A CURIOUS CROWD”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 29 October 1941, Page 8

A CURIOUS CROWD”

AMERICAN ISOLATIONISTS \\ IK) s WHO A M()N(i I II! U ’ «»: iic*i is.-um. in.’c.i •i \ .illud ..nly i: i j politicians with a grouch; some arc ail dislike and suspect their mm Pm .- , . mental v stamlard Learn . I ..iidbn gli. uallhough I!ir\ i beer lor lorn. Sumo oislru.-.l him I'm Hie dangemm P • that he is; nthm envy Ins nml. knowing. All told, tlu-y numbe: only If, or 20 m a Senate o! !Mi JJm you cannot their combined ic. poitMlnlii \ i'oi national disunity 111 Ihe lac- o! a world . tlier armchairs m’ the histone and ex diaivo Chevy Chase Club, whore -d! Washington diplomats mid cimioi gather to talk. Matter, wrangle, and -nub one another Pii.-t there Senator Burton K Whec ler. good Libei al. i mbiHercd by hi: hatred of Hot evelt. lacking even a 1 calistic schoolboy’s know !edg<• ol the explosive forces loose in the world today That IS he -the elderly, mild. | benevolent looking gentleman with his feet on their armchair opposite him, gulping Scotch, spilling cigar ash over! Icoat. talking, talking He looks and acts like poor Mr Dick m “David Copperlieki" -you remember him? He used to tly kites, wink, j laugh foolishly, pretend an owl-like omniscience, try vainly to keep reference.-. to King Charles’s head out of Senator Wheeler's "King Charles.-, head" is British misrule m India No matter what subject be starts to talk about- from Montana mining to Reno vom he alua> ei ci i p w ith a Erode on '.slave i-uiVht;nn> m India.’ Ih' lirmly believes that an> American Nvho advocates open war against Hitler! aulomalicaliy shares ic.spon.-ibr.ity for; the miserable po\ ei 1 y and squalid tragedy ot religious ea.-tes in India. He as unbalanced and as likeable as Mr Dick; except that it grossly unlair to D . to : i• ' tl n he could evei be twisted by such a black, malevolent obsession as Wheel ei \ haired of Rouse- : Sitting at ".Mi Dick" Wheeler’s,: light hand is one of the 2 intellectualp leaders of the Senate Isolation bloc— j tout willv Bennett (Champ * Clark, of Missouri, sen of the Speaker of the : He came 1 • out lor Roosevelt at the Presidential , elections and helped to carry Missouri it for him. But lie is a curious, frus-! : , t rated fellow, who still broods over hisj! j tailure to become national commander j of the American Legion, which he'] ’ helped to form, and his failure to j< ! achieve greater political success, despite i ! his superb Parliamentary ability. He H is lazy, but he can always embarrass !• the Administration with ingenious - point; of Privatel great scorn for Lindbergh personally A but he also has a sentimental devotion-j i to the "lone eagle." because he named c the plane in which he flew the Atlantic '"Spirit of St. Louis.” That is the biggest city in "Champ” Clark’s State. Till: INTELLLI TEAL On Wheeler's left is studious heavy- j eyed Bob La FolleUe. Progressive from i • Wisconsin, wincing under “Mr Dick's” . barrel quip ed by “Champs” too demonstrative;, | geniality. He is the son of old Bob ‘ 'La Follette, honest, lusty Liberal, who fought American entry into the last ; war. Sensili\ - e, informed, industrious,'' he is one of those senators who have i c given the Isolationist bloc its mtcllee- 1 tual authority. He is convinced that | : American interests and the Democratic 1 ; interest can be best served by an Am- ' erican refusal to become involved in the ' ‘war. He was mentioned as a possible c Roosevelt choice for Ids successor when there were doubts whether F.D.R. would run for a third term Bob La Follette l is heir to a noble Liberal tradition. f ; which has been betrayed by his pro- i j Fascist brother Phil, a dynamic mystic i i 'haunted by a Fuhrer complex. He lost j p his post as Governor of Wisconsin alter ", trying to put the Progressive party in : brown shirts on his return from a visit , Those three men—Wheeler. Roo.se- ' volt-haler; “Champ” Clark, brilliant , ! failure; Bob La Follette. sincere intel-:, ! 1 ectLuvl—are the real leaders of the A ■ Isolation party. They have followers ' ! who are as ill-assorted as themselves. ! For instance, there i. tall. deaf, silver- 1 haired Hiram Johnson from California. 1 ; revered elder statesman, who i. still ; la t ionist by convict ion ,' who supported Senator Borah in his -, ! fight against the League of Nations, rie | L ! set an all-time record by winning three separate nominations—Republican. Do- r 1 mocrat and Progressive—in the same [ State at the last elections, although ' Roosevelt spoke publicly against him. 1 Then there is that picturesque hill- 1 I billy John Thomas, from Idaho—untidi- ' j cst. least shaven member of the Senate. 1 v I whom the Clievv Chase major-domo j f ! would haughtily and unhesitatingly di- ; rect to the servants’ entrance iT lie ever ' i drifted up to the ivy-hung entrance to ! 'the club. As someone once said ol Hey wood Broun. "He looks like an im- p . made bed."’ He tears off In. collar. I dons a dirty sun-visor. tucks. his ‘ ! trouser-cutis into his socks, and play-' - golf in Washington's cheapest course. , 'MIOKOrGII IN HAIL ! Another notable, a bitter eccentric, i- 1 G < 1 , North ' ' Dakota li I: liman, who hales Bi dam and 1 ! has, achieved a reputation by lecturing c ' aijainst armament nianwiacluring Ik- j c Hi Lis m the pay of Vickci ' and Krupps’■ * land that the asiral pie.sence of the late: Sir Basil Zaliaroff is prompting him to . .get America mlo the war! I wjibout, mention of the eminent “(Mi loi Ed” Smitl : 1 Carolm; j 11 • 1 of the powerful Agricultural Commit- j ice. “Ed.” who is a -till peeked ic ' ! Roosevelt. who Ined \,,mly to purge j ! him in 1938 “They tried to throw me ; in the <;< the old late an , ( ! bayed ill Ihe Scna’e if •|u v get too | | i lose to me I'll bite ’em ” With be : jowls wabbling and trembling, he does in fact strongly resemble a lat. aged . mastiff. His son added lustre to the | family fame bv .successfully claiming j ' exemption from the army draft because ! his work was nationally indispensable, j !He is secretary of the Agricultural; (Committee, nt which his father is ciiauOl.her distinguished Isolationists ini elude Alva Adams of Colorado; another j IClaik. D. Worth Clark, of lowa, who j : is being coldly snubbed by Wheeler and j ("Champ” Clark, because he is too “push- i j ing; Elmer Thomas, from Oklahoma. | who can empty the Senate more quick- | l.v than any other speaker whenever lie : begins to talk on monetary reform- , {which is whenever be rises to his feet %

ho liman i mm (Tinned cut. and the only New England Isolationist. All in all. a curious incongruous, ir- I responsible team of politicians, who J could be matched nowhere else in the j woi Id, who reflects among themselves j the disunity and confusion which they! have so dangerously helped to provoke j in the great body of the American j people, but who arc doomed to the same i cruel public denunciation as their J 917 j prototypes suffered when war ultimately j