Evening star., 1937-09-24
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G.. GOULD LINCOLN.


other things, that many OF the farmers
want continued Government funds and
that many OF the politicians want con-
tinuance OF the w. P. A. and other relief
spending If they can get the money
their attitude is that other issues-if any
can rest. They do not see the court
issue. And while some Of them do not
believe that the issue will hurt Roose-
velt, neither do they think that the
President can whip that issue to point
where the people will become excited
and line up for him. So far, the reports
from the Presidents trip deal mostly
with what 100 per cent" Roosevelt men
have been saying. Whether the Presi-
dent will hear any others Is a question.
Generally speaking, there is a move
among many of the Presidents more
ardent supporters to disassociate the
President from the appointment of a
Ku Klux Klanner to the Supreme Court
as far as possible. Their attitude Is that
the President cannot be held to blame,
| for he did not know that Justice Black
had any connection with the hooded
| organization. 1t is very much in line
with the attitude Of Roosevelt supporters
| in the past when the administration has
| put its foot in 1t or has advanced legis-
lation which Democrats do not like The
effort is to hold the President personally
| aloof from policies and methods he may
| have espoused, If they prove unpopular.
The comment OF Attorney General
| Cummings on the Black case, when ne
said that he would have considered it
an "impertinence" for the Department
of Justice to look into the private life"
of Justice Black before Black was ap-
pointed to the Supreme Court, is novel
at any rate. Blacks connection with the
Klan has been kept as private as pos
sible, to be sure. At the time he was
first elected to the Senate, however.
there was nothing very private about
that connection. The Klan was in poll
tics in big way in Alabama. In the
light of the fact that the Attorney Cen
eral has been in Democratic politics for
a good many years and was chairman
of the Democratic National Committee at
a time when the Klan was very active,
1t is strange that he should have had
no information regarding Mr. Black and
the Klan.
The more this Black matter is in
conspiracy of silence made it possible
for the President to obtain early con-
flrmation of his newly appointed mem
Der OF the Supreme Court. The silence
still continues, so far as the two prin-
cipals-the President and Justice Black
Are concerned. There is a great hope
among the Presidents supporters that
the whole thing will blow over; that
time will cnftar, 70 no
dents prestige and his popularity. The
signs indicate, however, that the issue is
likely to grow in magnitude rather than
diminish. Certainly the Black appoint
ment will lessen the Presidents appeal
when he attacks the Supreme Court
and demands that he be given the power
to appoint additional justices.
The President. speaking from his train
as he was on his way across Iowa and
the great corn belt, told the farmers of
the Nation that he was anxious to stabil-
ize farm prices and gave the impression
he would do everything he could to ac-
complish this end. He said it could be
done without bankrupting the country,
he believed. The President said he was
more interested in "objectives" than in
methods" and that he believed most of
the people were agreed that his OBJ
jectives were good, even though some of
them quarrelled with his methods This
has familiar sound, too. There is
growing number of Democrats, however,
who are beginning to fear that some of
his methods, if persisted in, will bring
the country to ruin. particularly the con-
slant spending of far more money by
the Federal Government than the Gov
ernment receives in revenue.
~ -
There is another group of Democrats
who look askance on the plans of Secre-
tary Wallace and the President with re-
gard to crop control. Many Of them live
in the Southern States which have de-
voted much OF their acreage to the grow
ing of cotton. They have seen the ex-
ports of American cotton fall lower and
lower; they have seen the production Of
cotton in foreign countries rise higher
and higher as the cotton crop here has
been curtailed. What they fear is that
eventually there will be no export of
American cotton; that all the cotton
produced in the Southern States will be
all that can be consumed in the United
States. They fear that cotton goods will
be imported more and more from Japan
and other foreign nations, and that even
the American market for American
grown cotton will become greatly re-
duced.
1t is not nice picture for the cotton
growers and cotton workers in this coun-
try to contemplate. When the crop
control plans of the administration were
first put into effect, with the old A. A. A.
in full swing and the farmers being paid
for reducing their crops, it was pre-
dicted that the effect would be to stimu-
late the growing of cotton and other
crops so curtailed in other nations. The
prediction has unfortunately-for Amer
ican producers-turned out to be entirely
correct The more American farmers
decrease their production, the more
foreign farmers will increase it. How
such methods" will finally leave the
American farmers and the American
people time alone will show definitely
X y \
The Republican National Committees
Executive Committee yesterday failed to
take action on the proposal laid before
them for national Republican conven-
ton to be held next Spring. The Execu-
tive Committee passed the matter along
to the full National Committee, which
is expected to meet in Chicago in No
vember. Much sentiment has developed
for such convention. There are hard
headed leaders among the Republicans,
however, who do not see what can be
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