Evening star., 1937-07-16
BY JAY FRANKLIN.
irrepressible issue at Wash
ington Is not the reform of the
Supreme Court; it Is RESPONSE

DI JA1 FhANALlN.
TIME irrepressible issue at Wash
ington Is not the reform Of the
Supreme Court; it Is RESPONSE
bic party government.
1t may very well be that the found
ing fathers"-whose craven images
are so solemnly paraded by the anti
Roosevelt cabal-did not intend us
to have party government at all,
although we lived under a Republican
party government from 1861 to 1898,
and are still bound by Republican
policies so long as the courts remain
immune to political progress.
The principles OF party government
are very simple. They embody recog-
nized leadership, disciplined loyalty
and reliance on the. will of the voters.
They also involve commonly ac-
cepted set Of general principles upon
which the people can pass at our
regular elections. There is nothing
new or sinister or alien in all this; it
is the practice of political democracy.
1t is obviously impossible to have
party government when legislators
elected under a general mandate for
specific leadership and recognized OBJ
jectives feel free to pull their new
laid conscienceS like rabbits out of q
hat and announce that they will not
follow their party's chosen leader or
execute his policies.
Tears" Of McCarran.
That is not party government at all.
1t is personal government of a dan
gerously irresponsible sort, and not
all OF Senator McCarran's crocodile
tears, not all OF Senator Burke's legal
sophistry, not all Of Senator Wheeler's
camphor-reeking liberalism" can con-
ceal the fact that they are exalting
their personal opinions above the reg
istered decision of the voters to trust
Roosevelt" Independence of this kind
leads directly to government by
cliques, by cabal. by little groups OF
willful men. It leads to government
by any battalion Of death" whom
money can buy. ambition tempt or
mischief divert.
Can men who owe their office to
party be free to desert it on major
issues? The Republican Progressives
paralyzed much of the G. o. P. pro-
gram during the l920s. We might
have got rid OF Tory rule earlier than
1882 if it had not been for existence
of such rebellious Republicans as
George Norris and Bob La Toilette.
II they had been forced out Of public
life or into the Democratic party by
Republican discipline the voters
would have found it easier to decide
the issues Of the l920s.
will not support Mr.. Roosevelt or
his program are not going to be read
out of the party. They are auto
matically reading themselves out OF
the party. The final decision in
such matters rests with the nominat-
ing conventions and the primaries.
1t is enough for democracy that the
general electorate shall confirm or
reject the party's decisions by elsct-
ing or defeating their candidates.
importance OF court Bill.
This amended judiciary reform bill
is not worth all the hot air which
has been generated in the Senate
chamber. It's passage will nc auto
matically make Mr.. Roosevelt a Nero,
Caligula, Hitler or even a Stain.
Its rejection will not of itself stale
mate the reform OF American insti-
tutions. All that will be decided is
whether the politicians whom the
people elected to help Roosevelt do
his job are free to mutiny and try
to cut their leaders throat, or whether
the President is succeeding in Great
ing new majority party with enough
discipline and liberalism to proceed
under its own power.
That is why the Judiciary Com
mittee's report on the measure was
direct attack on the President, 4
challenge to his leadership and an
imputation Of motives which, II sus-
tanned, would justify his impeach-
ment and removal from Office Poll
ticians use words rather carelessly at
times. and it is quite likely that most
Of the nine Senators who signed the
vilifying report did not regard its
bitter language as more than a con-
ventional form of political argumen-
tation. Some of them may still feel