasury Mellon and Speaker of the House Longworth. President Hoover's ear is wide open to Banker Henry Robinson of Los Angeles, Secretary of the Treasury Mills, Postmaster General Brown, Governor Meyer of the Federal Reserve Board and Mrs. Hoover (against liquor). If Governor Roosevelt is elected President, who will "run" him?

Wobbly Wings. Wings are a characteristic of the Democratic party--the urban Irish-Catholic wing of Tammany Hall and New England; the conservative Protestant wing of the South; the rural radical wing of the Northwest; the free, harum-scarum wing of the Southwest. Governor Roosevelt, nominated by a heterogeneous combination of the last three, crushed the first wing, left it bleeding and broken. The Brown Derby is still licking its wounds in sullen silence. John Jacob Raskob, who kept the party alive through four lean years, has been unceremoniously exiled. Regardless of Mayor Walker's fate, Tammany can expect nothing from a President Roosevelt. Good Democrats like Bernard Mannes Baruch have been ignored. They feel that the presidential nominee has taken from them without so much as a "thank you" the high-powered political machine which they formed, fixed and financed. He, they think, is a wobbly and uncertain character who badly needs "running." Their one hope is that he will wobble away from his new allies.

Chief among these new allies are such men as Washington's Dill, Louisiana's Long, Montana's Wheeler, North Carolina's Daniels, California's McAdoo. Each & every one of them would like to "run" a Democratic President. Their political claims to that privilege seriously handicap Governor Roosevelt in the East. By alarmed Republicans he is depicted as an "unsafe" leader in "unsafe" company. Even President Hoover raised the cry of radicalism against his opponent in his acceptance speech. But Governor Roosevelt is a smart politician and sometimes it is good politics to give the appearance of being "run" by this or that faction. It is altogether possible that Governor Roosevelt knows precisely what he is doing and where he is going and simply allows the impression of guidance to stand as shrewd campaign strategy.

Forgotten Man. California does not look upon Mr. McAdoo as a dangerous radical. He practices good substantial law at Los Angeles, has a rambling summer home at Santa Barbara. Like anyone else, he golfs, swims, rides, drives his Lincoln touring car 70 m. p. h. Most Californians, regardless of politics, regard him as a good neighbor.

The East and particularly New York has forgotten the young Georgia lawyer who arrived in Manhattan before the turn of the century and by sheer persuasiveness squeezed some $72,000,000 out of Wall Street to build the Hudson tubes. In those days Mr. McAdoo was a local hero. Forgotten, too, is the Secretary of the Treasury who converted Wall Street to the Federal Reserve. Only Mr. McAdoo himself seems to recall that it was no less a person than the elder Morgan who, at the outbreak of War in 1914, begged his advice on closing the Stock Exchange. All the East remembers is the Ku Klux Klan and the bad taste left by the 1924 convention. Time and distance have wilted the McAdoo reputation in Wall Street. Today he is thought of rather as a lanky, uncouth Westerner, flapping a cowboy hat, who backed "that wild man Garner" for the Presidency and then traded him off on Roosevelt. And over the McAdoo shoulder is seen the shaking finger of dictatorial William Randolph Hearst.

No Tower Tour. Last week Speaker Garner, before leaving Manhattan for Texas, called on Alfred Emanuel Smith in the Empire State Building, spent a taut hour pleading with him to be a "good Democrat'' and join the campaign. Mr. Smith eyed him narrowly, promised nothing. The Speaker departed without being escorted to the building's 200-ft. tower by its president and shown the view. Mr. Smith only takes friends to the tower. Cartoonist Edward T. Brown of the Herald-Tribune drew a picture of Mr. Smith at the top of the building with the Democratic donkey baying below. The title was "Treed," the dialog: "Come on, Al. Just one speech for Roosevelt."

*The Roosevelt itinerary: Leave Albany, Sept. 12; in Topeka, Sept. 14; Denver, Sept. 15; Cheyenne, Sept. 16; Salt Lake City, Sept. 17; Butte, Sept. 19; Seattle, Sept. 20; Portland, Sept. 21; San Francisco. Sept. 22--23; Los Angeles. Sept. 24--25; Albuquerque, Sept. 27; Sioux City, Sept. 29: Milwaukee, Sept. 30; Chicago, Oct. 1; Detroit, Oct. 2; Buffalo, Oct. 3.

*The $4,499,000,000 Victory Loan of 1919 was floated by his Treasury successor, Carter Glass. /-In Crowded Years, his autobiography, Mr. McAdoo suggests that Britain and France swap the U. S. their colonies in the West Indies, Central and South America in lieu of cash payments on their War Debts.

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