Evening star., 1933-02-09
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.

Having ousted David s.. Barry. its
sergeant at arms, because of an article
he wrote, published in the New Outlook,
and having threatened to punish Mr..
Barry for libel, the Senate has still to
determine whether it will also under
take to punish Alfred e. Smith, editor
| Of the offending magazine, for libel.
The Senate Judiciary Committee today
is struggling with the matter of seeking
action for libel against Mr.. Barry and
others. Should the Senate undertake
to punish Mr.. Smith for hbel-whatever
| 1t may decide to do in regard to Mr..
Barry or any person other than Mr..
| Smith connected with the New Outlook
| it will at least be a surprise. And
| yet it seems difficult to understand how
| q suit for libel should run against q
| contributor to a magazine and not to
| the editor. On the other hand, it is
one thing to go cunning for its former
sergeant at arms and quite another for
the Senate to tackle Mr.. Alfred E.
Smith-four times Governor of New
York, the Democratic nominee for
President in 1928 and today one of the
most powerful political figures in the
country. His running mate in 1928,
Senator Robinson of Arkansas, is
Democratic leader of the Senate. 1t is
true that Mr.. Barry in his article "Over
the Hill to Demagoguery'' mentioned
Senator Robinson and the attacks which
the junior Senator from Louisiana, Huey
Long, made upon him. But even so 1t
would not be particularly palatable for
the Democrats in the Senate-Some of
them at all events-to sue Mr.. Smith
for libel.
Mr.. Barry was tried" by the Senate
and dismissed because he said that
contrary, perhaps, to the popular be-
lief, there are not many crooks in Con-
gress; that Is, out-and-out grafters or
those who are willing to be such. There
are not many Senators or Representa-
tives who sell their vote for money, and
it Is pretty well known who those few
are; but there are many demagogues
Of the kind that will vote for legisla-
tion solely because they think it will
help their political and social fortunes. %
Senator Logan Of Kentucky, Democrat,
who rose In the Senate to oppose the
ousttng Of Mr.. Barry, contended, as did
said there were not many crooks in
Congress, he was actually defending
the Congress against charges that many
Of its members were crooks Indeed,
Senator Logan in his remarks to the
Senate said:
II suppose from time to time in all
| legislative bodies. from the days of the
old Roman Senate down to the present,
that there have been occasionally men
who sold their votes. do not believe
| that there is any such man in this
body; do not believe there is any such
man in this Congress, and do not be-
leve that Mr.. Barry had any intention
| OF saying there were; but dare say
| that there are none of us, Mr.. Presi-
dent, who would be willing to say that
| there is no such man among the 531.
We may say that We do not know that
there is any such man, and that we do
not believe there Is any such man, but
II we consider the past and Judge the
present by the things that have hap
pened In the past, we would hesitate
before we would underwrite the state
ment that there are no such men,"
X X X X
Some of the Senators who defended
Mr.. Barry, among them Senator Glenn
OF Illinois, contended that what Mr..
Barry really was being ousted for lay
in his charge that there are deniagogues
In Congress. That, they insisted, was
where the shoe pinched. Mr.. Glenn
also charged that members of the Sen
ate, both on the floor and in the Senate
committee hearings do not hesitate to
make charges against citizens of the
United States of ubelous character
knowing We have thrown about us
the mantle OF immunity from prosecu-
tion." And Senator Couzens of Michi-
gan, who believes in calling spade
spade, reminded Mr.. Glenn that the
to charge each other with misconduct
even If we know 1t exists" The debate
In the Senate, indeed, took a decided
rap at the "holier than thou" attitude
OF some OF the members of Congress.
r X \
Mr.. Barry is not the only recent
crltlc OF oemagogues" in the Senate
representative Louis Ludlow of Indiana.
a Democrat, and, like Mr.. Barry, a
former newspaper man, without actually
using the title "demagogue," does take
crack at present day Senators on
the ground that they dip their hands
into the Federal Treasury to scatter
the money of the taxpayers far and
wide, thereby impoverishing the Gov
ernment and the taxpayers, in order
to meet the demands of special groups
or voters on which he may have relied
for election. Mr. Ludlow does not at
tempt a defense of the old system bv
which Senators were elected by State
Legislatures, but he certainly points
out some Of the ills of the system
OF popular elections of the Senators
The Senate, of course, Is not in a
position to oust Mr.. Ludlow from the
House. Only the House could do that.
and there seems not the slightest pos
slbl1ty that serious attempt could
or would be made to discipline the
Indiana Representative because of his
newly published book entitled, "Amer-
lea Go Bust
Is the Republican party to become
"wetter" or dryer? Is it to become
the defender Of national prohibition
yet? Decidedly there are still two lines
OF thought on the prohibition issue
among the so-called leaders of the G.
Q. p. The formation of the National
republican League, with Vice President
charles Curtis as its head, has Just
been announced. The Vice President.
49, AA1A1, AAoh AdilSdS, mas not been
weaned from a strong stand in favor
OF prohibition. Indeed, during the last
campaign he announced as much. The
prohibition question is one that has
cut strongly across the Republican
party. So far as the Democrats are
concerned, outside of the solid South. .
the huge majority of them have long
oeen committed to the anti-prohibition
cause. But in the ranks Of the q.
o. p. the struggle for supremacy be-
tween the drys and vets has been
severe. Until recently the drys have
mad the upper hand decisively. At the
republican national convention in Chi
cago the G. O. p. delegates amazed
the country-and themseives-bv writ
ing into the party platform a deciara-
ton which virtually called for the re-
peal OF the eighteenth amendment.
since 1t proposed to revise IL drastica lI.r