(4 of 7)
Agreeing that the North should get the Floor Leadership to balance his own Speakership, Mr. Garner first induced all Southern candidates to withdraw from the field in the name of party harmony. That left two Northern Democrats contending for the job—71-year-old Henry Thomas Rainey of Carrollton, Ill, and 46-year-old John J. O'Connor of New York City. Congressman O'Connor was sent to Congress in 1923 as the personal representative of the late Boss Murphy of Tammany Hall. His own colleagues disliked him for his vanity and superciliousness. Southern members despised him for his "Yankee swagger," his aggressive Wetness. Undaunted by his unpopularity, Congressman O'Connor, as part of his campaign, arranged a first meeting between Mr. Garner and John Francis Curry, the present Tammany Boss. The two breakfasted together at 7 o'clock one morning fortnight ago at a Washington hotel. Said Congressman Garner later:
"I'd never seen one of those animals from Tammany Hall before. I couldn't see any horns or hoofs on him. I found out Curry was a very nice gentleman. He told me he's got a brother and lots of kin in Texas. . . . I like to see any outstanding man in politics. I'd like to see Mayor Cermak of Chicago—and have breakfast with him. But I'd rather he'd pay for it. I'm just that much of a Scotchman."
What Mr. Garner did not reveal was how he told Boss Curry that Congressman O'Connor did not measure up to leading a House majority. Boss Curry apparently concurred. That virtually clinched the selection of Congressman Rainey, Mr. Garner's candidate all along. They entered Congress together (1903) but Mr. Rainey was swept out by the Harding landslide of 1920, thus losing his seniority standing. At Amherst in 1883 he was heavyweight boxing champion; today he weighs 275 lb. A great mop of billowy white hair crowns his Roman head. He generally wears a flowing black bow tie. He farms in a farming district. His constituency was Dry and so was he until an Illinois reapportionment act this year added the Wet city of Quincy to his political domain. He is now reported ready to swing Wet if the reapportionment act withstands court tests. Conservative Democrats call him radical in his economic theories. He favors a low tariff, high surtaxes on the wealthy, no foreign debt moratorium, government operation of Muscle Shoals, recognition of Soviet Russia.
Committees. Less easy for Mr. Garner to solve was the tangle over Democratic committee chairmanships, growing out of the same North v. South rivalry. If the seniority rule were followed, Southerners would head 30 of the 47 House committees. Texans would become chairmen of such prime committees as Judiciary, Interstate & Foreign Commerce, Rivers & Harbors, Agriculture. To Mississippi members would go the prime jobs of Ways & Means, Military Affairs, World War Veterans. Alabamians would control Banking & Currency and Civil Service; Georgians, Territories and Naval Affairs; Tennesseeans, Appropriations and Merchant Marine; a North Carolinian, Rules. Only three major committees would fall to New Yorkers—Post Offices, Education, Immigration. A Marylander would head Foreign Affairs.