Evening star., 1937-03-21

on the earnestneSS of the
opposition in the Senate. 1t will de-
pend on whether the Senators oppos-
ing are really deeply moved. 1t will de-
pend on whether there emerges in the
Senate group of men willing to de-
vote all their time and energy and re-
sourcefulneSs to resisting the proposal.
1t does not need to be majority of
the Senate. AS few as 20 Senators
would be enough to compose the solid
core of opposition. They would have
to be, of course. men with the right
kind of personalities. Ultimately the
answer will depend on public opinion
but the right kind Of men can create
the public opinions.
Many persons, long familiar with
Washington, looking forward to the
coming fight on the Presidents court
proposal, think they find an analogy
to President Woodrow Wilson's fight
for the League of Nations They carry
the analogy to the point of predict
ing the same conclusion-they predict
that as Wilson lost his League of Ma
tions, so will Mr. Roosevelt lose his
court proposal. 1t is an interesting
speculation.
Were Called die Hards."
The determined minority who de-
feated Wilson'S League of Nations
were an exceptional group of per-
sonalities. We called them the 'ir-
reconcllableS," the "die-hards the
'IaSt-dltcherS, the battalion of
DEATH" and other terms signifving
implacable determination coupled with
force of personality. OF the group
only two remain in the Senate TODAY.
Mr.. BOrah and Senator Hiram john
son of California. One other of the
group still lives, but is not in the
Senate, former Democratic Senator
jim" Reed of Missouri.
Senators Borah and johnson are
today as opposed to the Presidents
court proposal as in 1920 they were
opposed to the League of Nations
Their determination is as great
They are, of course IT years older. But
added years are not always as great
a detriment to personal force as Mr..
Roosevelt has lately tried to make lis
think. witness Senator Garter Glass
OF Virginia, aged 79-WhO in this court
fight will be one of the rocks of the
opposition. There are others Younger.
Looking over the Senate. and observ-
ing particularly the personalities and
abilities of those who oppose the court
proposal, one feels that there are ma
terlally more than the 18 to 20 who
would be needed if the court proposal
is TO be defeated the way a similarly
small group was able to defeat the
League of Nations. The material for
an anti-court proposal battalion of
death" exists 1t exists in larger num-
bers than was the case in 1920.
Opponents in Senate.
In the Senate the strongest factor
on the side of the opponents of the
court proposal is the fact that liter
ally-it is really safe to say this
literally no Senator in his heart
wants the Presidents proposal Ger
tainly no Senator wants it in the
precise form in which the President
wrote the bill and sent it to Con-
greSs. 1t is doubtful if there is one
man in the Senate who would have
written that bill as Mr. Roosevelt
Cor some of his associates) wrote it.
Those who support the measure. in
its literal form, do So practically to
a man, as matter Of party discipline.
Many who will vote for the measure
will do so as kind of second choice.
While they favor doing something
in the same general direction. many
Democratic Senators would like to
see the objective achieved by q con-
stitutional amendment. Among these
some want one kind of amendment
some another. A number of other
Senators favor approaching the OBJ
jective by a different kind of legls-
lation; for example, by requiring that
only a two-thirdS vote of the court
can find statute unconstitutional.
Quite a number of Senators have told
the President they would not be so
seriously opposed to giving him power
to add two members to the Supreme
Court rather than six.
These points of view will come for
ward in the debates as proposed
amendments to the Presidents meas
ure Altogether it is said that as
many as 80 or 40 amendments to the
measure will be proposed.
Between the Roosevelt fight for
his court proposal, and the Wilson
one for the League of Nations, there
are some reSemblances-but also some
differences.
Status of League Proposal.
The League of Nations at the be-
ginning was far more popular than
the court proposal at its beginning
The League of Nations idea did not
emerge upon America suddenly, as
the court proposal did. 1t had been
talked about since the beginning Of
the war and had been presented to
the people as thing which would
prevent future wars. Since preven-
about the most ardent desire of
Americans they strongly favored the
League of Nations without under
standing fully what it meant,
Churches-clergyme and church
members-regarded the League of
Nations as something almost in the
field of religion. To the people gen.
orally, during the war and immedi-
ateN after, the phrase League of
Nations" was a symbol. 1t symbol
lied mo more war" And in our
easy-going acceptance of slogans. our
child-like faith in symbols, every
body assumed the League of Nations
was good.
IF during the Summer of 1918 and