Evening Post MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1939. SCANDAL AND AMBITION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 48, 27 February 1939, Page 8

Evening Post MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1939. SCANDAL AND AMBITION

Gangster methods in American business and politics have received recently some new and painful advertisements. The revelation that the McKesson and bobbins Corporation, "long established and hitherto highly respected," was under the direction of a man with a record, and that assets had been over-stated by many millions of dollars, re-established in the minds of many people the parallel Between Wall Street and Robin Hood—in all matters save romance. And now comes the legal victory of Thomas Dewey, 1 New' York State's special racket and vice prosecutor, against a well-known* New York Tammany leader, James Hines, whom Mr. Dewey charged with giving political protection (at a price) to illegal and vicious occupations, which can hardly be carried on without the corruption or intimidation of law admihistration officers and even Judges. American vice prosecutions are sometimes a gamble, but Mr. Dewey, as prosecuting attorney, has won this gamble; and the conviction of Hines "on all thirteen counts" may be the'springboard from which Mr. Dewey will leap for the Presidency. The technique by which an American attorney may climb to power on the conviction of a man (guilty or innocent) was recently worked out cleverly in a moving picture drama.

The value of a crime trial for furthering personal political ambitions depends on the degree of publicity it excites—for which purpose Press support sometimes has to be secured —and on popular reactions to the, result. On the first-point Mr. Dewey had no difficulty; by prosecuting Hines he secured at once an all-American-audience—in fact, a.world audience. Now' that the result is known, various factions will seek to give it their own interpretations, in the hope of influencing the public mind in the direction desired. To the radical faction or factions, McKesson and Robbins, v also James Hines, spell but one thing: the complete rottenness of business and politics as they are, and the need to replace them with Socialism or Communism. But Mr. Dewey and his supporters will point to such scandals as malignant growths on the otherwise healjthy body of business and politics—growths to be removed by a skilful surgeon, such as Mr. Dewey. The convicting jury has given Mr. Dewey a tremendous surgical reputation. Business, which is the backbone of. the Republican Party, always asserts its own general health, but is willing to admit the need of some surgical operations. Hence the I Dewey Party will say to the Republican Convention: "Here is your man."

The immediate guess—"Dewey for the Republican nomination"—following on the jury's verdict shows how well the prosecuting attorney tradition is adhered to; but it remains a guess. The Republican Party's desire to appease public wrath by offering to put its business self under stricter surveillance as to malignant growths—-by representing that a stricter surveillance is all

that is necessary to secure justice, and is indeed welcome to American business—may be inferred from all the circumstances; the surgical skill of Mr. Dewey, on the strength of the verdict, can be accepted; but what constructive policy does he stand for, in addition to the merely negative virtue of being one who can secure a conviction for racketeering against a Tammany leader? It will be seen that there are some gaps in the sanguine argument that leads right from the court-room to the Republican Presidential nomination—a rather long distance. With the increasing unionisation of the United States, a Republican candidate needs some "pull" in organised as well as in unorganised Labour sections. Is Mr. Dewey such a candidate? Does one conviction —even two or three convictions—convey the idea that Republicans have discovered in a Drosecutine attorne

a man

ho can

hold the balance between business and the public, between Capital and Labour, better than Mr. Roosevelt has held it?

; If, as cabled, President Roosevelt, without regard to precedent, has intervened from White House to reunite the American Federation of Labour and the Committee of Industrial Organisation, the importance of being , "right with Labour" is indicated as being, in his judgment, supreme. The electioneer in Mr. Roosevelt, as well as the public spirit in him, might well urge him to the hope of becoming sponsor of Labour reunion, and thus reinforcing the Democratic hold on Labour voting support. It is true that reconciliation of the conservative Federation of Labour with the militant C.1.0. is a task of obvious difficulty; but Mr. Roosevelt's success would mean so much in prestige and in the coming Presidential fight that his adventure as a conciliator is understandable. Here, then, is a step which at least commands respect when made by Mr. Roosevelt; but where will the Republicans find a man of which the same can be said ?

Now that events have blunted the original cutting edge of the New Deal, which no longer offers much to the Labour Left, it is in the interests of the Democrats that Labour Left and Right should reunite, reducing the difficulties of aligning the New Deal with Labour demands. It will also be easier for Mr. Harry Hopkins to say that the Democrats are shifting the emphasis from reform to recovery if the conservative Federation of Labour again partners the C.1.0. Mr. Hopkins's appeal to investors, and the Democrats' general manoeuvring for a middle-of-the-road position between Americaii business and a reunited and tamed Labour organisation, bear a strong resemblance to shrewd electi6n science. The verdict convicting Hines may be a resounding success, but will it resound in 1940 sufficiently to carry a Dewey banner to victory? l