The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-06-28

Line Conservative Leaders
 Upon Whom F. D. R. De-
 pended to Have His Chest
 nuts Rescued From the
 Flames.
 Washington, June 28.-A trump group of leaders has arisen in Con- gress and threatens to take over the show at times Wher the old line con- servattve democratic leadership, on which the administration previous ly has depended, can't manage to whip itself into excitement over con- troverSial phases of the Roosevelt program.
 These men are waging a vigor- Ous cOunter-revOlt against the ef- fort of the senatorial battalion of death" group and a strong southern contingent which hopes to stop the President in his tracks and prevent him from dictating the democratic nomination in 194O Or-anything else of importance in the meantime.
 Who won the last electiOn?" is a sort of unofficial slogan for this group.
 Senators Hugo Black of Alabama, Alben Barkley of Kentucky, Lew Schwellenbach of Washington, Sher- man Minton of Indiana and Bob LaFollette of Wisconsin are the more conspicuous leaders. Most of them are young men and perhaps the sharpest line of demarcation be- tween their group and the more conservative factions is the fact that their followers in general have been more recently elected to office.
 Regular Leaders Bewildered
 In the House the liberal group, which includes Progressives and Farmer-Laborites from Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as democrats, is led by Congressman Maury Nav erick of Texas. But the formal House leadership-Speaker Bank head, Majority Leader Sam Rayburn and Rules Chairman John O'Connor has been cooperating more with Roosevelt than the Senate leader ship, whose members are accused by Roosevelt partisans of everything from "sitdown tactics to actual re- volt.
 The regular leadership has been both bewildered and resentful over the rise of the trump leaders. In referring to the regular leadership it is wise .o include the chairmen of the chief House and Senate committees. Committee chair manships are passed out on basis of seniority, which means that most committee chairmen are con- servative southern members who have been in Congress many years.
 Some of these chairmen and other leaders have been particularly con- fused because men upon whom they have been accustomed to rely for financial support in campaigns have demanded that they stop fol- lowing White House orders.
 Led Amendment Fight
 It can hardly be said that Major ity Leader Joe Robinson of Arkan- sas, whose record of loyalty to Roosevelt is almost incredible, IS now in revolt against presidential policy. He plainly showed his con- cern over federal spending and the debt. But his relief bill amendment requiring localities to contribute 25 per cent to WPA project costs when able was harmony move. It was partly meant to save face for Sem ator Jimmy Byrnes of South Caro- lima, who had a 40 per cent amend ment, and who has been consistently in revolt on administration labor and relief policies-until lately with aid from Vice President Garner.
 But trump leaders were having no harmony that meant cOmprO- mise. Barkley in effect repudiated Robinson's leadership by leading WhdV hC CdAACu nu duAHAAAotA deAVh fight against the Robinson amend ment. Both Robinson and Byrnes were finally licked.
 Of 19 democrats who voted for the ByrneS amendment, IA have been conspicuous opponents of Roosevelt in the court fight and form a nu- cleus of the democratic opposition. They included Adams of Colorado, Bailey of North Carolina, Burke of Nebraska, Byrd and Glass of Vir- ginia, Clark of Missouri, Copeland of New York, Tydings of Maryland, Holt of West Virginia, McCarran of Nevada, Smith of South Carolina, George of Georgia and Van Nuys of Indiana.
 They Want to Go Home
 The regular leadership stands in position between that group and the trump leaders. U nable to har- monize them, it would rather play with neither group and would far kta !,