Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-08
Changing Sentiment
On Smith-Vare Seating
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

| Among the earliest signs Of the on
coming political season is the reve-
lation of an important change of SEN
timent with regard to the seating of
Senators elect Ware of Pennsylvania
and Smith of Illinois. To no other
than Senator James A. Reed, Demo
crat, of Missouri, chairman of the
slush fund investigating committee
which unearthed the scandals of
1926" is attributed complete about
face on the subject. Reed is now
tquoted as having said, I'VE don't
want to establish bad precedents in
these bad cases." The view ascribed
| to the Missourian is that Messrs.
Ware and Smith should be permitted
to present their credentials and take
their seats in the new Senate. There
upon-and not Northumberland
to the allegedly revised opinion of
Senator Reed, the Pennsylvania and
the Illinoisan should be held to &C.
| countability by their senatorial col
leagues. This was the procedure in
! the Newberry case in 1922. 1t is the
method which the supporters of Ware
and Smith urged when the slush fund
controversy ragged on Capitol Hill last
Winter.
| AS their cases stand at present, the
situation Is that Col. Smith was de.
| MED, by Senate record vote of 48 to
81, the right to present his credentials
and take his seat following his ap-
pointment to the vacancy created by
the death of Senator Mckinley. Of
Illinois. Mr.. Ware, having been elected
to seat in the SEVENTEEN Congress,
had no occasion to seek admission at
the late session of the Senate. Moth
ing was done with regard to him ex-
/ cept the formal presentation of his
certificate of election, signed by Gov.
Clifford Pinchot of Pennsylvania, who
accompanied it with a letter to Vice
President Dawes, insinuating that
Ware had been elected under doubtful
| circumstances. Under the rules of the
Senate, both Messrs. Smith and Ware
have been occupying offices in the
Senate Office Building at Washington
and enjoying the statutory perqui-
| sites of senatorial rank, including sta
| tionery, clerk hire and the title of
| Senators-elect.
Senators who are credited with a
change Of heart on the Smith and
| Ware cases are said mostly to be
| Southern Democrats. With the ex-
ception of Messrs. Bease and Smith
| South Carolina) and Overman North
Carolina), Dixie Senators voted solidly
| to bar Col. Smith of Illinois. These
Southerners are reputed, as result
Of calm study of constitutional rights
and Senate precedents during the
| Summer, to have come to the conclu-
sion that the Senate transgressed it's
authority in refusing Senator-elect
| o,o,ik I1tc ct yiyn%A T1Af,,
| position, as set forth by men who
claim to have been the recipients of
their condolences, is that election Gre
| dentials, submitted in proper form,
| must be accepted. No Senator, of
course, challenges the view that their
| body is the indisputable and sole judge
| of the qualifications of it's members.
But there appears now to be a growing
consensus that Admission first, inves-
| tigation and expulsion afterward' is
the right and proper program, pro-
| vided grounds for expulsion are even
tually sustained.
When the Smith case was up, 1t was
understood that many Senators acted
to bar him because barring required
| only a majority vote, while ousting,
after a Senator's admission, was held
| to need a two-thirds vote. Senators
who've undergone change of base on
| the Smith.Vare situation have per-
suaded themselves that the Senator's
elect can be thrown out, after being
seated, by a majority vote. Precedents
on this score are still being carefully
explored. but authority is said to have
been discovered for the majority-vote
expulsion proposition. The reasoning
is, it appears, that a two-thirds vote
would be necessary if expulsion con-
cerned conduct" of a sitting senator.
but that If the question at issue is a
| Senator-elect's title or fright to sit, -
as the result of "pre-entrance activi-
ties then a majority of his colleagues
present and voting can cast him into
the outer darkness.
Copyright. 1927