Evening star., 1936-11-20
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

On the theory that 1900 900 Ameri-
cans can't be wrong, Chairman Hamilton
insists it's not only the right but the
duty of the G.. O. P. to remain q going
concern. New Dealers will tell you that
the Republican party is not only going"
but gone. No such disconSolate thought
finds lodgment in the battered but I'M
bowed head of John Hamilton, who holds
that the notion is completely disproved
by the Democrats own long experience
as minority group. The Kansan clearly
feels that the elephant can carry on in
the legitimate expectation Of sooner or
later coming into its own again, just
as the donkey emerged triumphant after
successive and protracted wanderings in
the wilderness. Gov. Landon's field mar
shall seems no less assured that American
politics for the indefinite future will
undergo no drastic realignment, and will
continue to be a bilateral affair between
the old line parties, though viewpoints
on both sides may require readjustment
to modern economic, social and legisla-
tive needs. Meager as it is, Hamilton
looks upon the minority in Congress as
the logical chief architect of party poll
cies. He is at any rate disposed to place
primary responsibility for formulating
them squarely upon decimated Repub-
lican shoulders on Capitol Hill.
AS to the Senate, expectation grows
that the burden of G. o. P. leadership
in any militant sense, will fall upon
Vandenberg Of Michigan. McNary of
Oregon remains official minority cap
tain. but he has not been belligerent in
battling the New Deal Austin of Ver-
mont is another Republican likely to be
in the forefront Of oppositional opera
tions henceforth. Those two youthful
senatorial rockies, Lodge of Massachu-
sets and Bridges Of New Hampshire,
may also be found contributing vigorous
support to such organized antagonism as
the Republicans find it possible or profit
able to offer. In the House, Representa-
tives Smell of New York and Treadway
of Massachusetts, remain to lead under
dog warfare. They will have valuable
aid from one old congressional hand,
Luce Of Massachusetts,, who returns to
the lower branch after absence from
the Seventy-fourth Congress. The. cul-
tured Bay Slater is seasoned veteran
in parliamentary strategy. Until the new
Congress is on the job and thinned Re-
publican ranks form for caucus pur-
poses-a press gallery wit observes that
the minority can now caucus in q tele-
phone booth--it will not be evident to
what extent Hamiltonian hopes Of con-
gressional leadership are destined to jell.
Because of the promptness with which
DR.. Rex Tugwell pranced into the post
election limelight following his tongue
tied campaign experiences, many observ-
ers believed that the debonair brain
truster's days Of power and glory were
far from numbered. President Roose-
velt's recent enthusiastic public tribute
to Tugwelltown, after personal inspection
of the Resettlement Administrators pet
housing project near Washington
seemed to indicate that Tugwell would
remain Rex. Opinion is now crystallized
that the high command came to the
more or less reluctant conclusion that
the young intellectual, because of the
radical reputation he acquired, had be-
come more Of q New Deal liability than
an asset and that his exit was due.
Tugwell's departure is undoubtedly
something Of a triumph for Secretary
Wallace, who periodically disagreed with
his chief lieutenant on agricultural
policy.
Col. Edwin A. Halsey, secretary of the
Senate, has just issued an informative
compilation entitled "veto Messages"
It is Q record Of bills vetoed and action
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