Evening star., 1935-07-08
PARTY RE|NS SLIP
FROM ROOSEVELT.
Highly Personal Control
Passes to Democrats
in Congress.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

alton contrasting to the extremely per-
sonal control heretofore exercised by
President Roosevelt.
What will develop from now on is
Influenced by too many factors to per-
nit confident generalization. The
Democrats in Congress will try very
hard to compromise with the Presi-
dent. They are certain to wish to pre-
serve him, in respect and prestige. rs
the de facto head Of the party. The
Democrats know that normally 1t 4
highly desirable for them to 60 into
the campaign next year with Mr..
Roosevelt as their candidate for Presi-
dent. Some Democrats feel that the
party should nominate q different
candidate, but this idea will not grow
unless Mr.. Roosevelt by his course
compels it to grow.
II Mr.. Roosevelt is willing to make
any reasonable arrangement. the DEM
ocrats in Congress will greatly prefer
to keep him In kind Of titular leader
ship of the party, with the Democratic
leaders in Congress acting in effect as
Q regency In actual control. II this
happens, 1t will be conformity
to the American political tradition and
to the condition contemplated by the
Constitution, in which the President
Is not superior to Congress.
Brain Trust" In jeopardy.
Whether Mr.. Roosevelt will accom-
modate himself to such q situation de-
pends on whether he can adopt the
Democratic leaders in Congress as his
intimate advisers. So far he has pre-
ferred to have around him men Of the
type called the brain trust" Whether
the brain trust" will have to 60 is the
most interesting speculation in the
present situation.
To get rid Of them is one of the OBJ
jects of the proposed congressional in
vestigation into the charge that one of
the brain trust" tried to intimidate
q Representative by threatening that
unless he voted for the death SEN
tence" in the public utility holding
company bill, expenditures on a public
works project in his State would stop
The probability that the brain
trust" must 60 does not by any means
rest on that incident alone. The dis
taste Of Congress for the intimate
advisers around the President rests
on many counts The Democratic
Congressman, plain men accustomed
to certain taken-for- granted stand
ards in their relations with other
men. have come to regard some Of the
intellectuals with the deep distrust
that men Of direct minds have for
men with oversubtle minds. Con-
gressmen think that some Of the in
tellectuals wrote hidden meanings
into statutes which Congress passed
because the measures came from the
administration. but which Congress-
men would have been reluctant to
support had they realized their full
meaning. Congress feels, as many
others do, that the intellectuals tried
to practice . similar evasiveness with
respect to the courts.
Advisers Must Go, Is Belief.
Only by getting rid Of the brain
trust" can Mr.. Roosevelt be preserved.
The substance Of what came to q
climax last week was distaste for
measures which the administration
had sent to Congress. Those meas
ures originated either with Mr.. Roose-
welt personally, or with the advisers
around him. Only by blaming the
measures on the advisers, and then
getting rid Of the advisers, can MIR.
Roosevelt be preserved in prestige.
There is one condition which will
trouble the Democratic leaders. They
did not make their revolt until after
the administration had sent to Con-
gress some measures which, in their
existing forms, are plainly unconsti-
tutional. Some Of these measures
have been passed. More are on the
list which the administration regards
as must" From the standpoint of
the intellectuals, it was q case of the
more unconstitutionality the better.
The Republicans and other opponents
believe 1t was undoubtedly the inten-
ton Of the intellectuals, and also of
Mr.. Roosevelt to have next year and
later a titanic controversy over the
Constitution and over the power of
the Supreme Court. The anticipation
was that the Supreme Court next year
would hand down decisions invalidat-
ing some Of the measures recently
passed. The further anticipation was
that such decisions would be unpop-
ular and would serve as q starting
point for . campaign against the
Constitution and against the power
Of the Supreme Court. But the
Democrats in Congress who have Just
revolted are not in sympathy with
that enterprise. If they keep the
ascendancy they have just gained,
and If they succeed in making a
working arrangement with the Presi-
dent, the latter will be obliged to
abandon the plan.