National Affairs: The Letters of Lakin

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In the crowd of spectators at last week's Senate Lobby Committee hearings sat one inconspicuous man intently following every word of testimony, taking many a note. No professional newsgatherer, he was reporting the investigation for a special client. Inmmediately after each day's hearings a comprehensive report of what had transpired swiftly found its way into the White House and upon the President's desk.

What accounted for President Hoover's particular interest in this Congressional investigation was the manner in which his name had been bandied about by the Cuban Sugar Lobby, directed by Herbert Conrad Lakin. Lobbyist Lakin had hired as the Lobby's Lawyer Edwin Paul Shattuck, because Mr. Shattuck was a Hoover friend, had done legal work for the President, such as drawing leases. This connection Lobbyist Lakin had so magnified in widely scattered letters as to create the impression that President Hoover was cooperating with the sugar lobby. Excerpts from the letters of Lobbyist Lakin:

"President Hoover has instructed his Secretary, Mr. Newton, to establish a contact between the Committee [House Ways & Means] and ourselves. . . . We are a little doubtful about this step . . . but of course would do what President Hoover desires as he seems to be genuinely interested in our cause. . . .

"President Hoover sent for Mr. Shattuck and suggested that Shattuck cooperate with the Ways & Means Committee. . . .

"This week we received a proposal from the White House which we have been studying. . . ."

Feebly Lobbyist Lakin admitted that his information was mostly hearsay, that he had never really investigated Mr. Shattuck's connections with President Hoover. He conceded that his use of the President's name might have been "injudicious."

Hot with indignation, Lobby-Lawyer Shattuck took the witness stand, emphatically declared:

"I make no claim to be the legal adviser of Mr. Hoover. I have done professional work for him, but it was of no great importance. I resent the implication that I am Mr. Hoover's closest legal friend. . . . My relations with Mr. Hoover have been very pleasant. . . . I have never discussed the sugar tariff with Mr. Hoover. I have discussed the sliding scale with Mr. Newton. . . . Some people might think that what Mr. Newton said was the same as what the President said. . . . I have never received any directions from Mr. Hoover. . . . You must realize that this is all very embarrassing to me. . . ."

"Yes, and to President Hoover, too," interposed lobby-chasing Senator Robinson.

The next day another Lakin letter, written to Mr. Shattuck himself, was turned up by the Committee.

"Just before we last went to Cuba you had an interview with President Hoover. You understood him to approve of Cuban newspaper criticism [against the sugar tariff]. I enclose two editorials . . . I think ought to be called to the attention of the White House."

Many a political ear last week was cocked toward the White House, expecting President Hoover to say something to blast the insidious pretensions of this sugar lobby. Unable to endure the White House silence longer, Congressman John Nance Garner of Texas, House Democratic leader, finally blurted out a demand: