Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-11
DEADLOCK
MAY Be LONG ONE
Members of Congress See
Possibility of Clash Be-
tween Two Houses.

With the Senate on record for the
reconsideration of the Power Commits
sion nominations and President Hoover
standing Arm again return Of the papers
to the Capitol. the prevailing belief
among members of Congress last night
was that the situation is in deadlock
and will remain so indefinitely
It Is still possible for the Senate 20
make several more moves In the matter
and 1t Is certain an attempt viii be
made to cut OF the salaries of the
three commissioners concerned, George
Otis Smith, Claude L. Draper and Col.
Marcel Garsaud. Senator Burton K.
Wheeler, Democrat, Montana, gave
notice Of this IN Senate debate yester-
day. But 1t is not anticipated the House
will permit this and there is O posi-
biltty of serious deadlock between the
two chambers over this issue.
support Hoover's Stand.
Senator Simeon D. Tess, Republican,
Ohio, chairman of the Republican
National Committee, commenting last
night of the Presidents statement Of
the case to the nation, said:
MY opinion is that the President
could not have taken any other course.
I realize, as every one else does, that the
Senate's action was political and moth
ing else. believe the country will I'M
derstand this, and that the reaction viii
be favorable 10 the President"
Representative John @. Tilson of Con-
necticut, Republican floor leader of the
House, however, expressed his views as
follows:
II am glad the President has come
back with good. strong statement. I
consider his position entirely right. 1t
was matter of executive responsibility
and he has exercised that responsibility.
The commission has started to function,
and unless 1t does something warrantinR
Impeachment, 1t should be allowed 70
continue. 1t should be evident that the
President has acted as a competent
executive should, and the people will
approve his course"
Representative James NJ. Beck, Re-
publican, Pennsylvania, recognized au-
thority on the Constitution. commented
as follows in discussing the Presidents
action and his statement:
i think that all students of the
Constitution will heartily indorse the
Presidents vigorous vindication OF the
executive power, which was In terms
vested In the President.
Cites Other Cases.
while the President could not make
the appointments In question without
the advice and consent of the Senate,
yet the Senate gave its consent and
1t was so certified to the President.
There the sole function of the Senate
ended, and the President was entitled
to commission the officers in question.
1T may be remembered that the
Supreme Court held some years ago, at
the time of the Mckinley tariff bill,
that it could not question the verify
Of the journal of Congress as to
whether a quorum was present when
the bill was passed. A similar analogy
can be found in case where q State
certified to the Secretary of State that
its Legislature had ratified an amend
ment. I think it was the eighteenth
amendment. Subsequently, the State
attempted TO reconsider the ratification
by referendum. It was held by the
Supreme Court that when the Legig-
lature had ratified the amendment, its
constitutional function had ended.
while the cases are not altogether
similar, yet they justify the conclusion
that, when the Senate acts upon a
nomination and certif1es the result to
the Executive, 1t cannot then take the
back track. Any other result would
lead to governmental chaos, for the
Senate might. If its present contention
be correct, adopt a new rule that
reconsideration Of a nomination might
be made at any time within the ses-
sion, and In that event the wheels
of government would stop because the
President would never know within the
session whether he could commission
his nominee.
Apart from the constitutional merits
of the case, the President Is slowly
strengthening himself in vigorously
combating the partisan and unpatriotic
attempts of q group of Senators 10
destroy HIM"
The deadlock between Senate and
President brings up to date an old
rivalry, 1t was said last night by Charles
Warren, Washington attorney and
author of an article on Historic Con-
troversies Between the President and
the Senate" Without venturing to
comment on the question of where JUS
tice lies in the present dispute, he de-
clared that 1t took rank with former
deadlocks in the clash of claims over
respective constitutional powers of the
two branches Of Government
There had been no exactly similar
dispute in the history of the contro-
verSies so that there was no precedent
for guidance, he said.
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