Evening star., 1937-05-14
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G.. GOULD LINCOLN.

kIlOW JuSt WIlAt Is 10 DC QOIle. Two OF
the most pressing problems which will be
put up to him are the judiciary reor-
ganization bill and the economy drive.
But the leaders also want to know some
thing about the legislative program and
when they may expect to pack up and
leave Washington. The desire to get
away Is growing more intense as weeks
roll by. It Is all up to the President,
however.
Since the President left here more
than two weeks ago, the opposition to his
plan to increase the Supreme Court by
has grown instead Of decreasing. Three
Democratic members of the Senate Ju-
dietary Committee, McCarran of Nevada,
Hatch OF New Mexico and O'Mahoney
Of Wyoming, have declared their purpose
to vote against such an increase. This
makes it's impossible for the bill to win
in committee In the Senate itself, the
bill is less strong than it was. Senator
Shipstead OF Minnesota, Farmer Labor,
has announced his intention to vote
against it, and it is believed that Sena-
tor Lundeen, his colleague, will go along
with him on this issue, although Lun-
deem has not yet committed himself one
way or the other. In addition, many of
those who are expected to vote for the
Presidents bill are hopeful that they will
not be forced to do so. The air is full Of
talk Of compromise.
The President has tremendous influ-
ence. He has given no sign of being
willing to compromise on the Supreme
Court plan. He has been confident-and
his political generalissimo, Postmaster
General Farley has backed this view
that he has votes enough in the Senate
to pass the bill as it was originally in
troduced, with only minor changes. The
opposition to the Supreme Court features
OF the bill is confident that the plan will
be defeated. Individual Senators insist
they are ready to fight all Summer, If
necessary, to kill the bill, either by votes
or by talking it to death.
Once before, the President went away
from Washington and returned to find
that there were signs of revolt His
comment on his return then was II am
tough guy" II he continues to insist
upon his plan for the Supreme Court,
a. long and bitter fight may be expected.
The reaction out in the country has not
been what the administration forces had
hoped. Two national organizations
both labor-the American Federation of
Labor and the Committee for Industrial
Organization-have gone on record in
favor of the bill, and the National Law
yers Guild, new organization of the
legal fraternity, has done the same. On
the other hand, none of the large farm
organizations. the Farmers Union, the
American Farm Bureau Federation and
the National Grange, has taken favor
able action. The grange is against it.
and the head of the Farmers Union has
been campaigning against the measure.
The American Bar Association, the
American Legion Executive Committee
and number of patriotic and womens
organizations have taken a position in
opposition to the Presidents plan. Other
national organizations have failed to
approve.
Democrats in the Senate and House
have come to believe that If the President
persists in his demand for the Supreme
Court plan, he will end by bringing ter
rible discord in the party ranks. Mr..
Farley, chairman of the Democratic Ma
tional Committee, has in speech after
speech made support Of the court bill
test of party loyalty. And yet, the op-
position in the Senate has continued to
grow.
Opponents of the court bill were en-
couraged by the results OF an election
in the eighteenth Pennsylvania congress
sional district last Tuesday. The court
issue was brought into the campaign,
with the Republican candidate, Richard
M. Simpson, attacking the BILL and his
Democratic opponent. Lowell Alexander.
supporting the President. The contest
was for the vacancy in the House caused
by the death of the late Representative
Ben Focht. Republican. The district is
normally Republican and the Repub-
lican was expected to win. He did, by
about 5000 votes. On percentage basis
the Republican vote jumped from SO in
last Novembers election to So and the
Democratic vote fell from Al per cent to
AZ. The vote cast was light, about IS
per cent less than in November, when
the presidential election was on. Rep
resentative Joseph w. Martin, jr., of
Massachusetts, chairman of the Repub-
lican Congressional Committee, in q
statement regarding the election. attrib-
uted the strong support given Simpson
to the opposition to the Presidents court
plan In that district. He said:
What this special election really
means as a barometer of the trend of
public sentiment against New Deal poll
cies as represented in the court proposal,
is apparent when it is considered the Re-
publican candidate carried the district by
majority of over $500 votes, despite the
| fact that the State Highway Department
| threw it's full weight into the fight
against Simpson, and other New Deal
spending agencies left no effort unspared
| to win.
Both Simpson and his opponent, L. H.
Alexander, were members of the State
Legislature, and in that body Simpson
voted against approval of the Presidents
court plan, and Alexander voted for 1t.
Both men were personally popular, so no
| personalities entered into the contest"
X X X
If the administration agrees to COM
promise on the court bill, there is strong
| feeling that it may pick the McCarran
amendment, which provides for two ad-
ditional justices of the Supreme Court.
| Chairman Ashurst insists that sufficient
votes to put through the McCarran pro-
posal can be counted without difficulty.
The dyed-in- -the-wool opponents of the
| Presidents bill, however, are by no
| means satisfied with the McCarran
amendment. They say that ''in prin-
ciple" the amendment is just as bad as
the Presidents plan, for it would be