Evening star., 1937-03-22
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC VILLIAN UILE.

That recent explosion in Congress over
labor unrest blew the lid off the deep
seated miSglvingS aroused all over Wash
ington by the Sit-doWn strike movement
and its laWleSS Implications Although
speeches in both House and Senate were
marked by studied restraint, they did
not hide the feelings of members that
the new labor tactics contain the seeds
of grave and far-reaching consequences.
Unless troubled waters at Detroit and
elsewhere are speedily Gained voices
may be raised on Capitol Hill in favor
of Federal action to curb an increasingly
dangerous trend. Anti-administration
lists hold the New Deals partiality to
John l.. Lewis mainly responsible for
the state of affairs that has developed.
Bitter criticism and resentment are
aimed specifically at Secretary of Labor
Perkins for asserting that the illegality
of sit-doWn strikes has yet to be estab-
GShed. Congressional authorities by no
means consider labor exclusively to
blame for existing conditions. Sena-
p. tor Borah's charge that concentration
of wealth and monopolistic controls are
the underlying causes of both sit-down
strikes and rising prices finds wide
etIlU. L lle 1udllOdll JlllllhS GlltIe plenty
of Federal power to impose industrial
craftsmanship" on both management
and workers, if it isn't Forthcoming
voluntarily.
Unless the industrial skies have cleared
by the time he gets back from Warm
Springs, President Roosevelt is sure to
find the sit-doWn baby waiting for him
on the White House doorstep alongside
the judiciary founding left there when
he went away. Despite the profound
Importance of the Supreme Court con-
troVerSy, the bread-and- butter issues in
volVed in the economic conflict come
home to the average man and woman
far more acutely and Immediately. It's
difficult to convince the general run of
people that Americas fate is actually
at stake because President Roosevelt
wants six additional justices sympathetic
with the New Deal. On the other hand,
it's easy to make wage earnerS see that
jobs, pay envelopes and household
budgets are affected by turmoil in in
duStry. Proponents of the judiciary re-
form plan, of course, base their whole
case on the theory that hostile Su-
preme Court majority prevents the more
abundant life. But purely legalistic
pleas, such as law school deans and
others have been making before the
Senate Judiciary Committee, don't get
much of a rise out of the ordinary
citizen.
Just how long ago former Supreme
Court Justice John HeSsin Clarke ar
ranged to go on the air tonight, to dis
cuss the judiciary bill, has not been
disclosed. But it's thought possible
that supporters of the Presidents plan
conceived the idea of bringing the 30
yearold jurist to the microphone, fol-
lowing Justice McReynolds' fraternity
dinner dissertation on the ethics of
judicial sportsmanship. Clarke and
McReynolds were both appointed to the
high bench by President Wilson-Mc-
Reynolds in 1914 and Clarke in 1916.
They were colleagues until Clarkes
resignation in 1922, aged IS. Both are
bachelors. For Is years Judge Clarke
has been devoting himself to the cul-
tivation of public opinion favorable to
world peace, as president of the League
of Nations Non-Partisan Association of
the United States. Little birds whisper
that Chief Justice Hughes and his as