Backdoor Men

At a White House press conference last week a newshawk popped a question at President Roosevelt that seemed as irrelevant to the day's doings as the pictured ships which sail endlessly around the walls of the President's office. What, asked he, did the President think about important Democratic politicians who camp-followed the New Deal into Washington and set themselves up as lawyer-lobbyists to handle private matters for fat fees before Government departments?

President Hoover would have answered such a question by stolidly staring at his vest buttons. President Coolidge would have adroitly turned the conversation to the White House dogs. But President Roosevelt, too smart a politician to let even his best friends dirty up his administration with their greedy tricks, was ready to meet the issue headon. With a righteous ring the President answered the question not in direct quotations but in such a way that every newshawk got his meaning: the practice of lawyers capitalizing on their political connections is not in keeping with the spirit of his administration, since it implies backdoor access to administration officials.

Thus did President Roosevelt slam the backdoor with a bang which was heard all over Washington and which reverberated for days in the country's press headlines. No names had been named but everyone knew whom the President was talking about. Immediate results:

Robert Jackson announced that he had resigned as secretary of the Democratic National Committee early in January. A New Hampshire lawyer and close personal friend of the President, he had gone to Washington ten months ago to do business before Government departments, had not yet been admitted to the District of Columbia bar. Said he last week: "When I go into a department, I always tell them to settle the matter on its merits and to bend over backward in view of my being secretary of the national committee. And they do lean over backward."

Frank C. Walker announced that he had resigned as treasurer of the Democratic National Committee last November. Out side of Washington he practices law in Manhattan, is counsel for a chain of cinema houses in Pennsylvania. Inside the capital all his legal talents go to his job as executive director of President Roosevelt's National Emergency Council.

James Bruce Kremer, the Democratic National Committee announced, had resigned as Montana's Committeeman Jan. 1.

O. Max Gardner, onetime Governor of North Carolina, announced that "early in the fall'' he resigned as that State's Democratic National Committeeman. Last April he went to Washington as the lawyer-lobbyist for rayon and cotton textile interests. To prove the good faith of his political resignation the White House released a letter in which the President had written him: "It is good to have friends who are so actuated by high principles."

Arthur F. Mullen balked at resigning his good job as Nebraska's Democratic National Committeeman just because he had been doing a thumping good business as a lawyer-lobbyist in Washington since last spring. Said he: "I do not claim to have any 'back door' to the White House and I practice law on my own merits alone. ... I have been a National Committeeman for many years and I have not found my profession in conflict with my office."

But President Roosevelt was striking not only at Democratic Committeemen who had gotten in on the ground floor of the new administration but also at a long roster of political has-beens, mostly Republicans who still thought they had enough influence to do private chores before old friends in the Government departments. Among these lawyer-lobbyists who could not tear themselves away from the fat pickings in Washington were:

C. Bascom Slemp: Everett Saunders, now chairman of the Republican National Committee; William J. ("Wild Bill") Donovan; onetime Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley.

Day after the President's pronouncement against lawyer-lobbying. Michigan's eloquent Senator Vandenberg flipped out of his desk an antilobbying bill of his own design. The Vandenberg measure would: 1) prohibit National Committeemen of either party from practicing law before Government departments and 2) prevent any Government employe from soliciting funds for his party. The President shrewdly took the Republican bill under his large political wing, suggested that the first prohibition be expanded to include all Government has-beens.

The second Vandenberg prohibition struck directly at Postmaster General Farley. The No. 1 politico of every Administration is always the Postmaster General. But he has never before been both Postmaster General and chairman of the National Committee, a prime fund-collecting job. Much criticism has been directed at "General" Farley for holding not only these offices but also the post of New York State Democratic Chairman. A long morning visit to the White House by Mr. Farley resulted in the news that he would retire from his state chairmanship when his term expires in September, from the national chairmanship after the November elections. To newshawks a broad hint was dropped that Postmaster General Farley would like to run for Governor of New York in 1936.

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