Evening star., 1937-06-07

President Roosevelt has taken to the
tall timbers OF metaphor, to cover what
smacks strongly of retreat in his
Supreme Court fight. He is now inter
ested only in the forest" of reform and
not in the trees" F. D. R. insists
that his judiciary ideas are those of the
country. contrasted to the opposition
views rampant in Washington, and sig
nails that he intends fighting it out on this
line II it takes all Summer The most
valiant White House press-conference
efforts to draw the President from the
metaphorical into the categorical were
complete flop. He specifically declined
to say whether two justiceship trees"
would constitute forest" Despite the
smiling evasiveness and studied ambigu-
ity Of Mr.. Roosevelts refusal to Indicate
what sort Of compromise court bill, If
any, would be acceptable to him, he
leaves the distinct impression that he
is, in fact, ready to take the best he
can get. Unless his Capitol scouts have
lamentably led him astray. the Presi-
dent must be aware that the cards are
hopeleSSly stacked against him. His
sunny confidence that a judiciary bill
will be enacted at the present session
can only mean that Senator Robinson
now has administration authority to be
thankful for half loaf If that's all
the bread to be had from the con-
gressional oven. Bakers Burke, Wheeler,
McCarran, etc. all say it won't yield
even that much.
Mr. Roosevelts insistence that Wash
ingtons rebellious court attitude is out
of tune with that of the Nation re-
fleets his favorite theory that the Capt.
tai generally lacks the perspective" of
the people at large, far from the Poto-
macs madding crowd. Now that the
President has brought up the question
Of omcial vacations by reproving the
Supreme Court for playing four months
hooky, it's worth recalling that he habit
ually justifies his own periodical long
absences from the White House by say
ing that they give him an invaluable
perspective" on public affairs-which
cannot possibly be had by any man who
stays on his job for too protracted a
period.
When the judiciary debate is shaking
the Capitol, somebody is certain to
challenge the administrationist conten-
ton that the country-or at least
preponderant majority-favors court
packing. That claim can hardly be
mathematically sustained, on the basis
Of the Stately State opposition re-
dected by roundly half the membership
of the Senate. Making full allowance
for the fact that population statistics,
like any others, can be twisted to prove
almost anything, it remains true of
nearly all the most populous States of
the Union, including New York, Penn
sylvania, Ohio, California, Texas, Massa-
chusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana,
Iowa, Missouri and Maryland, that
Senators representing those respective
Commonwealth are either q unit in
opposition to court enlargement or
divided on the subject. New England
is almost unanimously anti. Even in the
Democratic South, revolt is rampant, as
typifed by the attitude of Senators
from Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia and Texas. Through
out the Middle West, Northwest and
West about the same ratio Of hostility
prevails, based on the senatorial lineup.
Canada's province OF Quebec is in
the throes Of agitation like that now
raging in this country over the Connery-
Black labor standards bill. Premier
Duplessis Is sponsoring fair wages"
law providing generally for such govern
ment control Of working conditions as
1t is proposed to set up in the United
States. The Dominion Trades and Labor
Congress opposes the measure as aiming