(2 of 2)
Pals. Last week one of Mr. Roosevelt's disdained politicos was spotted on vacation in Portland, Ore. Said a Portland reporter, cornering Jersey City's Boss Frank Hague: "How's the new national chairman, Edward J. Flynn?" Said Frank Hague: "He's my pal! He's a million! Ed Flynn is a very capable leader, he has shown that in the way he handled his county."
Chairman Flynn has undoubtedly handled New York's Bronx County very capably. But anxious Democrats wanted to know how he would handle the whole U. S. The first signs encouraged only the opposition. At a press conference in Washington, Ed Flynn 1) announced that Democratic leaders will have to come to New York if they want to see him; 2) displayed distressing ignorance. When Ed Flynn airily dismissed the Democrats who have bolted to Wendell Willkie, a reporter mentioned Ohio's potent, onetime Governor George White, who was national chairman in 1920-21 and bolted to Willkie last fortnight. Ed Flynn paused in genuine surprise, then gulped: "Well, that is every man's privilege in this country, and I hope it always will be."
Equally unhappy was Mr. Flynn when his questioners harped on the Democrats' ill-famed campaign books (1936 proceeds: $400,000). Democratic Attorney General Robert H. Jackson had just ruled that the Hatch Act forbade purchase (but not sale) of these campaign tokens, had urged the national committee to forego them this year. Mr. Flynn and his committee's wizened Publicity Man Charles Michelson announced that advertising for the books (rate: whatever the traffic will bear) had been sold before the Hatch Act went into effect. As for distribution, said Mr. Michelson: "I don't know what expedient we'll resort to, but we'll find something."
Proud was Ed Flynn of something he found in Wendell Willkie's Democratic past. Said he, irritated by a reminder that he is a Boss: "This twaddle about this, that or the other boss of a political machine is silly. . . . Coming from Mr. Willkie, the charge is particularly foolish, for the record shows that only a few short years ago [in 1935], Mr. Willkie was a paying member of the Grover Cleveland Democratic Club in . . . Manhattan and, with Mrs. Willkie, ran for County Committeeman on the sarra ticket with Jim Farley. . . . This club is a district club of . . . Tammany Hall. . . ." According to Mr. Flynn, this made Mr, Willkie a machine man from way back. Ed Flynn also remembered, perhaps with lass delight, that Mr. & Mrs. Willkie, on that occasion, had won.