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"If Hoover wants to vote with me, I'll be much obliged to him. If you'll tell me what he stands for, I'll tell you whether I'll cooperate with him. . . . I've been asked repeatedly if the Democrats would enter into a political truce. . . . My questioners seem oblivious to the rather insulting character of such an inquiry, for it amounts to the implication that our Representatives are capable of sacrificing the welfare of the country to political expediency. ... I don't anticipate that any Democrat will oppose a measure plainly necessary for the industrial health of our people [but] the Democrats will insist that they shall be the judge of the wisdom and expediency of the enactments. . . . We have no reason to assume the infallibility of the Administration. Experience of the past two years pretty clearly demonstrates no such assumption is possible. . . . When the President offers a recommendation to accomplish a given result, the Democrats may have their 'own and what they consider a better process for bringing this about. . . . But my fellow Congressmen have in mind no policy of mere obstruction. If there is political advantage in demonstrating our ability to exhibit the President's impotence, we'll forego that advantage.
"We're on the eve of a presidential campaign. Naturally every time we oppose the White House incumbent and candidate for reelection, we'll be accused by his supporters of playing politics. If we are interested in bringing about the election of a Democratic successor to Mr. Hoover, he and his party are no less interested in accomplishing his reelection. There is no more justification for the contention that Democratic votes against Administration measures are dictated by partisanship than that the President's own recommendations are actuated by an equally selfish motive. . . .
"But as for a truce—why, that's impossible!"
Floor Leader. Next to the Speaker in power and prestige ranks the Majority Floor Leader, a sort of legislative quarterback who runs the team from behind the line of scrimmage. Congressman Garner had no sooner reached Washington last month than he discovered that the Democratic Leadership was badly snarled in sectional and personal rivalries. By seniority of service during the twelve years the party has been out of power more Southern Democrats than Northern Democrats have climbed to preferred positions in the prospective House organization. Numerically the two factions are about equal. Southern Democrats insist that they should get their full quota of good jobs. Members from the North clamor to set aside seniority rules for their own advancement on the theory that their States are essential to any Democratic victory in the nation.