Evening star., 1937-03-07
BY CHARLES S. COLLIER,

apportioning the blame for
L the emergence of the Supreme
Court issue at this time.
But all schools of opinion seem to
maintain that somebody is very much
to blame. The typical citizen either
condemns the President for wilfully
forcing the issue, or else condemns
the Supreme Court justices for will
fully maintaining a reactionary course
in their recent decisions. Few are
willing to examine the situation care
fully enough to perceive that the clash
which has caught the attention of
the country was largely inevitable;
that modern social policies do not
readily harmonic with old and cher
ished legal traditions; and that the
logic of the judicial position often
leads judges into the political and
legislative field, however much they
may deny it.
The determination of the dividing
boundary line between the field OF
politics and the field of law must
always present an issue that can be
settled only by the force of reciprocal
pressures. Unless the judges, in an
ticipation of actual adverse pressure.
will adhere to comprehensive prin-
ciples of self-limitation, and will
voluntarily restrict their review OF
the activities of the political branches
of the Government, under the guild
ance of common and practical states
manship along with inherited legal
conceptions there will necessarily de-
velop a vigorous counter-movemen
on the part of the political branches
that may be characterized as an
attack on the courts. or as self-defense
against judicial attack, according to
the view one may prefer.
Politics Best Starting Point.
The contemporary crisis can be
best understood if we start from the
political standpoint. President Roose-
welt has advocated a great variety of
legislative measures which have eX-
tended close to the limits of Federal
legislative authority as historically
understood, or else have exhibited
features that may be called social
istic," that involve the curtailment OF
historically established property rights.
The President and his supporters
feel that the legislative policies in
question are very urgent. They find
it difficult to submit with complacency
to the destructive activity of the courts
in winnowing out legislation deemed
by the conservative and legally trained
mind to be violative of constitutional
s,,Ii inio oil
on the basic Roosevelt policies has
been so far-reaching that he has
finally felt impelled to attempt to
break down the judicial barriers.
To understand and appreciate Presi-
dent Roosevelts political position, it
Is necessary to recognize that the
measures which are Jumped together
under the popular designation, the
New Deal" have not been hatched up
out of over-active imaeinations, and
do not represent the arbitrary work.
ingS of few individual minds. They
are the outcome of fundamental social
and economic tendencies which have
been in operation all over the world,
and not merely in the United States.
These trends in public opinion were
in operation before President Roose-
welt took office They appear to be
permanent factors in the political
scene which any statesman must
recognize and deal with.
The Socializing Tendency.
The first of these fundamental
trends in public opinion is what may
be described as a general socializing
tendency, that is, strong trend to-
ward increased social solidarity. The
term "socializing" is preferable to
"socialistic" in this connection be-
cause the actual course of public opin-
ion in the United States on this sub
ject is determined by practical con-
siderations, and by experience. 1t IS
the reverse of "doctrinaire," and has
no historical aff1liation or spiritual
sympathy with the doctrinaire sys-
TENS of MARKHAM Socialism. 1t can
not be denied that the citizens of 1887
are vastly more inclined to rely upon
governmental aid and governmental
activities than were their ancestors OF
two generations, or even one genera
ton ago. 1t is noteworthy that the
New Deal has made an especially
strong appeal to young leople of both
sexes, and this indicates that the So
cializing trend is to be continued in
public opinion in the future. What
ever may be the faults of the modern
age, it is not, as compared with other
historical periods, deficient in philan-
thropy, nor in constructive effort for
the benefit of the less fortunate classes
of society. There is today a wide
spread belief that good social engineer
ing, guided by common sense, and
liberal and generous attitude on the
part of those who control the diStribu-
ton of wealth, would produce greatly
increased opportunities for all. Men
of today desire intensely the "abund-
ant life" and seek to attain it through
governmental aid and governmental
support, rather than relying exclu-
sively on individual effort. Those who
refuse to recognize the reach and
power of the socializing trend in con-
temporary thinking in the United
States, as well as in many other coun-
tries, are simply lacking in realism,
and reveal thereby that they prefer
fancies to facts.
Second Trend More Recent.
The second powerful trend is of
more recent origin, but yet bids fair to
be permanent part of the political
thought of the Nation. It is due to the
experience of the depression itself. It
is the widespread distrust of the old
money-making regime that has been
favored in our political and social pol
icy ever since the establishment of our
national independence. We have had
panics and depressions before. but
never before has public opinion teken
them so seriously, never before has it
resolved that if possible, depressions
shall be avoided in the future, cost
what it may. The main distinction
between present-day opinion, and that
of earlier generations on this point is
that people today have more faith in
tho ofF1cacv of effort and believe that