Something Coming?

Gifford Pinchot, Governor of Pennsylvania, last week called to consult with him John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers of America, and soon afterwards Major W. W. Inglis, representative of the anthracite mine operators. There was no secret about why he wanted to see them. He wanted to end the anthracite strike which has endured since Sept. 1. What actually passed was indeed secret. Apparently the miners were not willing to give up their demand for higher wages and the checkoff, nor were the operators willing to yield either of these points. When his visitors had gone, Governor Pinchot said nothing. He turned his back on Harrisburg, the state capital, and went to his Milford home to think matters over for ten days or so.

He has plenty to think about. Under his feet is Pennsylvania. Under his feet is practically all the hard coal in the U. S. If it is in his power to take some decisive step, it is also in his power to determine the future of the entire anthracite industry in the U. S., and in doing that to affect powerfully for good or ill the prosperity of his state.

He has had a remarkable career to this point and, although he is now 60, he may or may not have a yet more remarkable career ahead of him. He comes of French stock. His grandfather, Constantino Cyril Desire Pinchot, quit France "because of political beliefs. . . ." Gifford, born in Connecticut in 1865, went to Phillips Exeter Academy and to Yale College, where he was graduated in 1889. Out of college he went to France, studied forestry at Nancy, practiced it in the Alps and the Vosges. By 1891 he was back and doing "the first systematic forestry work ever done in the U. S.," on the estate of George W. Vanderbilt near Asheville, N. C. The same year he opened an office in New York as consulting forester.

In 1898 he entered the Government service as Chief of the Division of Forestry in the Department of the Interior. He served twelve years, and during that time the personnel under him increased from 11 to 2,000. He became a favorite of President Roosevelt, who regarded him as one of his most efficient subordinates. President Roosevelt made him a member of the Commission on Public Lands and numerous other efficiency and conservation bodies. He was made Chairman of the National Conservation Commission.

In 1910 President Taft ousted Pinchot for his attack on Richard A. Ballinger, Secretary of the Interior, who had become involved in a forestry scandal. His removal was apparently the end of his officeholding career. Senator Boies Penrose, who called him "Pin-shot," was his enemy and it did not look as if there was any political advancement for him in Pennsylvania. In 1920, to be sure, he was made State Forester.

Then came 1922. There was a split in the regular Republican machine, and Mr. Pinchot--who would believe it?--was elected Governor. He gave Pennsylvania a budget system, trimmed the sails of expenditure and set out to put the State on a sound financial basis. He reorganized the State Government and cut the number of departments and bureaus from more than 100 to 18. He also went out to enforce prohibition.

His prominence since that time has been chiefly twofold: 1) As a vigorous prohibitionist, he became a free critic of the Administration because prohibition enforcement was not a success; 2) He solved the anthracite strike in 1923 by forcing an agreement on a 10% wage increase.

Some thought, perhaps he thought, that these two things might give him a good chance for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1924. But Coolidge took the reins and Pinchot had no chance. Now there are two principal avenues of ambition open to Mr. Pinchot. He may choose to stand for Senator next year against Mr. Pepper, or he may choose to aim at the Presidency in 1928. These two ambitions are not necessarily exclusive, but his opponents say: "If he solves the strike again by increasing wages, he will get a lot of miners' votes to help him to the Senatorship next year. If he wants to be elected President in 1928, he had best not be known as the man who increased the price of coal."

Whether or not Mr. Pinchot looks at the anthracite problem through the glasses of personal ambition, there is much truth in what his opponents say. Now the rangy man, with the bronzed face and the twinkling eyes, is considering.