Eleventh Chair

In January, 1925, one seat at the eleven-chaired table of the Interstate Commerce Commission became vacant. To fill it the President turned to the South. Dozens of southern names were presented to him, names of able railroaders, "good traffic men." But none of them was what the President wanted. Finally, it was hinted that he had found his man. But the ideal Southerner refused the chair.

Then the President sent to the Senate the name of Thomas F. Woodlock. "He lives in New York," cried Senators from the South. The President could not deny it. "He is a financier, a director of the Pere Marquette Railroad and the St. Louis-San Francisco. He writes for the Wall Street Journal, and even edited it once," cried Western radicals. The President did not deny this. He even let it be known that Mr. Woodlock owed his appointment to his experience as a financier. The biggest problem now before the I. C. C. is railroad consolidation, of which the financial complexities are almost beyond human understanding.

Nevertheless, the Senate adjourned stubbornly refusing to confirm Mr. Woodlock's appointment; the former Wall Street editor took seat without guarantee of pay; participated in the momentous anti-Van Sweringen decision.

When the present session of Congress opened, the same combination of Democrats (dissatisfied because Mr. Woodlock is a Democrat who often votes Republican) and Radicals seemed likely to prevent Mr. Woodlock's permanent appointment. And other opposition appeared. It came from solid Republican Pennsylvania, especially from active Senator Reed, who charged that his state, through which runs the Pennsylvania Railroad, lacked representation on the Interstate Commerce Commission, had not received a square deal.

At this point, the President gently removed himself from the impending row by unofficially permitting the Philadelphia Inquirer to state that Pennsylvania and the South would probably get the next appointments to the Commission. Senator Reed, after repudiating frivolous charges of "A deal, a deal!" announced that he would vote for the New York man. Southern Democrats, with the usual lack of leadership in the Senate, decided for the most part to do the same. Furthermore, the South had been somewhat mollified by the appointment of Richard V. Taylor of Mobile, Ala., to the place of a Commissioner who had suddenly resigned. Mr. Woodlock's appointment was confirmed 52-25.

This vote was made in executive session, and since a Senator can be expelled for divulging any part of the procedings of an executive session, the public (theoretically) will never know which Senators voted on which side. So, two days later, an agitation was begun on the floor of the Senate for a record vote. There was hot oratory pro and con "secret government," and it was voted to have another secret session to discuss whether a public vote would be taken. Mr. Woodlock keeps his seat on the I. C. C. without yet (theoretically) knowing whom to thank.