Evening star., 1925-03-12
Mr.. Rorah and the Administration.

At the outset of the present admin.
istration Senator Borah. one of the
most powerful figures in the Senate
and In the public life Of the country.
has found himself in a position of an
tagonism to the President and the
majority of the Republicans of the
Senate on several issues. The Senator
from Idaho. however. has a record for
independent thinking and voting, and
therefore his strenuous opposition.
first to the chastisement Of the Re
publican insurgents administered by
the Senate Republicans and then to
the confirmation of the Presidents
selection for Attorney General. Mr..
Warren. may not be so significant as
they would have been in another. The
Idaho Senator may yet go along with
the administration on many major
issues, and undoubtedly will.
But temporarily at least, and on the
surface, Mr.. Borah seems to have sue
ceeded Mr.. La Toilette in the leader
ship of the progressive bloc in the
Senate. If this enlarged bloc becomes
solidified, it will mean much trouble
for the administration in the coming
regular session of Congress.
Efforts by the conservatives to run
roughshod over the progressives and
progressive ideas will be resisted Wig
orously. Not by the widest stretch
of imagination can Senator Borah be
classed as a radical" although he
has favored the recognition of the
Russian government Few men in
public life stick so closely to the prin-
ciples laid down in the Constitution
of the United States. The opposition
of Mr.. Borah, therefore, is not to be
considered lightly. The administration
must reckon with the Senator from
Idaho. 1t would seem the part Of
folly to do otherwise. For the sake
of the country it may be hoped that
a definite break will be avoided.
Mr. Borah is chairman of the for
eign relations committee of the SEN
ate, committee that should work as
Chief Executive and the Department
of State. An example of the difficult
ties which have arisen when that
committee and the President have
clashed is not far to seek. Immedi-
ately after the World War, while Pres.
ident Woodrow Wilson was i'll the
White House. the Republicans gained
control of the foreign relations COM.
mittee of the Senate, ard the late
Senator Lodge of Massachusetts be.
came its chairman. The result was to
place the foreign relations OF the
country in a turmoil Mr.. Borah be-
lieves firmly in the continuation of
the policy which broughts about linz
itation of naval ornaments, and in
this he goes along with the Presi.-
dent.
President Coolidge has no stronger
supporter than Mr.. Borah in his de.
mand for economy in the administra-
ton of the Government. He stood
with the President in opposition to
measures which promised to increase
governmental expenses, in opposition
to the soldiers bonus,- the original
postal pay bill, the Bursum pension
bill and others.
But the Senator from Idaho has
not hesitated to take the administra-
tiop leaders to task because a special
session of the new Congress is not
called to tackle the problem OF farm
relief and other domestic questions.
During the recent debate in the SEN
ate over the committee assignments
of the insurgents Mr.. Borah's Repub.
licanism was challenged by some Of
the regulars. But, in the opinion Of
Mr.. Borah, the principles of Repub-
licanism do not include necessarily
abandonment of independence In
thought and action. and with this
opinion, provided it's holder recog.
niZes the need for party solidarity in
the final analysis, there need be no
Quarrel. The feat of maintaining
reputation for independence while
still demonstrating party loyalty is
a difficult one. yet the Senator from
Idaho has performed it before and, it
is to be hoped, will continue to do 80.