"Long . . . By Grace"

Louisiana has yet to make history by trying a Governor under impeachment. For a month its House of Representatives had labored mightily erecting an impeachment case against redheaded, dimple-cheeked Gov. Huey P. Long. Last week this whole structure fell to the ground when sufficient State Senators banded together to vote for Gov. Long's acquittal regardless of any evidence against him.

Louisiana has 39 State Senators. Twenty-six would be required for an impeachment conviction, 14 for acquittal. Just after the Long trial started last week in the Louisiana Senate, 15 Senators agreed that the proceedings were technically illegal and unconstitutional because the House had impeached Gov. Long at a special session unduly extended. Six of these Long Senators, despite their oath to serve as fair and impartial judges of his case, had sat on platforms from which Gov. Long was haranguing crowds in his own defense. With the opportunity of a full trial on the evidence thus excluded, the remaining 24 Senators flayed their colleagues' "locked minds" and adjourned. The Governor's enemies promptly began talk of a special election for his recall.

From a mass of sensational allegations ranging from subornation of murder to "friskiness with a woman on a settee" at a New Orleans studio party, the House had reduced its formal charges against Long to eight. These, upon which the Senate never passed, included attempted bribing of legislators, failure to account for State funds, intimidation of the Press, and general incompetency.

Gov. Long had contended that the impeachment campaign against him was instigated by the Standard Oil Co. as a reprisal against his demand for a 5-c-^ per barrel oil-refining tax to raise funds for state improvements.

When the Senate trial was balked, the Governor, in a white linen suit, held a reception in his office beneath the Senate Chamber. Admirers swarmed about, demanded his autograph. He gave it thus: "Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana by the grace of the people."