THE CONGRESS: Makings of the 73rd

The following primaries last week made the following news:

In Georgia, a famed son of a famed father beat a famed son of a famed father for the Senate seat of the late William Julius Harris. Nominated (and hence as good as elected) was Democrat Richard Brevard (“Dick”) Russell Jr., 34. bachelor Governor whose father is Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Defeated was Charles Robert Crisp, 61, long-time Representative whose late father was Speaker of the House 40 years ago. Representative Crisp, whose heroic efforts to balance the Federal Budget with the 1932 Revenue Act won him wide acclaim, was turned down partly on the charge that, friendly to the “Power Trust,” he saddled the 3% electricity levy upon consumers. Nominee Russell, brightest of 13 brothers & sisters, proposes, as a sample of statesmanship, to collect the War Debts by severing diplomatic and commercial relations with Europe and forbidding U. S. banks to accept foreign exchange. The Crisp-Russell campaign was hot & heavy with each side trying to Klux the other with the charge of favoring Catholics for public office. Senator Walter Franklin George was renominated without opposition. Named for Governor to suceed Senator-elect Russell was Eugene Talmadge, Commissioner of Agriculture.

In New Hampshire, Senator George Higgins Moses was easily renominated by Republicans. In November he will oppose Democrat Fred Brown, onetime Governor, now Public Service Commissioner. Their race is expected to be nip & tuck as Nominee Brown is an extraordinary vote catcher.

In South Carolina the issue was: “Shall Cole Blease stay home?” The renomination of Ellison DuRant (“Ipso Facto”) Smith, Senator for 24 years, was an emphatic YES. Beaten twice straight for the Senate, blatant and erratic Coleman Livingston Blease was considered to have reached the end of his political career.

In Colorado, Alva Blanchard Adams. Pueblo banker, onetime (1923-24) Senator, and nephew of the present Governor, nosed out John T. Barnett, wealthy Denver oilman, for the Democratic senatorial nomination, vice Senator Charles Winfield Waterman, deceased. Attorney Karl Cortlandt Schuyler of Denver easily won the Republican nomination. The Democratic primary vote rose from 47.000 in 1930 to 122,000 whereas the Republican primary vote declined from 112,000 to 105,000.

In Washington, Republican Senator Wesley Livsey Jones, longtime Dry, was renominated over a Wet. For the Senate, Democrats picked Homer T. Bone whose brother Scott used to be Governor of Alaska. Nominee Bone, an ardent “public ownership” man, is viewed with alarm by conservatives who will support Senator Jones. The Jones-Bone fight in November is expected to be close. Here again Demo-crats upped their primary vote in two years from 16,000 to 154,000 whereas Republicans let theirs fall from 297,000 to 170,000. Roland H. Hartley, Republican Governor for the last eight years, was defeated for renomination by easygoing, colorless Lieut. Governor John A. Gellatly.

In Michigan, Two years ago Republican Representatives Louis Cramton and Grant Hudson, rampant Anti-Saloon Leaguers, made news when they were ousted by Wets (TIME, Sept. 22, 1930). Last week they again made news when voters for a second time turned them down for their old House seats. Governor Brucker was renominated. The Democratic pri-mary vote jumped from 19,000 to 300,000; the Republican vote slumped from 834,000 to 676,000.

In Arizona, Senator Carl Hayden was given Democratic renomination but George Wylie Paul Hunt, 72, seven times Governor, was denied another term in favor of Dr. Benjamin Baker Moeur of Tempe.