Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-28
DRAMATIC POLITICS LOOM
IN NEW CONGRESS SESSION
Evenly Matched Parties, on Eve of Ma
neuvers Over Presidency, Have
Many Issues to Fight Out.

coming week. suspect the country Is
fed up" with 1t. The best quip have
heard lately was passed on to me by
one who said it originated with Albert
Lasker, advertising agent and business
man. Mr.. Lasker is reputed to have
from is overprediction." (Will the
typesetter please be very careful with
that word.)
I refrain from prediction for the fur
ther reason that prophecy Is always
risky. If the public men who are fire.
quently quoted in the press, as well as
the professional writer's who contribute
to the press dncluding the present one)
were to be confronted by the numerous
and various prophecies and predictions,
expressed or implied, that they have
uttered in past years, they would in
most cases have an experience likely to
diminish their self-confidence.
For example: After there had been a
year of panic and low prices in 1907
and after there had been two years OF
rising prices in 1908 and 1909, and as
the end of 1909 approached and the
New York World printed its symposium
from distinguished men about the causes
of rising prices, one of those who con-
tributed was William e. Borah, eminent
then and eminent still Senator Borah
delivered a Judgment: I'VE seem to be
approaching a time when we shall be
importing (foodstuffS). This Is due to
the failure to fertilize and keep up the
producing power of our lands and the
failure to utilize the 25,000,000 acres of
arid land in the West"
Judgment Of Today.
That was 81 years ago. Today the
common Judgment seems to be that
America produces not too little food
stuffs but too much; that what we need
is not more acres of production, but
fewer-and the counsel given to farm
ers is that they should restrict their
acreage.
So much for all that. AS to the po-
litical aspects of the year just opening,
some definite things can be said. In
one sense it will be, so to speak, a non
political year; there will be no national
election, no election of President, no
general election of Representatives to
Congress or of Senators.
There will be, of course, sporadic Spe-
cial elections to fill vacancies arising
through death In both chambers of
elections will be particularly exciting.
They will be Important because, with
each death and its choice of a success
sor, the hair-line majority that exists
in each of the two Houses will often
pass back and forth from Republican to
Democratic, or vice versa.
We can say of the new Congress
elected on November 4 last that in both
its chambers the parties are almost ex-
ton, certain to be productive Of eXcit-
ing politics. We may say loosely, for
the present purpose, that the new SEN
ate which comes into existence next
year is Republican by majority of one
or two out of total of 96, and that the
new House is Republican or Democratic
depending upon how contests turn
out) by one or two. II that is the con-
dition as of today, 1t will be changed
perhaps q dozen times during the COM
ing year by the deaths of Senators and
representatives. depending upon wheth-
er the deaths occur among Republicans
or among Democrats, and depending
also upon whether the successors chosen
belong to the same parties as the men
deceased.
Possible G. o. p. Reverses.
In this shifting of the party majority
fortune Is likely to run against the Re-
publicans slightly. The reason, as re-
spects the Senate, is that when Senator
dies his successor Is commonly chosen
by the Governor of the State, and a good
many Governors are Democrats. To IL
lustrate by an example which we all
hope will not be real, if either of the
two Republican Senators from Connecti-
cut should die during 1881, his successor
will be chosen by Democratic Governor.
Similarly. If the one Republican Senator
from Ohio or the one from Maryland,
or the one from each of some other
States should die. his successor would
be chosen by a Democratic Governor.
Consequently, as respects the Senate, the
net result Of changes due to death is
likely to be adverse to the Republicans.
To look at the coming political year
from another point of view: The Con-
gress now in session (Which Is the old
CongresS) will function until March 4
next and then will cease to exist There
after for nine quiet months, we shall
have no Congress whatever in Washing
ton. That is, we shall have no Congress
unless there should be a special session
of the new one, and it is now almost
certain there will be no special session
Then, on December next year. the new
Congress will come into existence, the
Congress in which both Houses of which
the parties are so evenly divided
Because of that fact the politics of
the new Congress will be dramatic It
will be important for another reason:
December Of next year, when the new
Congress meets, will be the eve of those
maneuvers of politicians whereby one
man is chosen to be the presidential
candidate Of the Republican party and
another of the Democratic party.
And that brings us back where we
started, for the outcome of the presiden-
tial situation in 1882, as respects both
the nominations and the election. will
denpOd very LARGELY InOn the STATE of
business during the year just ahead of us.