The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-02-17

EGVkSW lS 1AOO bkkS OtlAy kSSOxt the Supreme Court.
 Tn handing down these al is also setting a new high of dlssents some of them ex- tremely hitter-among the nine justices.
 Tn no other term ln the history of the court have its members split so often and with such sharpness. Of the nineteen trl- portant rulings rendered up to February 10, the last decision day, the record is As followuns;
 Eight - c Co .
 Five -S tOA
 Ono --S to2
 One - 6 t0l
 Four - Unanimous
 The four unanimous opinions were: (lD rejection of Huey Longs discriminatory tax against certain Louisiana newspapers; CeD invalidating that section of the Home owners Loan Corporation act permitting the federalizing of building and loan associations over the protests of state authori- ties; (S) upholding the Maryland law taxing REC stock in state banks: co sustaining the Oregon statute fixing standard contain CTS for raspberrieS and straw. berries.
 How They Lined Up
 In the fifteen cases on which there were dissents the three llb- eral justices--Stone, Cardoso and Brandeis-werc on the winning side only five times, Justice Me- Reynolds was the lone dissenter in the 8 to 1 case, involving rights to certain Los Angeles tidal water lands.s
 Chief Justice Hughes and Jus- tice Roberts, the So-called "bal. ance of power" on tho court, sid- ed with the four conservative members eight and eleven times respectively. Each also hos hand- ed down one dissenting opinion this term,
 For Chief Justice Hughes the courts pronounced dis. harmony this term has been severe trial. Throughout his six years as chief justice he has exerted great efforts to act as . conclliator among hls col. leagues and to avoid dissenting opinions,
 In past sessions of the court he succeeded to remarkable de- gree. But this term the number of issues presented, their ini- portance and the depth of feeling of tho viewpoints involved were too much for him.
 Joke Theft
 Local federal housing admins. tration speakers, long on oratory but short on humor, have been placed In Q quandary. It happcn- ed this way:
 Acc speaker of the agency is Arthur Walsh, assistant admin istrator. His talks are enlivened with sparkling witticisms and amusing anecdotes.
 But in an address to an audi- ence of business mon in Q south- ern city, which he had never visited before, none of Walsh's sallies went over. Stories that had evoked hearty laughter elsewhere got only Q faint ripple of tittters.
 Walsh was much puzzled. After tho meeting he asked Q friend what was wrong.
 Nothing" was the reply, "only we heard all those jokes Q week or 70 ago from one of your local ofilclals."
 When he returned to his office in Washington, Walsh learned that his speeches had been mimeographed and distributed to FILA officials as models of good sales talks.
 1T appreciate thc compll- ment," said Walsh, but let them dig up their own johes"- and forthwith issued an order putting . halt t0 the distribu- ton of his speeches.
 No Prophet
 Prophet Herbert Hoover is not without honor, save in his own country.
 The morning after Hoover's slashing attack on the admins. tration's spending policies, . let- ter was received ct the White House from the city authorities of Palo Alto, Calf, the home town of the former president.
 The city fathers complained bitterly about an order, issued by Secretary Ickes, reducing Q PWA grant for . municipal power plant from S2iS,000 to Sl64,000. They petitioned the president to direct Ickes to re- store Che SS4,000 cut.
 NOTE: Ickes Slashed the allo- cation as an economy move when he learned that the city authori- ties had quietly reduced tho sum they had pledged to put up as their share of the project. Patronage Grabber
 The youngest member of the senate's liberal bloc, West Vir. ginias Rush Dew Holt, is caus- ing some private head-shaking among his crusading colleagues. OPP THE RECORD