The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-07-29
False Priests In The Temple

Roosevelt in his extraordinary effort to
render the judicial branch of the Gov
eminent subservient to his will, ulti-
mately may rebound to his benefit.
1t may turn out better for him person
ally, as undoubtedly it is better for
the nation, that he lost instead of won.
1t depends upon himself.
-, .... ~-~%
of course, if he is going to harbor
grudges against the men who stood
against him, as he harbOred his grudge
against the Supreme Court after it's
MIRA decision, and as he has harbored
grudges against the various Demo-
Gratis, in the Senate and out, who have
differed with him as to policies and
had the courage to say SO, then there
isn't any salvage for him in, the stu
alton: Then he will be entitled neither
to sympathy nor support. On the other
hand, there are ways by which both
he and the country can profit in the
three years remaining of his term.
***
For one thing, clearly it would be
a good thing for Mr.. Roosevelt if his
defeat shook his belief in his omnipo-
tence; destroyed his idea that he is
infallibly right; inculcated in him a
little humility; ended once and for all
the notion that this can be made a
one-man government in which the
checks and balances provided in the
Constitution are tossed aside or ig-
nored. For another thing, it would be
good for the President and the country
if he would divest himself of the idea
that to differ with him is unpatriotic,
involving a black heart and a be-
nighted brain. 1t would be splendid
thing, too, if he could now bring him
self to recognize that there are a
good many decent and disinterested
men in his own party who have moth
ing against him personally but believe
the direction in which he has been
taking the nation dangerous and the
policies he has adopted unsound-and
that perhaps they are right.
$50
But best of all for Mr.. Roosevelt
and for the country-would it be if
the collapse of his legislative program,
of which the key was his court-pack-
ing bill, should so shake his confidence
in his second grade intellectuals and
third-rate welfare workers by whom
he is surrounded, and whose advice
he has been taking, that he would drop
the whole lot of them out of the White
House window. In other words, get
rid of the new Brain Trust, which is
considerably worse, from whatever
angle it is viewed, than the old one.
Right from the start, Mr.. Roosevelt
has had about him as his most in
innate and influential advisers little
group of academic and inexperienced
but exceedingly opinionated young
men who had never been elected to
any office and whose names were
hardly known at all. Nor are they
now.
Some of them were young profess
sors; some young lawyers, and some
just social workers. Since the first
term they have changed somewhat in
personnel; but they are still there, and
the present set is considerably more
radical and inexperienced than the
first. The best evidence of this is the
character of the bills which they have
had the President sponsor this year
and the strategy of the court fight
which they evolved. Most of them
hold relatively unimportant official
positions but receive substantial sal
aries, and they really have been run
ming the Government of the United
States through the President. 1t is they
who have gotten him into the present
mess and who are directly to- blame
for the incredible confusion, ,incompe-
tency and waste with which the whole
Administration is saturated. and fol
the eollectivist experiments that have
been launched with Presidential back
ing.
They have great power without any
responsibility and they have. beer
having a very wonderful time. They
go into the side doors of the White
House and move around the halls Of
Congress, advising and speaking with
an air of authority. No one would pay
any attention to them but for theil
known closeness to the President
They are "smart" young men. but thai
does not mean able or sound or ex
perienced-it merely means. "smart.'
There is quite a difference. They put
strong words and weak arguments int
the minds and on the tongues Of Con
gressmen who are politically minded
but little inept at thinking. They dis
cuss governmental and social the
Ories-vague and therefore attractive
because real thinkers cannot catch VI
with them. They are strong on the
cries, weak on practical experience
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