THE CONGRESS: Makings of the 72nd (cont.)

Makings of the 72nd (cont.)

The 72nd Congress, now in the making, will not be subject to reapportionment as a result of the 1930 census totals (see page 16). The 73rd Congress, to be elected in 1932, will have the first redeal of House seats to bring national representation into line with population shifts since 1910.*

Last week party primaries to nominate candidates for the November election were held in the following States:

Kansas. Republican Senator Arthur Capper, unopposed, will seek re-election for the third time against Jonathan McMillan Davis, onetime (1923-25) Democratic Governor. Republican Senator Henry Justin Allen, good Hoover friend, appointed last year by Governor Clyde Martin Reed to the Senate seat vacated by Vice President Curtis, won the senatorial nomination over Representative William Henry Sproul et al for the short term (to 1933).

To retain his seat Senator Allen must beat George McGill, Wichita Democrat, in November. All incumbent Congressmen seeking re-election were renominated. Governor Reed, Farm Board critic, good Allen friend, was defeated for Republican renomination by Frank (“Chief”) Haucke (pronounced How-kee), 36, bachelor, famed Cornell footballer, A. E. F. sergeant, onetime Kansas commander of the American Legion.*

In November Republican Nominee Haucke will oppose Democrat Nominee Harry H. Woodring of Neodesha, also a onetime State Legion commander. Pleasing to the Hoover Administration were the renomination of Senator Allen and the defeat of Governor Reed. Though Nominee Haucke in his campaign did not take serious issue with Governor Reed’s criticism of the Farm Board’s wheat acreage reduction program, the result of the primary was interpreted as an endorsement of the Administration’s farm relief policies. Senator Allen, though nominated, lost political power when Governor Reed was beaten because David Winfield Mulvane, potent Old Guard boss, National Committeeman for Kansas, successfully supported Nominee Haucke. Vice President Curtis, partial to the Mulvane-Haucke wing of the party, journeyed to Topeka to cast his primary ballot, then hurried east to enjoy the social atmosphere of Newport, R. I. Missouri. With no serious contests all 16 Congressmen (ten Republicans, six Democrats) were renominated.

West Virginia. For the seat which Republican Senator Guy Despard Goff no longer wants, James Elwood Jones, wealthy Switchback coal operator, was nominated by Republican voters over four rivals. He will be furnished lively opposition in the November election by Democratic Senatorial Nominee Matthew Mansfield Neely, onetime (1923-1929) Senator.

Virginia. Without opposition Democratic Senator Carter Glass was renominated, assured of reelection. In the Norfolk (2nd) Congressional District, Joseph T. Deal, Wet, won the Democraticnomination to oppose Republican Representative Menalcus Lankford who ousted him from his House seat in the 1928 anti-Smith turnover. In the Danville (5th) District Democratic Representative Joseph Whitehead was beaten for renomination by Thomas Burch on the charge that he was “too cold” toward the party’s national ticket two years ago. In the Alexandria (8th) District Judge Howard Smith won the Democratic nomination over State Senator Frank L. Ball.

Tennessee. Democratic Senator William Emerson Brock, Chattanooga candy man, appointed to succeed the late Lawrence Davis Tyson, was nominated for the short Senate term (to 1931) over Dr. John R. Neal, Knoxville attorney in the famed Scopes (“monkey”) trial at Dayton. He will oppose F. Todd Meacham, Republican senatorial nominee, inNovember. For the Democratic nomination for the full Senate termCongressman Cordell Hull of Carthage and Andrew L. Todd were primecandidates. Congressman Hull, 58, Spanish War Veteran, entered the House in 1907, became a potent member of its Ways & Means Committee, wrote the first income tax law (1913), the first Federal inheritance tax law (1916). The 1920 G. O. P. landslide retired him for two years. For three years (1921-24) he served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Back in the House he led a dwindling Democratic band opposed to any form of protective tariff. In 1928 he was Tennessee’s “favorite son” at the Houston convention. Cautious in speech and action, he rates high for sense and ability in the House. His graduation to the Senate has long seemed politically logical.

In the primary campaign Candidate Todd advanced a scheme for increased U. S. income and excess profits taxes to be prorated among the States as a substitute for local and municipal taxes. Candidate Hull flayed this plan as “fantastic,” was called a “jellyfish” by his opponent. Congressman Hull won the senatorial nomination two-to-one, should have small difficulty defeating Paul E. Divine, Johnson City attorney, Republican nominee, in the November election. Governor Henry Hollis Horton, as “the man who pulled Tennessee out of the mud” was given Democratic renomination over L. E. Gwinn. Memphis attorney who complained that Negroes “in droves” had been voted in the party primary. C. Arthur Bruce was the Republican gubernatorial nominee. In the First Congressional District, Republican Congressman B. Carroll Reece, with the open support of President Hoover on the Muscle Shoals issue, was renominated over Samuel R Price.

*Reapportionment of the House was neglected after the 1920 census. *In 1925 Vice President Curtis’s tribe of Kaw Indians gave Mr. Haucke the name of Ga-He-Gah-Ahah (”White Chief”) for setting up a Kaw memorial monument near Council Grove, Kan.