Francis Myers likely choice in Senate race
State Democratic Committee to name candidates tomorrow
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – (special)
Congressman Francis John Myers of Philadelphia is the probable choice of the Democratic State Committee for the party’s nomination for U.S. Senator, it developed here today.
The committee meets tomorrow to recommend a slate of candidate to Democratic voters in the April 25 primary.
Balance of slate
The balance of the slate which the State Committee is expected to choose will line up as follows:
JUDGE OF THE STATE SUPREME COURT: Charles Alvin Jones of Pittsburgh, now a federal circuit judge, 1938 Democratic nominee for Governor.
JUDGES OF THE STATE SUPERIOR COURT: Judge Chester H. Rhodes of Stroudsburg, who will be a candidate for reelection, and Auditor General F. Blair Ross of Butler.
AUDITOR GENERAL: State Treasurer G. Harold Wagner of Wilkes-Barre.
STATE TREASURER: Ramsey S. Black of Harrisburg, third assistant postmaster general.
Mr. Black was the original favorite of U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey for nomination to the senatorial seat now held by Senator James J. Davis (R-Pittsburgh). Other factions in the party, however, objected to Mr. Black’s candidacy and Philadelphia leaders won their argument for an eastern candidate.
Jones agrees to run
Judge Jones, whose present position is only one judicial step below the U.S. Supreme Court, is reported to have agreed to run for Pennsylvania’s highest court after party leaders assured him of their unanimity on his candidacy.
In his present job, Judge Jones has a lifetime appointment at a salary of $12,500 a year. The State Supreme Court pays each judge $19,500 a year and the terms run for 21 years.
Judge Rhodes was elected in 1933 and is the only Democrat on either appellate bench.
Ross bows to others
Mr. Ross was originally a candidate for the Supreme Court nomination, but bowed to the wishes of the slate-makers. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor last year, but lost by a wide margin to Governor Edward Martin, a Republican.
Mr. Ross was formerly State Treasurer and Treasurer Wagner now hopes to duplicate his predecessor’s trick of switching to the Auditor General’s office. Neither fiscal official is permitted to succeed himself, under the Constitution.
The ‘Boy Orator’
Congressman Myers, 42, is serving his third term in Washington. He is a lawyer, a former State Deputy Attorney General and a native of Philadelphia. After he was first elected, he attracted considerable attention among Democratic Party adherents as a “boy orator.”
In addition to selecting a slate of candidates for the April primary, the State Committee, at its session tomorrow, is expected to adopt a militant resolution advocating a fourth term for President Roosevelt and to line up a list of 12 candidates for delegates-at-large to the Democratic National Convention to be held in Chicago in June.