Evening star., 1937-10-04

Mr.. Justice Black may ascend the
Supreme Court bench today hugging to
his newly robed bosom the delusion,
as he put 1t in his alibi broadcast. that
my discussion Of the question is closed"
He's the most naive jurist that ever
donned the ermine If he imagines that
the case is closed" as far as the rest
of the country is concerned. In one
way or another the stubborn, unlaid
ghost is doomed to bestride the ma
tional scene and haunt the New Deal
for many politically sleepless night
to come. The Alabaman'S admission of
guilt and plea for mercy on pledge of
reform are no more capable of remov-
ing the question" from the public mind
than were "all the perfumes of Arabia"
of ''sweetening the little hand" of Lady
Macbeth. Only the first act of the
Black and Klan tragi-comedy is over.
The final curtain is yet to come How
or when finis will be written no man
can foresee. But to believe that the
Nation. in the words of a popular
song. is already prepared to chant:
Lets call the whole thing Off" re-
quires a degree of optimism which is at
least premature.
Some of Justice Blacks defenders
and apologists extenuate his action in
becoming a Kluxer in 1922 on the
ground that he had not yet reached
political maturity. That. of course, is
an absurd argument. The Birmingham
lawyer was SO, year over the age when
a citizen constitutionally becomes eligi-
BILE to the presidency of the United
Ctoto l,ol IF tLa
University of Alabama law school Is
years. a member of the bar Is years,
served two years as police judge, II
years previous, and two years as county
prosecutor seven years previous. He
had also been captain of Field Artil-
lery in 1917-18, so it can hardly be
claimed that he took the oath of
knight of the invisible empire guileleSsly
green in the ways of a wicked world.
Nor, now that he has 'fessed up, has
the Supreme Courts latest acquisition
or anybody else explained why he sat
mute, inglorious and secluded in the
Office of the secretary of Senate on
August II while, fewer than 20 feet
away, the chamber rang with categorical
references to his Klan affiliations.
X X
ClfcumSCanCldl reports are current
that the same sort of investigation
which led to the exposure of Justice
Blacks Klan membership is now under
way in connection with number of
United States Senators who figured
more or less prominently in the fight
over the Presidents Supreme Court bill
and in the confirmation of his first
nominee for the high bench.
His sins of commission and omis-
sion entirely apart, Justice Blacks
broadcast avowal of his racial and re-
ligious liberalism was a fortnight and
heartening performance. 1t not only
does him credit, but is probably the
most impressive blow struck in high
places for many a day on behalf of
tolerance. Blacks post-Klan conversion
to the bill of rights would be even
more convincing If the Congressional
RECORD did not contain the following
bit of introspection which he delivered
on the floor of the Senate February
10, $780, Il do not mean thnt, as an
invariable rule, a man is so bent
or has such trend that he cannot
change his method of thought, but I
do mean to say that as general rule
a man follows in the future the course
he has followed in the past. Show me
the kind of steps a man made in the
sand hve years ago. and Will show