The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-05-04
BEHIND THE SCENES
 lM WASHINGTON A8V RODNEY DUTcHER-i Democrat Washington
 Correspondent
F. D. R. And Followers Face Fundamental Clash With Old Line Democrats.

pcIlOQ Ol BeLlcIdl COLll uSIOIl do IO the underlying political situation in Washington, and the future move mentS of government.
 No gift of prophecy is necessary, however, to enable one to outline the essential fundamentals of the present state of affairs, and to re- veal what the chief characters in the play are going to do-if they can do what they want to do.
 You may start with the prem
 ise that the one great political
 force in the country today is the
 President of the United States.
 That does not mean that the power and prestige of Roosevelt won't or can't be crippled by CO., alitions of his opponents now form ing or yet to form against him. It does mean that it will take quite a lot to beat the man in the White House and his program.
 There is now coming into the open a fundamental clash between Roosevelt and his liberal followers on one side, and conservative demo- crats - represented in Congres mostly by southernerS-on the oth- CT. Two great issues are at stake:
 l. The successful progress or
 drastic curtailment of the ROOse-
 welt reform program.
 2. Control of the Democratic
 party and it's presidential nom-
 ination in 1940.
 The issues are closely entWined and the big question here in most minds is whether the Democratic party is to be liberal, progressive, forward marching party sworn to social and economic reforms, or an old fashioned Democratic party, more nearly like the one which nominated John w. Davis, the Morgan lawyer, for president in 1924. Roosevelt is definitely con- mitted to making new party out of it.
 Everything Else Waits Virtually the entire legislative program has been pushed of into corner pending the Senate vote on the Supreme Court reorganiza- tion plan. This, it can be said, is due to Roosevelt's sense of strategy, his belief that if he loses the court fight he can no longer be effective as guide of legislation, and fear of taking on more than one big battle with Congress at the same time.
 If he wins the court fight you
 need not be surprised to see him
 push right on with demands for
 his reorganization program, wage
 and hour legislation; broader
 and heavier tax program with no curtailment of relief; crop control
 and other farm legislatiOn; hous-
 ing legislation and national plan ming projects more or less along
 the theme of TVP,
 Six months after his tremendous election victory, however, the Presi- dent finds Congress balkier than at any time in the last four years. Vice. President Garner is no longer willing to follow RooSevelt'S orders blindly, and various senators report that Graner is working behind the scenes against the court plan. Many senators who disagree with Roose- velt's reforms are no longer willing to pretend loyalty. They Think of 1940
 The court fight has become catalytic agent for a massing of the conservatives against Roosevelt, and the thought of 1940 has been well up in the minds of all concerned from the start. Some members were honestly shocked by the Presidents bold proposal. Others were angered by his sheer at old age, and still others seized the issue as an excuse for breaking with him.
 Some conservatives, who pre-
 viouSly stood in line and even now
 are willing to vote for the court
 plan, are fighting Roosevelt on
 the issues of labor and relief.
 Notable example is Senator Jimmy
 Byrnes of South Carolina, former
 White House confidante and liai-
 son man, who was willing to em-
 barraSs Roosevelt by his sit-dOwn
 strike amendment to the Guffey | coal bill, and who now seeks to cut the relief appropriation to
 billion dollars instead of the ST. 500,000,00O asked by the President.
 Garner is said to have supported
 Byrnes in these positions.
 Southern members opposed to union organization have been es- pecially vocal, although the con- servative group which includes Senators Byrnes, Connally of Texas, Bailey of North Carolina, George of Georgia, and Byrd of Virginia, also includes Copeland of New York, Burke of Nebraska, Walsh of Mas sachuSetts. King of Utah and Ty- dings of Maryland.
 And Roosevelt Goes Fishing
 Conspicuously loyal to the Presi- dent, however, is Senate Majority Leader Joe Robinson of Arkansas. Always deemed conservative and believed to be handling New Deal measures because of a stern sense of party duty and personal respon- sibility, Robinson has become of a liberal who really believes in much of the Presidents And there is nucleus of young southern progressives such as Senators Black of Alabama and Pepper of Florida and Congressman Maury Maverick of Texas, whose quick rise to prestige and influence has soured conservative Texans.
 The Texas group, anxious to exert its power and control the l940 nomination, includes Garner. Connally, House Majority Leader Sam Chairman Marvin Jones of the House Agriculture Commit tee, and Chairman Hatton Summers of the House Judiciary Committee. whose lukewarmness led the admin stration to launch the court plan v. %x.4 CatNofo Vakhars fhoa