Evening star., 1934-11-25
CONSERVATIVES in SENATE
COTT,D HALT LEFT SWING
Roosevelt, However, Has Congress Dis
posed to Follow His Lead Blindly,
Observer Points Out.

will veto them-in that event the
Senate will not enact them. 1t takes
two-thirds to enact imitation or the
bonus or any other measure over the
Presidents veto. and there will hardly
be two-thirds to override President
Roosevelt on any measure whatever.
Recapitulati0n.
To sum up: Some 70 out OF So Sem
atorS are conservative on matters in
volving radical departure in form of
Government or of social organization
AS to radical fiscal measures, probably
half or slightly more of the Senate
would be radical if, when the Senate
Is in session, business recovery is still
postponed and the temptation to rad
ical fiscal measures therefore exists.
But under hardly any conditions would
there be the two-thirds majority that
would be necessary to overcome a
veto by the President. AS to every
thing the Senate may do, every sort
Of measure, fiscal or social, this gen.
eralization can be made, the Senate
is likely to follow the President. If
the President leans toward the con-
servative or middle-ground course. the
Senate will follow him, and be happy
to follow him. If the President should
take the radical course, the Senate
would still follow him, though less
happily, with greater violence to the
Senators individual consciences.
Since the Senate. and Congress as a
whole, is likely to follow the President
whatever way he leads. the question
becomes. Which direction will the
President take? As to that, one seeks
refuge in the familiar phrase of battle
ment-it remains to be seen. II the
President should continue on his pres
ent course, we can know where he
will be going when Congress is in
session.
Now in Middle.
For the past three or four weeks
Mr.. Roosevelt has been taking a
middle-ground course He has pretty
clearly been disturbed by the con-
sequences of rather extremely cleft"
course he followed for the first l6
months of his administration. Dur
ing that early period he went on
the principle, vigorously proclaimed
by Prof. Tugwell and others who
then were close to him as advisers.
that reform must come first and
business recovery could wait. More
lately he was told by his moderate
advisers, and now he seems to realize,
that the postponement of business
recovery, the giving of right of way
to an enormous program of reforms,
contained risk that too long a post
ponement of business recovery might
bring wreck to his reforms. to busi-
ness and to everything else. In the
very recent past the Presidents course
has been one which seemed to say.
in effect. what if put in words, would
be something like this: I'VE will en-
courage business recovery; for the
present We will give business re-
covery right Of way: We will not
abandon our reforms; sooner or later
We will enact them all: but during
the near future we will try to get
business recovery under way and
thereafter we will adopt our pro-
gram Of reforms as rapidly as a
growing and smoothly working busi-
ness structure can absorb them"
II this is fair summary of the
Presidents present position. and If
he maintains it. he will have a COM
Portable time with Congress, and the
country should have sufficiently
comfortable time with both President
and Congress
If, in the alternative, the PreSi-
dent should go back to the rather
extreme "leftward" course he fol-
lowed during the last Congress: if
he should again press on Congress a
large program of reform, regardless
OF business recovery-in that event
also perhaps Congress would follow
him, but would do so less willingly.
Senate Different.
Yet this is not certain. The DEM
ocrats in the lower house probably
would follow the President any,
where-because all come up for re-
election in two years. and it would
take brave Democratic Representa-
tive who. looking back to the re-
markable demonstration Of Mr.. Roose-
velt's prestige this month, and then
looking forward two years to his own
| effort to get another nomination
from the Democratic party locally
1t would be rare if such Democrat
would take q chance OH becoming
known to his district as a fortnight
opponent of the President.
But as respects the Senate the story
is lightly different. We may see
shortly the virtue of giving Senators
terms of six years each. In the SEN
ate are 50 Democrats; l9 of them
come up for denomination and re-
election two years from now. These,
ike Democrats in the Lower House,
would think long before going forth
rightly counter to the President,
knowing they must run for reelection
with him two years from now.
But so Of the Democratic Senators
have terms which do not expire until
four years and six years from now.
These so would be less under the
psychological compulsion of this
months election. more ready to take
chance that in four years or six
years things might change.
CONSERVATIVE Ma 1Orlty.
OF the so Democratic Senators
whose terms do not expire for four or
six years fully 40 are conservatives.
These 40. added to Is conservative
Republicans, would make a majority
of the Senate. It is not certain,
therefore, that the Senate would sure
ly follow the President in any radical
course whatever. Many of the Demo-
cratic Senators were restless in the
recent Congress. They voted for the
New Deal measures, but die so on the
understanding that the measures were
emergency and temporary. In short,
there is, among the Democratic Sen
ators. a majority of the party who are
thoroughly conservative and who
might balk if the Presidents leader
ship in the coming Congress should
be as left-ward as it was in the past.
Anyhow the present probability is
that the President himself in the
coming Congress will furnish lead
ership much less left-ward than in
the recent one.
(Copyright. 1894. New York Tribune)