Evening star., 1937-08-23

HldSlel N1tllel al + Al icy III duNdllCe.
The Democratic National Committee
headquarters. however, has announced
that it had nothing to do with the
preparation of the speech itself
Yet it is significant that not one
word of disapproval has as yet come
from President Roosevelt or the White
House. The truth is there is a Strik-
ing similarity between certain parts
OF the Guffey speech and certain re-
marks MIR, Roosevelt made to the cor
respondents in press conference two
weeks ago. Mr.. Roosevelt referred
pointedly then to Senator Wheeler's
activity in the campaign of 1924 when
he ran for Vice President alongside
the late Senator La Toilette. The
President called attention to that
platform as calling for popular veto of
judicial decisions.
What the President failed to men
ton to the newspaper men was that
the proposal in 1924 sought to accom-
plish the reform by means of a consti-
tutional amendment to be adopted in
itself, Mr.. Wheeler at the very session
of Congress just closed, consistently
placed himself on record in favor of
the same principle he had sponsored
in 1924, but again he insisted that it
be done by constitutional amendment
Defeat Causes Ranking.
The defeat of the court packing"
bill, in relation to which Mr.. Roosevelt
frankly conceded on March 4 that he
, hoped to make the process of amend
Ing the Constitution in the usual way
unnecessary, has ranked in the breast
of the President and in the minds, too
of small group around him who want
to curry favor of various kinds with
him.
To understand the Guffey outburst,
It is necessary to observe that the
Pennsylvania clique is playing for
high stakes in American politics Gov
Earle. who is a political tool of SEN
ator Guffey, wants the 1910 nomina-
ton for the presidency. John L. Lewis
and Senator Guffey are allied closely
and the Guffey coal act is only one OF
the things the Pennsylvania Senator
has done for the C. !. o. leader. Incl
dentally, the Lewis attack on the
House leadership was delivered in the
same "a hours with the GufTey speech,
thus giving every evidence of a con-
certed bombardment.
The tactics of the keystone State
machine, bossed by Senator Guffev.
Is to carry on 100 per ce t warfare for
the President and place him under
such obligation to the Lewis-Guffey
combination as to oblige him to throw
his support to them in 1910 If he
doesn't run himself. II Mr.. Roose-
Welt does renominate himself for a
third term-which he can easily do
now that the two-thirds rule in DEM
ocratic national conventions has been
abrogated-the Pennsylvania gang will
be content with Gov Earle for the
vice presidency or some important
cabinet posts IN the next admins
tration. But the Guffey dynasty in
Pennsylvania would be perpetuated.
Some day the scandals in handling
votes in Pennsylvania will be opened
up to public view and the people of
the Keystone State will find out how
skillfully public funds have been used
to develop big registration lists there
and to coerce relief workers at the
polls.
In the meantime, the Guffey doctrine
Is to carry on Mr. Roosevelt's battles
Tor him through thick and thin be-
neVlng the Roosevelt backing
Will mean continuous victory in Penn
sylvania for the State tickets.
Attack on Court.
NO more vicious attack on the integ-
rlty OF the Supreme Court of the
United States has ever been made by
anybody than that contained in the
Guf1ey speech of last Friday. En-
tlrely apart from his attack on Sena-
tors Wheeler. Burke and OMahoney.
the address reads word for word as
II it had been written by the persons
in the inner group of young radicals
who surround the President and who
lnltlaled the personal smearing cam
palen against individual justices of
the Supreme Court for several months
before the court packing bill was
launched.
Inc Guf1ey speech undoubtedly
meets with the Presidents enthusiast
tic approval so far as the wording is
concerned. though he NAV for nolitl-
caily strategic reasons disavow knowl-
edge OF it. Mr.. Roosevelt does this
very easily anyway. Not long ago he
dlsavoWed knowledge of an import
speech on labor matters by Secretary
Roper, saying he had read it only in
the headlines when 1t appeared in the
press. Then few days later Mr.
Roper, who evidently had not noted
IN the newspapers what Mr.. Roosevelt
had said. revealed that the speech had
been approved at the White House in
advance of delivery.
Incidents like this are quite COM
mon under the present administration.
and the inconsistencies are calmly
ignored by the New Dealers because
the prevailing doctrine with them is
that the end justifies the means.
Mr.. Roosevelt shows. according to
those who have observed him closely.
deep-seated resentment against the
Senators who blocked his court plan.
He is said to be particularly bitter
against Senator O'Mahoney, who was
one OF the principal authors of the
nov famous Judiciary Committee re-
port. He is indignant, too, at Senator
Wheeler, who by his distinctly liberal
record gave the lie to those who
claimed that the opposition to the
court plan came only from tories"
and economic royalists." The fact
that Gov. Lehman of New York,
another great liberal. opposed the
court packing" plan is, OF course
further evidence on this point If It
were needed. but the President doesn't