The daily independent., 1937-07-07
MAn MAah

tors; Prefer 10 Senu Dill Dam
To Committee For Demise BY
Silence; FDR Defending On
First Term Supporters In Fight
To A Finish; Potent Army En-
gineers AXed Proposed Public
Works Department.
Washington-All is Tar from
the scenes among the foes of the
Presidents court plan.
The cocky threat of Senators
Burke, Wheeler and Vanderberg
to stage a protracted filibuster
has stirred up hornets nest OF
controversy. Experienced parlla-
mentary leaders, such as Charley
McNary and Bill Borah, are Vlg-
orously opposed to such tactics
and have voiced their opposition
in no uncertain terms.
The veterans contend that a
filibuster is kid stuff" To begin
with, they point out, if filibust-
er is to be resorted to then the
smart thing to do is to keep the
enemy from knowing about 1t IN
advance by talking about it. Sec
ondly, a filibuster is conclusive
evidence of lack Of strength, Tor
these tactics are only used to pre-
vent a majority from ballotlng.
A filibuster, the veterans argue
will react against the opposition
and play into the Presidents
hands.
They favor a brief and vigorous
floor fight and then a motion to
recommit the issue to committee.
This maneuver, they believe,
would win support from num-
ber of Democrats who don't want
to vote against the President and
vet don't want to vote for d court
change. The motion would give
them a chance to claim they were
merely sending the issue back TO
committee for further conSidera-
ton.
Actually, of course, this would
be tantamount to killing the leg
iSlation. for it would never again
emerge from the committee dur
ing the lifetime Of this Congress.
Personal Element
There is also a personal ele-
ment in the difference of opinion
among the oppoSitionistS.
The veterans feel that the
clamorerS for a tilibuSter are in
terested primarily in grabbing the
limelight for themselves rather
than in defeating the legislation.
Vandenberg and Clark are known
presidential aSpirantS a II d
Burke loves to grandStand.
Furthermore, neither Vanden-
berg nor Clark is popular among
the rank -and-tile on either aisle
of the chamber. and their putting
on an act of mock herOicS won't
win the opposition any votes. In
fact. it will lose votes by antagon-
izing some of the fCnce-SitterS.
Vandcnberg$ participation III a
filibuster also will play into the
Administrations hand by en-
abling it to raise the party issue.
The Administration has been try
ing desperately to raise this cry
since the start Of the controversy
That it has so far been unable to
do so is due entirely to the willy
strategy laid down by McNary,
who insisted from the beginning
that the Republicans keep in the
background and let the diSsident
Democrats play the leadership
roles.
Finish Fight
The White House is prepared to
fight the f1libuStCr to a finish.
The President is convinced that if
the filibuStcrers are forced TO talk
continuously for a week, the pub
lie reaction against them will be
so severe that they will have to
abandon their tactics and lose
prestige and votes as a result.
The President is counting
strongly on the firSt-termers to
carry the brunt of the fighting in
such a struggle. 1t was these Sen
atorS who took the wind out of
the late Huey Long when he at
tempted to tie up the legislative
wheels by filibustering. They sat
the Kingfish down hard after the
party leaders had run for cover.
Easy Ordeal
Norman Thomas, head of the
Socialist Party, called on the
President to tell about his recent
trip through war-rent Spain. The
two men, who are old friends,
greeted one another warmly.
You are certainly looking well,
Norman Roosevelt said.
And you are too, Mr.. Presi-
dent replied Thomas; In fact,
remarkably SO after the ordeal
Jefferson Island) you went
through last Weekend"
On, it wasn't 30 bad. Norman"
Roosevelt laughed; Il didn't start
repeating my jokes until the third
day"
Potent Engineers
The Army has long had one of
the most powerful and successful
lobbies on Capitol Hill, and the
most effective branch of this lob
by has been the Engineer Corps.