Puddler Candidate

Monday, Mar. 24, 1930
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"I feel particularly qualified to represent this great Commonwealth. . . . I have acquired intimate knowledge of the problems of government. . . . I have been in daily touch with all questions affecting capital and labor . . . and have made hundreds of decisions of great importance to each. The success of my administration is best proven by my three successive appointments. . . I have never failed to advocate those things our people thought best for their prosperity and happiness. . . ."

In such language, last week, did James John Davis, Secretary of Labor, finally announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination as U. S. Senator from Pennsylvania in the May primary. No one was greatly startled by Mr. Davis's announcement. He had been publicly toying with the notion of running for the Senate for months. First he had revealed that "public pressure" for him as Senator was so insistent that he did not see how he could get out of being a candidate. Then he declared the "pressure" had veered, that the people of Pennsylvania wanted him for Governor. When he later announced that he would remain in the Hoover Cabinet for three more years at least, everybody supposed the "pressure" had measurably relaxed. Finally, last week, the definite announcement of his candidacy popped out, to make it appear as though irresistible "pressure" had once more been applied.

But still it was quite possible that Mr. Davis would remain in the Hoover Cabinet for years. He may be defeated in the primary. When asked if he would resign to make his campaign, he retorted: "Certainly not! Did Al Smith resign [as New York's Governor] when he ran for President?" Instead of picking a defeated candidate as his example Mr. Davis might with equal force have recalled, as winning presidential nominees, Democrat Thomas Woodrow Wilson, who remained Governor of New Jersey until three days before his inauguration as U. S. President, or Republican Warren Gamaliel Harding, who kept.his Senate seat for two months after the landslide that sent him to the White House. On the other hand, William Howard Taft resigned as Secretary of War, Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce, before they entered their presidential campaigns.

As part of his campaign, though before its formal announcement, Secretary Davis last fortnight handed out a fictitious interview between himself and an imaginary newsman. Excerpts:

Reporter: "Mr. Davis, those who oppose you are going to attack you because of your connection with the Loyal Order of Moose."

Secretary Davis: "The members of the Moose have nothing to hide. It is ... one of the country's foremost philanthropic and charitable societies."

Reporter: "They are saying that some of the Moose clubs are wet."

Secretary Davis: ". . . occasionally there may be a violation in one of the clubs. . . . But ... if found guilty the charter is taken away and the club is closed. The Moose is a law-abiding, charitable and benevolent organization."

Reporter: "They are also going to talk about your salary."