Evening star., 1936-12-16

No man in or out of public office ever
returned from a vacation to tackle so
mountainous pile of urgent business as
confronts President Roosevelt. To cope
with 1t he will need all the additional
strength and energy he is reported to
have stored up during his trip into
southern climes. Completion of his sec
ond inaugural address, along with the
regulation report to Congress on the
state of the Union and the annual
budget message, are F. D. RS chief and
immediate concerns. He's supposed to
have found time during the homeward
voyage of the Indianapolis to frame the
fundamentals of these portentous state
papers. Licking things into shape, after
that preliminary chore is done. never
gives the President much trouble. Re-
construction of his official family is
probably causing Mr.. Roosevelt less
heart-searching than popular report has
hitherto alleged. The best guess now
is that the existing cabinet will be found
intact on January 20, when the New
Deal embarkS upon its second lease of
life, though shifts and changes in GER
tain cabinet portfolios may be in order
before 1887 is very old. The President
is proverbially loyal to his right hand
men. Barring imperative reasons of
their own for quitting his service. he's
not accustomed to drop aides who desire
to stay.
One of the real struggles scheduled to
rage around the presidential head before
many moons. though public indications
of 1t may not be discernible, relates to
the general trend of future New Deal
policy. The broad bone of contention
is whether it's to be full steam ahead
with social and economic reforms born
OF the depression emergency, or slow
ing up of tempo in the pursuit of the
more abundant life. 1t looks like
battle royal between Democratic stall
warts, who believe conditions call for
moderated liberalism, and starry-eyed
young New Dealers potent since 1888,
who would like to keep things moving
at the same dizzy pace. Mr.. Roosevelt,
of course, will be the supreme arbiter
between these diverse fountains of wis
dom. Bulwarked by his colossal re-elec-
tion vote, the President is in the happy
position of being able to detour in which,
ever direction he pleases, assured that
Congress and the country will support
almost any program he espouses.
n \ n
According to Labor, influential organ
Of the railroad brotherhoods, something
must be done about the Supreme Court"
1t asserts that the November election
"was an overwhelming mandate to Con-
gress to safeguard the New Deal from
slaughter" and adds: with popular
Endorsement of his policies back of him,
it must be expected that the President
will give early attention to the problem
of placing these policies on an assured
constitutional basis" The brotherhoods'
spokesman says that outstanding law
yers declare a constitutional amendment
Is not necessary, as they contend that
the fundamental law is suficiently
elastic to meet the situation" Labor
then quotes DR.. Edward s. Corwin, pro-
fessor Of Jurisprudence at Princeton, as
holding that the ideal solution would be
for the Supreme Court to announce that
hereafter it viii invalidate no acts OF
Congress except by unanimous vote.
y
1t seems now as If President Roosevelt
and Secretary Hull, after disposing OF
the inter-American issues considered at
Buenos Aires, might have to turn their
major attention in the international
realm to the troubled Far East. WASH
ington authorities fear the new crisis
in China is loaded with dynamite and
capable of causing the long-feared
Asiatic explosion, with attendant danger
of q new world war. Most of our Far
Eastern specialists are persuaded that
Japan's expansion a. China's expense
is inevitable and irresistible, and that,
With continued preoccppatton Of the