Evening star., 1925-12-09
Politics at Large
By e.. Could Lincoln

Congress has been in session only
two days and already politics Is pop
ping. lr the first place, the Repub-
lican leadership in the House has by
its maneuvers alreary solidified the
progressive bloc in opposition to the
administration The Republican or,
ganization in the House has a ma
jority, to be sure, and the progressive
bloc no longer holds the balance Of
power as 1t did in the last Congress.
But it is predicted that the day will
come when progressive support may
be most acceptable. The regulars have
made their bed, however, and 1t Is up
to them to lie in 1t. The effect of
their action on the congressional cleo
tions I'm 1926 will be watched with
great interest.
Over on the Senate side of the
Capitol Senator Robert NJ. La Toilette,
jr.. of Wisconsin still continues to be
bone Of contention between factions
OF the regular Republican organiza.
tion. One faction wants him recog-
nfzed as Republican and given COM
mlttee assignments as such. The
other does not. For an hour and
half yesterday afternoon the Repub.
mean committee on committees argued
tne pros and cons of La Follette'S
! Republicanism, and found itself dead.
locked. to 4, over a proposal to re-
gard him as Republican, at least
| untll some overt act" compelled his
oustlnS from party councils. The four
Senators who favored giving him
assignments as Republican were
Senators McNary of Oregon, Wads-
worth of New York, Reed of Penn.
sylVania and Moses of New Hamp-
shire. The four who opposed this
course were Senators Watson of In
diana. chairman; Ernst Of Kentucky.
| Smoot of Utah and Cameron of
Arizona. Senator Mckinley of Illinois,
the ninth member of the committee
arrived only as the meeting was about
tc break up and after the vote had
been taken and II had been decided to
refer the matter TO the Republics n
! conference of the Senate to settle 1t.
The lineup in the committee Is
rather singular, with three standpat
RepubHcanS from the North and
East and one Pacific Coast Senator
| voting to recognize La Toilette as
Republican. at least for the present.
They take the position that Senator
La Toilette occupies a very different
position from that of his fsther. the
late Senator La Toilette, who had run
| as a third party candidate for the
presidency. The younger La Toilette,
elected as a Republican last Septem-
! Der in Wisconsin and must he regard
! ed as such until he actually gets him.
! self outside the party and joins some
other
The others-the opposition to recoG-
! milton of La Follette-hold that in his
speeches during the campaign Sen
ator La Toilette attacked the Repub-
iican organization and the administra
tion and that he IL no Republican.
| With Senators Wadsworth, Moses
and Reed of Pennsylvania favoring
! recognition. It looks as though the
: caucus would have lively time, and
! probably will agree to assign La Fol
iette as d Republican TO the standing
! committees.
. Opponents of La Toilette say that
while the Republicans of TIE Senate
were holding their conference last
I Saturday. to which La Toilette had
been invited he was in conference
! with the House insurgents and
! squirting them on to defy the Repub-
| lican organization of the House and
t" vote for Cooper for Speaker in
stead of for Speaker Longworth.
! AS matter of fact. the ousting of
| La Toilette from the Republican or
| Sanization is not going TO injure him
! In Wisconsin, and the shrewdest of
! the regulars realize this fact
| The World Court entered the lime.
light in the Senate on Monday al the
{ opening session of the Senate. Sen.
ator Robinson of Arkansas. the
! Democratic leader obtained unani.
nous consent to have made public the
! proceedings in the executive session
when it was agreed last March to
take up the World Court protocol
! December H. And the unanimous
! consent had scarcely been given when
! Senator Swanson of Virginia. ranking
Democratic member of the foreign re
iations committee. was on his feet
with IN announcement that he would
address the Senate in support of ad.
hesion to the World Court as soon
as the protocol came up for consid.
Grafton. The Democrats are losing no
opportunity to impress upon the
country their support of the World
Court.
Incidentally. there is considerable
interest in the leadership among the
Republicans for the World Court pro
posal. Senator Borah of Idaho. chair
man of the foreign rela tons commit
tee, under ordinary Giro umstances
would be the logical and certain leader
of the Republicans on such an issue
But he is opposed to entry into the
court on the terms advanced bv the
administration. Senator Lenroot Of
! Wisconsin is believed to be the first
Republican on the committee list who
really and earnestly favorS the admin
istration's proposal. and he may b6
drafted for this leadership in the fight
which is soon to come. He will he
opposed by his colleague. Senator La
/ Toilette. jr.. on this issue. The rank
ing Senator next To the chairman il
Hiram Johnson of California. who
breathes fire when the court Is men
toned, and after him another irrecon
cilable. Senator Moses of New Hamp
shire. Then comes Senator Lenroot
! who was one of the mild reservation
lists" during the League of Nations
fight in the Senate in 1919.
New Hampshire is seething with
politics just now. Within the week
Former Gov. Robert F. Bass. progress
sive Republican. has announced his can
didacy for the Senate against Senator
Moses next year, and Gov. John G
Winant his candidacy to succeed him
4 self. Huntley Spaulding had earlier
announced his candidacy for the Re
publican nominal ton for governor
Spaulding was defeated by Senator
Moses for nomination for the Senate
six years ago.
| Mr.. Bass. In his announcement, de
clared himself a dry" and sup.
porter of the World Court He has
been in politics for 90 years in New
| Hampshire. When he entered thu
| Legislature in 1905 he began a figh