Evening star., 1937-04-25

supreme COurC prOpOSaI OF tne PreS1.
dent, although he expressed the hope
this would not happen.
The chairman insisted, however,
that even If the bill was reported
adversely, he believed that 1t would
pass the Senate. Committee action
would by no means be final, he
said.
mo man knows exactly what will
happen If the vote in the Senate
itself comes on the proposal to in
| crease the Supreme Court by six new
| Justices" Ashurst said.
The President could have two new
| justices-as proposed In the McCar-
| ran amendment-any time he is
| willing to take the bill In that form,"
the chairman continued. He added
that there had been no indication
| whatever that the President would
agree to such a compromise.
HE might veto the bill if it came
to him in that FORM" said Ashurst.
Many Of the Presidents advisers
ditional justices, however, if Con-
/ gress authorized them, 1t is believed.
1t was recalled last night that Presi-
dent Woodrow Wilson, if he had been
willing to accept the Lodge reserva-
tions, would had been successful in
bringing the United States into the
League of Nations. His failure to
accept the reservations defeated the
entire proposal.
Not Seeking to Speed Bill.
Chairman Ashurst is not seeking
to hurry the court bill in committee,
just as he did not try to hurry the
hearings on the measure. He is con-
fident that time is an ally of the
administration in this fight. Already,
he insisted, the sentiment in the
country has changed materially since
the bill was first sent to Congress by
the President. He admitted that the
public was adverse to the measure
then.
If a referendum vote was taken
now throughout the country, the bill
would carry in all but five or six
States" Ashurst said. He mentioned
Pennsylvania as one Of the States
that would favor it.
| Apparently the chairman believes
that if the sentiment in the country
becomes more and more favorable to
the Presidents Supreme Court pro-
gram, it will eventually affect the
votes of Senators now inclined to
oppose the program.
incidentally there are % Demo-
cratic Senators who come up for re-
election next year-among them some
| Of the Democrats who are now at
tacking the Presidents Supreme Court
bill, like Clark Of Missouri, George of
Georgia, Tydings of Maryland, and
among them some of the Democrats
like McCarran Of Nevada, now on the
fence. The administration forces are
warning these Senators that if they
oppose the President now, they will
have to take the consequences in the
Democratic primaries next year.
Opponents Of the bill insist that in
stead of gaining ground, the Presi-
dents court bill is losing out in the
country, despite all the efforts of the
administration to gain favor for it.
Four Meetings a Week.
Senator Ashurst plans to have only
four meetings Of his committee a
week, an hour and half each meet
ing, to consider the bill in executive
session. This week there will be only
three meetings, since there is to be
none tomorrow. Thereafter he will
ask the committee to meet Mondays,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,
he said. 1t may be May 20 or later
before the bill is reported to the
Senate.
/ The chairman said that he consid-
cred the hearings, which ran for six
and half weeks, had been very in
formative.
My WISH he said, was in addition
to getting information for the COM
mittee and the country, that every
witness who appeared before the COM
mittee should go away having higher
opinion Of himself after he left than
he had before" The committee, he
said, had been extremely courteous to
all witnesses and had not treated them
as though they were under suspicion
of wrong doing.
Opponents of the Presidents Su-
preme Court program last night were
counting A Senators as definitely
committed against and 80 for the bill,
with the remainder, l2. uncommitted.
What will happen if and when the
administration brings pressure to bear
upon the uncommitted Senators is a
matter of speculation. Privately one
Senator who is not supporting the
court bill admitted yesterday he saw
little real chance of defeating the
President. The appointment of a
Senator to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of Senator Bachman Of