Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-23
By MARK SULLIVAN.

/ ~ NOE in so often. with increas-
ing frequency. some one-a late
example is Progressive Senator
| NJ Blaine. Of Wiscorstn-demands
that Congress be called into
special session. Usually the demand is
made in speech, or in formal news
| paper statement. Occasionally 1t is in
the form Of q letter addressed to Presi-
| dent Hoover, who alone has power TO
summon special session. In such
| cases the letter, as Otter SIS not, is
| printed in the newspaper before 1t
| reaches the White House-w'hich sug-
| gests that the motive of the writer may
| be something other than the actual
bringing about Of new session through
| persuasive and convincing statement
Of the good the session might do.
! That Is really the fundamental ques-
! ton: In the present state of the coun-
| try what good could be done by Con-
gress? At least, that is one form of
| the question. more pertinent form
| Is. what good would be done by Con-
gress? There Is a difference, a very
| great difference, between what Con-
gress ideally could do, and what the ex-
| isting Congress actually would be likely
to do. It Is in the latter form that
the question really lies. And because Is
| lies In that form the almost certain
answer is, there will be no special ses-
sion Of Congress-certainly not just
now.
One Week Desirable.
Tt Is Just possible that IL might be
desirable to call a special session a
week or so before the beginning Of the
| regular session. That Is, to cali spe-
cial session for, let us say, November
| so, which would be Just week ahead
Of the date for the regular sitting, De-
mceber Z.
The one justification, not very con-
vincing, for calling Congress a week
ahead OF the regular time, lies in the
relation Of Congress to the agreement
for debt postponement. Some INSTALL
ments on the debts to us fall due on
December l5 Congress meets regularly
only eight days before. A week and a
day is pretty brief for Congress to con-
firm the postponement.
But that justification for calling Con-
gress q week ahead of time does not
weigh much, for several reasons. If
Congress can't act upon postponement
in week, it can't act in two weeks.
The troubles about organization that
are certain to beset this Congress win
last more than two weeks. Moreover,
Congress can readily take an hour OF
from its quarreling- declare an hours
moratorium on politicS-for such q rou-
tine matter as confirming the debt post
ponement Congress has frequently
acted upon imperative routine matters
without waiting TO finish its fighting
about organization. And, finally, it
doesn't really matter much whether
not. Everybody knows that debt post
pnnement is substantially in effect. It
win not be case Of our debtors watt
ing with their tentative checks in their
hands until Congress acts.
1t viii be much better and more or
derby II Congress does act-although
the sad fact is that Congress in recent
less punctilious. more and more SLOW
emily about matters Of form.
Party Strength Uncertain.
The Congress that will meet in regu-
lar session on December will be OF
sort unlikely to cause any serious
person to wish it had met earlier. Much
more probably the common wish will
be concentrated not on its early Begin
ming, but on its early ending. This
condition Is inherent in the situation
and can hardly be avoided.
First Of all, nobody knows, either as
TO the Senate or as TO the House. or
as to both, whether the new Congress
will be Democratic or Republican. So
close are the two parties in both cham
bers that the balance swings backward
and forward across the line with every
death and every election to Ill va
caney.
But the commotion and chaos certain
to attend this session of Congress viii
begin long before the major fight for
control between the two parties The
program Of explosions can be roughly
listed:
The Republicans of the Senate will
hold q caucus (Only they don't call
1t caucus: It's a conference That
caucus will include fierce fighting Nor
mally the Republican Senators should
renominate the present President pro
tenn of the Senate-Senator George
Moses of New Hampshire. But several
near-progressives, have let 1t be known
that they won't support Moses; that il
Moses is nominated they will vote for
the Democratic nominee: and as things
stand, just about one Republican vote
for the Democratic nominee would pre-
sumably elect him.
This threat being heard by Senator
Moses, he belligerently retorts that If
he Is prevented in this way from being
President pro tenn, he viii take his re-
venge by voting against the Republican
slate for committee chairmanships. |
Senator Moses threat means that he
would deprive his progressive foes of
the desirable posts they hold through
being regular Republicans for the one |
day when the Senate is organized. He |
would deprive Senator Norris of the |
Craftsmanship Of the Judiciary Commit |
tee and Senator Borah of the chair |
on Foreign Relations, and so |
on. A necessary by-product of this |
row would be the complete |
upset OF the whole Republican apple |
cart. Organization Of the Senate would |
be turned over to the Democrats.
House to Have Caucus.
That is one potential practically GER
tain) row. For another, the Republic
cans Of the House will hold q caucus.
There will be two major candidates for /
Speaker, Tilson of Connecticut and /
Smell Of New York In addition. the
Republicans will have a
candidate, at least one. Out OF this
fight will arise the practical certainty |
and angered, will determine TO vote for
the Democratic candidate for Speaker. |
Just about one or two Of such disap-
pointed Republicans. or of Republican |
insurgents on broad grounds, win be
enough to throw the House into the
hands Of the Democrats.
The Democrats, especially In the
House, will have similar rows among
themselves They will not hght about
heir nominee for Speaker. AS to that,
Garner Of Texas is so clearly the obvi-
,us man that there won't be much OPP
position. But Democrats win fight
1ercely about committee chairmanships.
Those chairmanships 60 by seniority.
steadily In Congress, It follows that
practically all the seniors are from the
South. The North, by the seniority
rule viii hardly be entitled to more
han one out Of 20 or so important
;hairmanships