Evening star., 1937-11-21
CONGRESS HELD DISPOSED
TO MODIFY NEW DEAL
Roosevelt Moves Into Cycle Where Con.
servative Observers Are Heard Again.
Business Slump Is Newest Problem.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

BY MARK SULLIVAN.
A 8 ALWAYS, and as to any event
~ or condition, light can be had
~ by looking at events that led
4 4 up to 1t. This special session
Of Congress was called by Mr.. Roose-
welt on October IL. It was called for
purposes which he mentioned in his
call. Subsequent to October IL, how
ever, new conditions arose-or at least
emerged to the public consciousness
These new conditions made a change
in the atmosphere in which Congress
met last Monday
What mood Mr.. Roosevelt was in
at the time he called the special ses-
sion, what drive within himself urged
him to the action, Is q matter about
which 1t is not possible to be certain.
Quite likely, Mr. Roosevelt, like many
of us, does not himself fully UNDER
stand the motives that push him to-
ward given action.
Granting that Mr.. RooSevelt's mo-
tive can only be matter Of surmiSe,
a fair judgment by q close observer
might say the President was eager, so
to speak, to justify himself to himself
He had been defeated in his demand
for the most far-reaching measure
he had asked Congress to enact, the
measure which would have given him
opportunity to add six new justices
to the Supreme Court and would
otherwise have changed the nature of
the American judicial system high
and low. That Mr.. Roosevelt felt
this defeat as a rebuke hardly needs
proof; his resentment was obvious.
Black Misadventure.
Subsequent to that, Mr.. Roosevelt
had suffered another misadventure
To one vacancy on the Supreme Court
which arose after he had asked from
Congress the right to name six new
justices-to this one vacancy, Mr..
Roosevelt appointed Mr.. Hugo L. Black
OF Alabama. who was q member Of the
Senate. That this appointment was
an act OF derision and defiance di-
rected at the court and at the Senate
was and Is common judgment. AS
1t was put by Gen. Hugh s. johnson,
himself formerly No. man within
the Roosevelt administration, the
spirit in which the Black appointment
was made was one Of throwing a dead
cat at the Senate and at the court.
But while President Roosevelt was
enjoying whatever satisfaction he NAV
have got out Of making the Black
appointment, development arose
That was seriously to his disadvantage
1t turned out that Mr.. Black had been
member Of the Ku Klux Klan and
that apparently he still had a status of
honorary life membership in that Or
ganization. Accompanying this ex-
posure was realization that had the
Senate known this incident in Mr.
Blacks career many Senator'S who
voted to confirm his appointment
would not have done so. Along with
all this went the fact that Mr.. Blacks
membership in the Klan had not been
revealed: that there had been a de-
mand for q Senate Investigation
which. II 1t had been held, would have
brought out Mr.. Blacks membership
in the Klan. and that this investiga-
ton had been resisted by friends of
the administration in the Senate. AL
together the situation was one which
created at least some color for the
assertion. made in a frankly partisan
spirit. that there had been a wish or
intent not to reveal facts which. IL
known. might have prevented Mr..
Blacks confirmation, or certainly re-
duced the number Of senatorial votes
cast in favor of it.
What He Learned on Trip.
The situation as whole was awk-
ward for Mr.. Roosevelt. He announced
that he would take trip across the
country. On this trip he received
much applause and no doubt felt that
the country was still enthusiastically
loyal to him regardless of the Black
incident or anything else.
It was after his return from thu
Western trip. and presumably in ths
mood created by the applause he hae
received. that Mr.. Roosevelt an.
nounced the special session.
If there is anything in the theor.
here set forth, Mr.. Roosevelt's motiv,
in calling the extra session may hav,
been spirit of defiance of oppo.
nents Of the New Deal, q gesture O.
determination to go on. In one of tn,
speeches he had made on his Western
trip he had quoted some one as urgin,
him that he ought to "let up," tina
for the rest of his term he ought II
coast" Mr.. Roosevelt quoted thi
advice and said he had no notion O
following it. Decidedly, it was in {
| spirit of going on toward furthe
New Deal measures, to further ad
vance toward whatever is the Oh
jective Mr.. Roosevelt has in mind
that he called the special session.
Soon after he called it, however, al
awkward development arose. Their,
became apparent a recession In bust
ness which carried the production O
steel. for example, from a compare.
lively recent high Of 86 per cent dowr