THOSE SONS OF WILD JACKASSES
Tucker, Ray T.
Those Sons of Wild Jackasses By Ray T, Tucker in The North American Review THERE may have been more truth than fruculcnce in Senator Gcorg" H. Moses' characteriza-tion of e-rtain Progressive and...
...Moreover...
...urbane even In lits ugliest moods, and Smith W. Brookhart...
...Had he not consented to be Roosevelt's Vice-Presidential mate in 1912, he might conceivably have been his party's standard-bearer in 1916, the year in which he prevented Charles Evans Hughes from becoming President...
...th: older man swings full around in his chair so that he may catch the boy's every word and move, and unconcealed love and admiration shine in the tired Nebraskan's eyes...
...h" lyrulnlliKA (he supposedly uncouth and tuiti>in»d force* which Mows meant lo disparage...
...Indeed, these two gentlemen were mad...
...In the White House sits his ancient foe...
...and he lives up—or down—to it...
...at 25 he 4was chairman of the Republican State Committee of Wisconsin: at 29 he was vice-chairman of his father's Presidential campaign committee...
...His middle name is "Wildmnn...
...Pete," as he is known, is political boss of his State and one of the-smartest, politicians in the Senate: his naivete is an affectation and armament...
...Senator Peter Norbeck of South Dakota has been quite neglected in the roll call of "wild Jackasses," especially as he is, perhaps, the "wildest" of all...
...He has exhibited a grasp cf the chemical schedule of the tariff measure, the one assigned to him in the Progressives' division of responsibility, worthy of a more experienced statesman...
...At the age of 24 he became his father's secretary...
...Hiram Johnson revels in revolution, unless his desire for high tariffs on California peanut* and lemons Induces orthodoxy, and he is almost a man without a parly...
...In mcments of discouragement he is their reck, their refuge, their "stone-wall...
...like Norris, is old in political knowledge and experience...
...and boasts of it...
...almost sixty-nine years old, he Is girding for another battle—"the last and the best," perhaps...
...On numerous occasions La Follette's quick thlnkhrg- has saved the situation for "the rans of the wild jackass...
...Moreover, in cataloguing the Iowa rebel, it must be remembered that he has been the champion markf-man of the world, and one does not hit bull's-eyes without persistence, a stout heart and a steady grip...
...Careless of speech and people's feelings, as he is of dress, this Iowa farmer Is the Senatorial embodiment of nil the "isms" of angry armies of otherwise conservative and conventional agriculturists...
...The relationship between the two...
...to appear ridiculous when the Senator from Wisconsin had finished his two-day attack on their proposal to muzzle the press...
...Even more grievous must be his thoughts of a. midnight conference at Chicago in 1920 when, so legend runs, the Vice-Presidential nomination was offered him after Warren G. Harding had been selected for first place...
...Norris still gives the impression that he has never recovered the sleep lost in that mighty conflict, but it is only his eyes that blink...
...whose first political effort was to contest for California's Presidential delegation against Ihe victorious Johnson in 1920...
...he roared as lie challenged his enemies to unseat him...
...Many years of personal disappointment have quite quell-"d the partisan spirit, leaving him dour, grumpy, revengeful...
...For one thing he revealed, with charity rather than malice, that Reed himself had been guilty when it suited htm cf disclosing discussions which went on behind closed doors...
...Fnr since the wise-cracking son of a New Hampshire minister, by his apparent attempt to discredit the coalition controllirg the Upper House of Congress, drew nation-wide notice to these howling prophets from Western wildernesses, there has proceeded from numerous nonconformist sources the suggestion that "the wild ass" of Biblical times was a creature possessing qualities of sturdinese and stubbornness sorely needed in the political stable...
...He makes no attempt to conceal his broad Scandinavian accent, which, with hLs plain dress, gives htm the cast, of a prosperous butcher...
...He had been in the House, only a few years before he war named a manager in the famous impeachment, proceedings against Judge Archibald — the trial which so heartened crusading Progressives of an earlier day...
...his desertion of his lifelong party to follow "Al" Smith has left scars...
...Had the host not been from Manhattan's slrref of all evil...
...there Is a sharp contrast...
...IF IN "Young Bob" the Progressives have a tempered blade, they have a Gibraltrr of grr.nite in Norris...
...In defending publication of secret roll calls on the West and Lenroot nominations, "Young Bob" stood on their heads such oldsters as Moses and Reed of Pennsylvania...
...Moses b?.% given them, ap .even more mulish spirit, and Inspired in them a donkey-like desire to b;ar the responsibilities as well as the burdens of the worthy beast to which he likened thsm...
...He spent many tedious days and nights as floor marshal in the fight on Can-nonism, and if he grows weary and disillusioned at times, the beginnings of despair may spring from the long hours when he patrolled the floor day and night lest the parliamentary power end trickery cf his foes prevail...
...There, as later events demonstrated, was tragedy...
...present movement are Norr's and "Young Bcb"—the one a grizzly-haired veteran whose slew pace and shadowed visage reflect two-score years of political strife, the other a black-haired, boyish figure beginning a career which many predict will be mor...
