The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-03-10

when O Judge reaches the age ok 70, a new and younger judge shall be added to the court autcmatical- Iy. Tn this way I propose to en- force Q sound public policy by law instead of leaving the corn- position of our federal courts, ii1- cluding the highest, to be deter mined by chance or the personal decicion of individuals.
 If such Q law as l propose is regarded as establishing Q new precedent--is 1t not Q most desir- able precedent2
 Like all lawyers, like ali Ameri. cans, regret the necessity of this controversy. But the wei. fare of the United States, and inc deed of the Constitution itself, is what we all must think about first. Our difficulty with the Court today rises not from the Court as an institution but from human beings within it. But we cannot yield our constitutional destiny to the personal Judgment of Q few men who, being fearful of. the future, would deny us the necessary means of dealing with the present.
 No Court Attack
 This plan of mine is no attack on the Court; 1t seeks to restore the Court to it's rightful and his- toric place in our system of Con- stitutlonal Government and to have 1t resume it's high task of building anew on the Constitution "a system of living law"
 I have thus explained to you the reasons that lie behind our efforts to secure results by legis- lation within the Constitution. hope that thereby the difficult process of constitutional amend ment may be rendered unneces- sary. But let us examine that pro- cess.
 There are many types of arnendmen; proposed. Each one is radically different from the other. There IS no substantial group within the Congress or outside 1t who are agreed on any single amendment.
 Months for Amendment
 It would take months or years to get substantial agreement upon the type and language of an amendment. It would take months and years thereafter to get a two- thirds majority in favor of that amendment in both Houses of the Congress.
 Then would come the long course of ratification by three- fourths of the states. No amend- ment which any powerful econ- omic interests or the leaders of any powerful political party have had reason to oppose has ever been ratified within anything like a reasonable time. And 13 states which contain only five per cent of the voting population can block ratification even though the 35 states with 05 per cent of the population are in favor of 1t.
 A very large percentage of newspaper publishers, Chambers of Commerce, Bar Associations, Manufacturers Associations, who are trying to give the impression that they really do want a con- stitutional amendment would be the first to exclaiin as soon as an amendment was proposed "oh! I was for an amendment all right, but this amendment that you have proposed is not the kind of an amendment that I was thinking about. I am, therefore, going to spend my time, my efforts and my money to block that amend. ment, although I would be awfully glad to help get some other kind of amendment ratified"
 Two Groups Oppose
 Two groups oppose my plan on the ground that they favor @ con- stitutional amendment. The first includues those who fundamental ly object to social and economic legislation along modern lines. This is the same group who dur ing the campaign last fall tried to block the mandate of the people.
 Now they are making a last stand. And the strategy of that last stand is to suggest the time consuming process of amendment in order to kill off by delay the legislation demanded by the man. date.
 To them I say-I do not think you will be able long to fool the American people as to your pur- poses.
 The other group is composed of those who honestly believe the amendment process is the best and who would be willing to support a reasonable amendment if they could agree on one.
 Amendment Unreliable
 To them say--we cannot rely on an amendment as the irnme. diate or only answer to our pres ent difficulties. When the time comes for action, you will find that many of those who pretend to support you will sabotage any constructive amendment which is proposed. Look at these strange bed-fellows of yours. When be- fore have you found them really