Who Shall Be Saved?

In the ruddy glow of November's victory, Democratic Chairman J. Howard McGrath waxed canonical over the worldly issue of spoils. The President, said he, would forgive "venial sins," e.g., little political lapses, and he would be hell on mortal sinners, e.g., Dixiecrats. The McGrath tract seemed quite clear: jobs for the faithful, the outer darkness for backsliders.

But since then the outlines of party purity have been blurred; in the matter of political spoils there are two schools of thought. One, led by bulky Bill Boyle, the Democrats' executive vice chairman, wants the rewards to go to the local leaders in each state who have been loyal through & through. The other is led by McGrath, who is worried about getting the Truman program through Congress, and wants to reward at least the milder Dixiecrats: Harry Truman needs their votes in Congress. Last week the two factions took their problems to the White House, accompanied by Vice President Alben Barkley, House Majority Leader John McCormack and Speaker Sam Rayburn. When they emerged, McGrath blandly assured newsmen that Congressmen's "loyalty will be judged back in their home districts," not by their voting record in Congress.

What Is Loyalty? Harry Truman tossed away the new loyalty test the very next morning at his press conference. What was needed, said Harry Truman, was a definition of a Democrat. Democrats, he went on, are those people who support the Democratic platform, which is the law of the Democratic Party. Would he consider votes on Taft-Hartley repeal a test of a true Democrat? He certainly would, replied the President.

Did that mean the denial of patronage to Dixiecrats? Let's wait, the President said, and see how the thing works out. In one respect it had worked already; Truman had passed up crusty old John Rankin's man for postmaster in Columbus, Miss. There was nothing to be gained by buttering up Rabble-rouser Rankin.

Great Expectations. Mississippi's Senator John Stennis, a Thurmond supporter (who says that he finally voted for Harry Truman), was another kind of legislator. The President could count on him for a fair share of his program, excepting, of course, civil rights. When Stennis went down to the White House to push a friend for a U.S. attorneyship, Harry Truman didn't even ask him, Stennis reported, how he intended to vote on Taft-Hartley. With grim significance, Stennis added: "I hope and expect him to appoint this gentleman."

Last week the President also:

> Recommended a cut of $157 million in the $5.4 billion appropriation requested for ECA. His reasons: 1) to take advantage of price declines since ECA figured up its needs last October; 2) to steal the thunder from Republican proponents of a flat 10% cut.

> Picked old New Dealer William H. Davis, onetime chairman of the War Labor Board, to head the Atomic Energy Commission's new labor relations panel.

> Received a gold lifetime pass to the Yankee Stadium, and a 40-lb. Chester White hog.

> Attended the annual party given in his honor by Washington Hostess Perle Mesta (TIME, March 14).

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