...Nor-ris...
...He started life as a wcll-drillcr...
...It seems that he was destined for the political wars...
...the father's friend and the son, is almost parental...
...Whereas "the old man," as he is affectionately remembered, would never compromise even on non-essentials, the son will yield to conquer, if nec:s-sary...
...at 30...
...Now 34...
...As county attorney, district judge, member of the House and Senator, he has lived, it seems, only to fight...
...The two made up after a fashion for campaign purposes, but the recent White House snub has revived the feeling of other days...
...I would rather be right than regular...
...His life has been a constant struggle...
...ABULKY, brute figure, he looks his best and typifies the massive power of the hewers and drawer* when, on the rifle range, he climbs Into his favorite pair of loose overalls...
...Yet Is hi quite possible to misunderstand the Iowan by Judging htm simply from his "smelling and telling" on the Wall Street broker who served liquor at the Senatorial dinner...
...Though one measure had been adopted by both House and Senate, and sent to conference, the Ncbraskan contrived to prevent lis enactmenl, thereby holding open the door for possible passage of lm own measure for Onvcrnnicnt ownership and operation...
...EXCEPT for Norris...
...His selllr.-s-ni'.ss is another of his ehiinieleri.slles, In his earlier yems he was overshadowed by Roosevelt, subsequently by Borah and by "Old Bob" La Follette until the lattrr's death...
...A man peculiarly KUK'rpllhle to prejudice and personal buffeting*, he lacks the Impersonal temper of Borah or Norris...
...He never forgets an enemy1 or a friend, and he does not know fear or caution...
...the minimum age, he became a Senator...
...La Follette Is credited with more psllticat sense, industry and courage than the rest of the herd...
...Life his treated him hard, but he has never winced...
...Unlike some of the others, he has no suppressed pride of place...
...he can hardly be blamed...
...In any event, it is because of the possession of these virtues—or vices— that the small group of Old Testament Senators seems to be growing rather than diminishing in power...
...And what a disappointing career he has to look back upon, if his advancement is measured by his aspirations...
...Now, In the days of his glory, he again bows to Borah out of devotion to the cause...
...conspicuous than his father's...
...He Is chairman of the important Banking and Currency Committee, but he laughingly admits that he turns over all knotty problems of legislation to Glass or Duncan Fletcher of Florida...
...Teaching school, reading law, serving his country in three wars, heme, kicked out of the Senate one minute and re-elected the next, Brookhart, has had neither time nor desire to cultivate personal pity or graces...
...La Follette...
...When "Young Bcb ' arises to address the Ser.at...
...more than any other, he never knows when he is beaten or browbeaten...
...BETWEEN Norris...
...Not that he seeks quarrels, for he prefers quiet hours With his slippers, his long-stemmed pipe and his books amidst the fems and flowers of his apartment home on the top floor of the building that houses the Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals of the Methodist Church...
...So disheartening was the outcome that the Senator decided to quit, but reports that the Ad-muiislralon was groom ng a man to opp:i.;r him brought him back to the list...
...his father's friends believe his achievements will surpass those of ' Old Bob," largely because the son shows more balance...
...Brookhart might not have (old, He is, without any question, the maverick ot thnn all...
...Those Sons of Wild Jackasses By Ray T, Tucker in The North American Review THERE may have been more truth than fruculcnce in Senator Gcorg" H. Moses' characteriza-tion of e-rtain Progressive and Democratic Irr.drrs cf the United States Senate as "sons of the wild jackass...
...Though young in years...
...as the bravest Progressive of thrm all, knows what it is to suffer for his beliefs...
...b v DAY after day Hiram is to be seen hunched forward to his front row seat in the Senate, his fingers playing political taps on his paunchy stomach, a deep scowl upon his fatherly face...
...Strangely, he Is also the most cheerful prophet of Ihe Progressives' millennium to be found in Washington, and countless disappointments do not daunt him...
...No Senator equals him In parliamentary skill, as he demonstrated when he forced the Senate into the ridiculous position of passing three separate Muscle Shoals bills within a few days...
...Johnson, aiming at the Presidency, is said to have rolled over in bed, pulled the sheets about his leonine head and turned his face to the flowered wallpaper...
...Alone of all the Progressives Norris declared for Smith against president Hoover—a brave but futile gesture in the face of the Democratic candidate's Prohibition views...
...His loss would be the severest setback the Progressives could sufier...
...Young Bob," as son of a man hated and denounced more bitterly than any American since the Civil War, springs from a household blocdy but unbowed...
...For all thai, the very inertia and imponderability of the man's attitude make him a. valuable ally...
...It is little wonder that the Cromwel-lian Roundhead and the enthusiastic boy have so much in common...
...Seemingly a naive and childlike spirit...
...THE actual leaders of th...
...Withal, he makes friends easily, and the Stalwarts love him, as they dW his father...
...Deep down the blaze of battle burns bright as ever, despite his recent reference to himself as "almost too old to be useful...
Vol. 1 • February 1930 • No. 10
