Evening star., 1933-06-12
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.

ENOIOulIC SOkllCtCllCC tOQdy SOll-
gress still in Washington; still in q
those groups which may not approve
Of the course Of the proceedings or the
suggestions made at the international
conference. The fear has been ex-
pressed that If the Congress remained
| in session and its members did not
| like what was being said at London
they would rise on their hind legs in
House and Senate, and particularly In
the Senate, and roar. This kind of
thing, it was urged, could only have a
disastrous effect on negotiations with
foreign nations. International negotia-
tions are delicate affairs and it has been
urged it would take very little to throw
monkey wrenches into the machinery
Fiery speeches by American Senators
would bring just as fiery rejoinders from
foreign press and, perhaps, from foreign
officials. 1t remains now to be seen
how vinegar of congressional debate
will mix with the oil of diplomatic
negotiations.
Perhaps 1t may be possible to bring
| Congress to an end tonight, though
that looks doubtful The psychology
of the situation seems to be against
such an early wind-up, though a great
majority of the members would be glad
to get away without further delay. The
failure to come to an agreement on
controversial subjects Saturday, when
the great drive was on to adjourn
upset the kettle of fish. There was
practically no chance for an adjourn
| ment Saturday, even had the Presi-
dent not undertaken to send to Con-
! gress at the eleventh hour a proposed
| reorganization of the Government of
far-reaching effect. The law under
| which the President was authorized to
make this reorganization is the So
| called economy act. Under this act
the Presidents executive orders are
| to be submitted to the Congress while
| in session and are to become effective
| sixty calendar days thereafter, unless
an earlier effective date The only
! way the Congress can attack the ex-
ecutive orders is by passing a new
| law turning them down or taking away
| the power given the President in the
| economy act. Such a law would be
subject to a presidential veto. The
| practical effect is that the executive
| order sent to the Congress Saturday
night will become effective unless the
Congress can muster two-thirds vote
| to override a presidential veto-pro-
| vided majority could first be found
| to pass law turning down the Presi-
| dents executive order.
Under these circumstances. and with
the huge majority of Democrats in both
| houses OF Congress, most of whom are
entirely willing to follow the Presi-
| dents leadership, the new executive
order relating to the Government serv-
lIty Nf sv,nr
| effective as it is sure that night will
| follow day. The sending of the execu-
| tive order at the last minute to Con-
| gress gave chance for an attack upon
| the President by members of the Sen
ate already incensed over other mat
| ters. 1t probably would have been far
more diplomatic of the President had
! he sent the executive order to the House
and Senate two weeks or even a week
ago. The Congress then would have
been In a position to discuss the order
! at length had it wished to do So Prob
ably a majority of both houses even
today would approve of the provisions
of the executive order. The uprooting
of the old order always brings dissatis-
faction over details and heartburnings
x X y Il
President Roosevelt and the sup
porters of the veterans in Congress
fought 1t out to compromise on the
Connally amendment, a compromise
which the House accepted by a con-
siderable majority Saturday although
10 or 30 Democrats cut away from their
leadership and voted against the Presi-
dents substitute. The President did
not compromise on the principle that
disability compensation to veterans
must be service connected. But the
''presumptives" are given the benefit of
the doubt-if there remains a reason
able doubht after investigation-and
will be continued on the Government
rolls. As the members of the House
Democratic Steering Committee origi-
nally drafted the proposal to give the
'presumptives" such an advantage, it
practically would have assured the re-
tention OF all these presumptive cases
on the compensation rolls. The Presi-
dent called the representatives of the
committee to the White House Saturday
morning and compelled a rewriting of
the proposal. Now the supporters of
the veterans insist that the burden of
proof. under this new draft, will remain
on the veterans and not on the Govern
ment, as was originally planned in the
compromise. This has caused revolt
OF some Of the Democrats. Just what
the Senate is going TO do about the
matter remains to be seen. Undoubtedly
the compromise will lead to some
heated debate in the Upper House. al
though Senator Robinson, the Demo-
cratic leader, appears to be confident
he has the votes to agree in the end to
the compromise. The compromise has
still to pass through the conference
stage before it is finally acted upon.
X x
Senator Robinson of Arkansas, the
Democratic leader of the Senate, during
the debate in the Senate last Thursday,
took Senator Huey Long of Louisiana
citizens In his addresses on the floor
of the Senate, for declaring that he is
not afraid, and then for hiding behind
the immunity granted him under the
law for anything that may be said in
a session of the Senate. This practice
has not been confined to the Senator
from louisiana However, he has been
a fragrant offender AS it happened
last week he was particularly abusive
of Bernard M. Baruch, chairman of
the War Industries Board during the
World War and long a prominent
Democrat 1t was this attack that
brought Senator Robinson to his feet
The controversy between the two Sem
ators became acrimonious to say the
least. One of the remarks of Mr..
Robinson was to the effect that Mr.
Long will never see the day when he
can stand in a class with gentlemen
like B. NJ Baruch."
During the course of his reply to
Senator Robinson, Senator Long refer
red to his campaign for Mrs. Caraway's
nomination to the Senate in Arkansas
a year ago, and he suggested that when
it comes time for Mr.. Robinson again
to run for reelection to the Senate, he.
Long, would go into Arkansas again to
defeat Robinson That was little bit
too thick for Senator Robinson. who is
not of the quietest tempers in the world
The Arkansas Senator, speaking with
much feeling, said of Senator Long.
He has boasted that when running
time comes again he will be in Arkan- |