Texas Party

From the mimeographs of the Post Office Department last week rolled this bulletin:

Carry only what money you need before you get to Texas. Yon will not be able to spend a dime in the State of Texas.

Oct. 20, Friday, 6:30 a. m. you will be awakened by waiters bringing breakfast. . . . Do not bring more than two extra suits of clothes--one will be sufficient. Six changes of linen will be plenty. We will have overnight pressing service four of the five nights we will be away from home. . . . Not necessary to carry a dinner coat. With these instructions in their pockets, 13 of the Administration's more festive set flew out of Washington to Atlanta. Aboard the plane were Comptroller of the Currency O'Connor. Director for Air Regulation Vidal, Richard Roper, son of the Secretary of Commerce, Oilman James A. Moffett of the NRA and roly-poly little Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Silliman Evans, onetime Fort Worth newspaperman, who organized the junket. At At lanta, Postmaster General Farley and RFC Chairman Jesse H. Jones were picked up. Variously billed as "The Democratic Good-Will Tour of Texas," "The Garner-Farley Texas Trip" and (by capital wags) "The Farley Expedition to Rediscover Jack Garner," the voyagers spent the night at Jackson, Miss. Having paused at Meridian to dedicate a post office, next day at Fort Worth they discovered little old hawk-beaked Vice President Garner. Then the fun began.

The man to have fun with in Texas is Publisher Amon Giles Carter of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who reputedly financed the Garner-Farley junket over American Airways, of which he is a heavy stockholder. As is his wont, he promptly gave everybody in the party a $20 Stetson hat. Born 53 years ago at Crafton. Tex., Amon Carter used to sell sandwiches on the station platform at Bowie, newspapers on the Fort Worth streetcorner where now rises the office building of the Star-Telegram, which he bought eight years ago with money made in cattle, oil, advertising. The presses which thunder all day long in Taylor Street are named after his children.

Host Carter marshalled the Farley-Garner party out to his box at Arlington. Downs to witness the rebirth of horse-race betting in Texas. There an unforeseen unpleasantness occurred. While Host Carter was out making a bet, Governor Miriam (''Ma") Ferguson and her husband James, who was impeached as Governor in 1917, popped in uninvited to chat with Postmaster General Farley. The Carter v. Ferguson feud is an old one. At a football game in 1925, Amon Carter, full of high spirits, paraded back & forth behind the Fergusons' seats crowing in behalf of the man who succeeded Mrs. Ferguson after her first term as Governor: "Hooray for Dan Moody!" Jim Ferguson offered $500 to any police officer who would arrest Amon Carter. The offer was not taken up. When he found the Fergusons had horned in on a party of his last week, Amon Carter stomped away, did not return to his box until they had gone.

The lights at "Shady Oaks," the comfortable country place on Lake Worth where Publisher Carter & wife do much of their entertaining, generally burn far into the night. The tall, lusty host never serves beer because he dislikes it, but there is always an abundance of Texas corn and Scotch, his favorite drinks, which he usually takes neat. Here the Farley party, joined by Funnyman Will Rogers, was welcomed.

Mr. Carter's generosity as a contributing Democrat is only equalled by his enthusiasm for the cause and, perhaps, by his ambition to hold office. He takes his politics with the same gusto that he plays bridge (he is an expert) and patronizes sport (he goes to all big fights, baseball, football, polo games in his airplane). At Houston in 1928 he threatened to beat up Rev. J. Frank Norris, a Protestant preacher acquitted of murder, who opposed the Presidential nomination of Catholic Al Smith. When Smith was nominated, Amon Carter's exuberance knew no bounds. In his exhilaration he shot his six-gun through the door of an elevator in the Rice Hotel. Last year he was an early passenger on the Roosevelt bandwagon, now supervises Texas patronage distribution. He sends long night letters to President Roosevelt at least twice a week. Once in a while sleepy telegraph operators at Fort Worth are roused late at night with a message back from the White House to Publisher Carter. The political bickering at "Shady Oaks" lasted long after Vice President Garner retired at 10 p. m., a whole hour later than his accustomed bedtime.

The Fergusons were placed on Postmaster General Farley's right at the Dallas banquet next night, so Amon Carter sat at the press table. The itinerant politicians went on to San Antonio, Houston, Uvalde (the Garner home town), saw a rodeo on a border ranch, then headed back to Washington. That, thought some of Amon Carter's friends, was where Amon Carter wished he were going, on official business.

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