The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-05-08
Senate Action Is Smash at
yellow Dog Contract,
Leaders Assert.
PARTY LINES BROKEN
Decision Is Starting Point
of History Making
Controversy.
BY LAWRENCE SULLIVAN
Times staff Correspondent

WASHINGTON, May Sin re-
jecting the nomination of Judge
John j. Parker for supreme court
by a margin of two votes, after a
seven weeks struggle, the senate
has begun another of those great
public-policy controversies which are
the milestones of United States
history.
BY focusing public attention on
the issue which has agitated labor
for two decades, the vote brings to
the front the problem of the So
called yellow dog" contract, and
the powers of the federal judiciary
in sustaining such covenants by in
functions.
How deep lie the roots of the issue
is indicated. according to opponents
of the yellow dog" principle, by the
shattering of party lines on the
Parker vote.
Thirteen Democrats abandoned
party leadership to vote or pair
against the nomination, and twenty
two Republicans deserted the adj
ministration
Editorial Started Trend
The opposition to Judge Parker
began to manifest itself when the
nomination reached the senate on
March 81. A Scripps- Howard edi-
torial of March Is emphasized the
Importance of pre-eminent states
manship on the supreme bench and
concluded, THE President, in our
judgment, has not found the right
man in John j. Parker"
On March 90, William Green,
president of the American Fedora
ton of Labor announced the OPP
position Of organized labor.
Almost simultaneously, the AS
! ISOLATION for the Advancement of
the Colored People presented to the
senate judiciary committee the rec
GRID of Parker's 1920 campaign ut
4 terances on the political activities
Of the Negro in North Carolina.
Turned Down by Committee
Two days later the committee re-
caived formal protest again.
Judge Parker's decision in the
/ BlUefeld Water Company case, in
which he declared in 1927, that a
return Of 715 per cent on invested
capital was reasonable for the
utility company.
The tide Of opposition had grown
to such proportion when the jul
dietary committee began hearings
OIL the nomination, on April 5, that
a number of senators already had
been besieged with demands for re-
lection.
A group of administration sup
porters quietly urged President
Hoover to withdraw the nomination.
A week later-ApriI 21-the ju-
dietary committee by vote Of 10
to 6 reported Parkers name to the
senate with the recommendation OF
inconvenience.
master Political Stroke
On U1e S6COllQ Qcy VI bAC dSNoOS
Senator Walsh of Montana pre-
sented to the senate the statement
of the trial judge in the war fraud
prosecution of the United States
Harness Company, which charged
Parker with having, as prosecutor,
neglected to offer certain important
evidence from the governments
files
The next day Senator Mcclellan
presented the letter from Assistant
Interior Secretary Dixon upon the
appointment of Parker as "a mas
ter political stroke" to sustain the
Republican organization in North
Carolina.
The letter had been addressed on
March 10 to White House Secretary
Newton. It later was denied that
President Hoover ever had seen or
had knowledge of this recommen-
dalton.