Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-22

not too much to say that to more than
half the Democratic Senators the prom
ise Of the seven national leaders of the
party meant nothing. So far as 1t
meant anything, it was something to
resent.
Leader Robinson undertook to Coop
crate. If it Is difficult now to recall
any detail of the work OF the session
that was carried on more expeditiously,
that is no qualification of the fact that
Leader Robinson undertook to live up to
the spirit of cooperation. If the sena-
torial confirmation of appointees was
about as long delayed and as acrimoni-
Gus as in sessions in which no co-opera-
ton was suggested, If the Senate was
just as dilatory about passing the indis-
pensable appropriations as Is its usual
habit, If the session as q whole did not
differ from normal ones-the reason lay
not in Senator RobinSon's leadership,
but in the condition which made his
leadership difficult. The same conditions
would have made Senator RobinSon's
leadership difficult in any session, re-
CARELESS of the promise Of cooperation
that happened to have been made in
this session. The same conditions would
have made the leadership of any other
man, Democrat or Republican, equally
difficult.
Lesson As to Leadership.
In short, the thing that stands out
as the conspicuous lesson of this session
Of Congress is the passing, as repects
the Senate, of the whole function of
leadership. It Is often expressed as
lack of leadership" 1t Is not that.
1t is lack of the possibility of leader
ship. Senator Robinson Is as strong
and able, Of as elevated character and
as experienced in the requisites of
official leadership as any Senate leader
that either party has had for many
years. The condition that besets the
Democrats with Senator Robinson as
leader, and that besets the Republicans
with Senator Watson as leader, is some
times expressed in q witticism so often
repeated as to be trite: THE trouble is
not lack Of leaders but lack of follow
erS." To express 1t plainly, the trouble
is that in the Senate as it is now COM
posed, and under the present method Of
electing Senator'S, hardly more than q
handful OF them, In either party, feels
or practices any obligation to accept
leadership, or live up to party respon-
sibility.
That this condition exists with the
Republicans has long been familiar.
What this session demonstrates is that
the condition exists in even greater
degree with the Democrats. If the
Democrats should have a majority and
control Of the next Senate, or of any
Senate In the near future, the re-
calcitrancy among them will be found
to be greater than among the Repub-
licans.
The proportion Of refusal to accept
leadership among the Republicans can
be roughly measured. The number Of
Republicans (nominal) In the Senate
is Sc. OF these roughly IS. typined by
La Toilette and Norris, for example, are
frankly avowed rebels against leader
ship and against party programs. About
another IS are but little less insurgent
typihed by Senator Couzens of Michi-
gan, they assert and exercise the privi-
lege Of conforming or not conforming
to the party program, of following or
not following the official leadership.
There remain but 26 Republicans who
can be looked upon as party men, de-
pendable to abide by party platforms,
to support party programs, to follow
ofhcial leadership. To say there are IS
Is rather too much. The number Is
perhaps closer to %. That Is, in the
majority party, supposed to be respon-
Sible for the conduct of the Govern
ment, there are only % Republicans out
Of rs. only % Senator's out Of % who
regard party responsibility as binding.
Few Willing to Accept.
If and when the Democrats come
into power the proportion Of them who
are willing to accept party leadership
will be even smaller This has been
demonstrated by what has happened in
the present session.
The Democratic insurgency against
Senator Robinsons leadership became
aggressive during the consideration Of
measures for the relief of drought in
sas. Up TO a certain point Senator
Robinson tried to cooperate in a pro-
gram OF relief emanating from the Re-
publican administration and the Re
publican majority In the House The
leading Democratic disSenter from this
program, and from Senator Robinson's
leadership, was his fellow Senator from
Arkansas, Mr.. Caraway.
The snarl in which these measures
for relief became involved led to a eli
max in which Senator Robinson called
caucus of his party. The caucus die
tated and Senator Robinson read to the
Senate formal ultimatum of six pro-
poSalS which he said must be accepted
by the Republican House and the Re-
publican President. If the latter should
fail to accept, the ultimatum said Sena-
tor Robinson and the Democrats would
not feel obliged to further the passage
are indispensable for the Governments
functioning. The ultimatum, the whole
incident amounted to Leader Robins
saying. as spokesman for the Dem =
Gratis, that unless the Republican Pre- :
dent and the Republican majority n
the House would accept the six proposal !
OF the Democrats, the latter would in
effect delay the passage Of the indis-
pensable appropriation bills and thereby
DrPcinitat9 CPArial ~ h.
Congress.
The reversal from the early attitude
OF cooperation was complete.
Mistake and Compromise.
Presently there was compromise. as
there was bound to be. Everybody hav-
Ing the faintest familiarity with parlia-
mentary politics knew that Senator Rob-
inson and the Democrats, in presenting
formal six-point ultimatum, had made
mistake, mistake so obvious that 1t
could only be accounted for by q state
OF anger which temporarily eclipsed
judgment about parliamentary strategy
So soon as the compromise was ef-
fected Senator Robinson, in defending
1t and carrying 1t out, was supported
by precisely those Democrats who prev
| tously had led the insurgency against
| his leadership. He was now, for the
moment, leader of precisely the group
! that had destroyed his leadership
At this point arose a new departure
from Robinson's leadership. So con-
| servative a Democrat as Glass of Vir-
/ ginia denounced the compromise As
he did so. newspaper dispatches said.
! Senator Robinson. "gazed steadily at
the floor his face was very red"
! Not unnaturally. Senator Robinson is
an exceptionally high-minded man.
| What he would have and could have
resented as a private individual, he had
! to endure as a party leader. What he
4 had let himself in for was an accident
of the only kind Of leadership that any