Prime political event of last week was the beginning of a fishing trip. One morning Franklin Roosevelt, 27 hours out of Washington, detrained at Biloxi, Miss, accompanied by his trusty supporter, Senator Pat ("The Fox") Harrison. With Governor Hugh White of Mississippi they drove to Jefferson Davis' onetime estate (now a home for Confederate veterans) and on to Gulfport, home of Senator Harrison. There the President was joined by his son Elliott and Governor Richard Webster Leche (pronounced lesh) of Louisiana and entrained, beginning the significant part of his journey.
Several hours later at New Orleans the moguls of Louisiana politics turned out to greet the great New Dealer. Still alive in every memory were Huey's thunderings at the New Deal, Huey's laws forbidding the spending of Relief money in Louisiana (since Mr. Hopkins would not let him have its spending) and the New Deal's retaliatory income tax evasion suits against the Longster tribe. By last week all that was changed. The President and his son were whisked away to Antoine's, famed old restaurant in the Vieux Carre, to eat Proprietor Roy Alciatore's specialties: oysters Rockefeller and Pompano en papillate. Only a small company were present, for too many Longsters might have spoiled Louisiana's new era political soup.
Nevertheless, the President had the pleasure of rubbing elbows with Huey's two most important heirs: on his right Governor Leche (already "Dick" to him), on his left swart Mayor Robert Sidney Maestri of New Orleans, once Huey Long's Conservation Commissioner. Governor Leche, who two years ago was an unknown Long judge, now has hopes of a place on the Federal bench. Only other big Longster present was Seymour Weiss, Huey Long's onetime treasurer with whom the President cordially shook hands.
These three Longsters had every reason to return the President's cordiality, for the Long State machine and the Farley National machine are now on terms of mutual respect and cooperation. The Louisiana prohibition against New Deal money has been abolished, and WPA millions now flow freely into Louisiana. The old income tax indictments, including that of Mr. Weiss, have been quashed.
Governor Leche has become publisher of the Hammond Progress (Hammond is a town of 6,000 in the strawberry belt). which now has readers and advertisers all over the State. It is not healthy for State employes not to subscribe and rustle for subscriptions ($2 a year for the weekly edition). Messrs. Leche, Maestri & Weiss recently bought the money-losing Pelicans, New Orleans Club of the Southern Baseball Association, for $155,000. At the opening game they had a record crowd of more than 20,000. All New Orleans policemen, firemen and jobholders had prudently bought tickets. Mr. Weiss & friends have bought the Jacobs Candy Co. and merchants all over town are now pushing Jacobs Candy. Gambling joints, lottery shops and slot machines run vigorously, and visitors to New Orleans are surprised by the number of nickels (handy for slot machine use) which they are given everywhere in change. Such is New Orleans' present bliss.