Evening star., 1929-12-01

ference on naval parity may lead to
reconsideration of our naval building
program, and a possible treaty arising
out of that conference may come up Tor
ratification. Ratification OF the debt
agreement with France is certain to
come up. early In the session: The mat
ter of recognizing the Russian govern
ment may come up. Some five or six
investigations by Senate or House com
mittees, dealing in part with highly
controversial subjects, will consume the
time of a considerable number of Sena-
tors and Representatives, members OF
the respective committees.
In short. the regular business OF this
Congress is just beginning tomorrow.
What it has done so far has been merely
the special business Of special session,
mainly farm relief and the tariff. ALI
in all, Senator Simmons mention OF
September / as probable closing date
for the coming session is not over
pessimistic. Yet it must end by Sep
tember l at the very latest. Indeed, IN
spite of the volume of business, and in
spite of the conditions that end to pro-
long the session, Senator Simmons es-
timate of September / as the closing
date may be shortened.
The business exists that can keep
the session at work, but this session
must end-must end probably a little
earlier than September /. 1t must end,
not because Of any constitutional l1ml-
tation. but for a reason equally COM
pelling third of the Senate and
the whole of the House come up for re-
election next year. The 435 Repre-
sentatives and 80 Senators involved
must look after their respective cam
paigns.
They come up for reelection in No
vember; that is, the general election, as
between Republicans and Democrats,
comes next November. While many of
the seats are determined in the Novem-
Der general election, the bulk are deter
mind in party primaries much earlier.
In practically all the South, seats are
determined wholly in the Democratic
primaries In much of the West and
much of the Middle West, and in most
Of such States as Pennsylvania, the
seats are determined wholly in Repub-
lican primaries. And whether any one
Senator's or Representatives. seat is
wholly determined by the primary or
only partially, the tenure Of each and
every one Is involved in the primary.
To substantially all of them the pri-
mary is indispensably important.
These primaries occur at various
dates, depending on the State. They be-
gin. in a few States, as early as the
Spring months, February, March and
April. Consequently, from the opening
day of this session tomorrow practically
every Representative and one-third 1922
of the Senate must be thinking about
the renewal of his term. And without
any practically" without any qualifl-
alton whatever, every party leader,
major or minor, every individual with
bility whatever, will be thinking of the
aggregate of the elections In the House
every Republican leader will be think
ing of whether, and how best, the Re-
publicans can hold their present men,
bership OF 267; every Democratic leader
will be thinking of whether, and how
best, the Democrats can increase their
present membership of 163 Similarly
in the Senate every Senator with any
sense of Republican responsibility will
be thinking of whether, and how best,
they can hold the 19 Republican (in-
Guiding progressive Republi am seats
involved in the coming elections; and
every Senator with any sense of Demo-
cratic responsibility will be thinking of
whether, and how best, the Democrats
can hold the IS Democratic seats In
volved in the coming election.
Politics Means Tariff.
That brings us to the politics Of the
coming session. There isn't really much
more to be said. To expand would be
reflection on the readers powers of
imagination and deduction.
Politics, in this session, means the
tariff. The politics about which GER
| tainly every leader, and practically
every individual, is going to think, is
the effect of the tariff on public opin-
icn. That is, in large part, normal and
as it should be; the function of poll
| tics is-in large part, certainly-to re-
! fleet public opinion.
individuals, as individuals, are going
to speculate about how their individual
! votes are going to affect their fortunes
| in their individual States and districts.
| Individuals, as members of one party or
the other, are going to speculate on how
the party as a whole, as a result of its
! collective attitude on the tariff, will
| stand IN their respective States and dis
| tricts. Leaders, of both parties, who
have directive hand in making the
! tariff, or who have the responsibility of
directing or persuading their followers
as group TO vote one way or the other
on the tariff as whole and on scores cf
| SPECIFIC scheduleS-such leaders are 60
ing to be specializing every hour on just
| how the country as a whole is going to
view the tariff and the position of the
respective parties on it.
There Is always politics, of course, in
every session of Congress that precedes
a congressional or general election. II
| just happens to be the tariff this time
But this time, on this tariff BILL the
condition Is especially acute and intri-
cate It Is so because nobody quite
knows which party is going to be re-
sponsible, in the public eye, for the bill
that will ultimately emerge. Nobody
knows yet just what kind of bill is GO
ing to emerge. In the House. so far, the
Republicans are in control and have
the responsibility. On the other hand
in the Senate, the coalition of Demo
Gratis and Insurgent Republicans con-
stitutes majority; they control-ano
| presumptiVely have the responsibility
! though part of the complex maneu-
vering consists of each group trying to
put upon the other group the RESPONSE
bility for one move or another.
When so small matter as taking q
weeks rest came up in the Senate this
various factions jockeyed and maneu-
vered and passed the buck" about like
the pea under the three shells before
they could determine which faction
should accept responsibility for publicly
making the motion to adjourn. Anl
after the vote was taken, with an out.
come that was not the one expected
there were violent charges of bad faith
cowardice, "welching" and breaking 6
gentlemens agreement. If any one
wants to realize the extremely involved
intricacies of the politics attending this
tariff bill, consider these remarks, made
by Senator Copeland of New York about
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