Evening star., 1937-03-09
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. |
The contest over President Roosevelt's
bill to increase the membership Of the
Supreme Court has been conducted
generally through the air up to the
present. The Nation has listened to
many speeches delivered by the President
and his supporters in favor Of the court
bill and to as many speeches against 1t.
This has been merely a warming-up
gallop for the fight which Is to come in
the legislative halls. Tomorrow morning
the Senate Judiciary Committee, some
five weeks after the President sent the
measure to Congress, will open hearings
on the bill. During this five-week period
both sides have endeavored to line up
public opinion. At the outset there was
burst Of disapproval. 1t was apparent
that the administration must work hard
or the fight would be over before it had
begun, members of Congress who first
gave support to the Presidents plan-as
they do to all Of his recommendations
began to get fidgety, and some Of them
even slipped over to the other side.
On the eve Of the opening of the
hearings President Roosevelt himself
is going on the air again in Q "flreside"
chat to the people. It is expected that
this talk will supplement his Victory
Dinner address and will give the details
Of his plan for the court and also will
endeavor to make the people understand
that he does not seek to dominate the
court. His opponents charge that IL he
did not wish to control the court and its
opinions there would be no purpose in
his asking for power to increase the
size Of the court. And the President
himself has admitted that what he
wishes and what the country needs are
more liberal opinions of the Supreme
Court, 50 that such acts as the N. R. A.
and the A. A. A. may be upheld.
The fight starts in the Senate over
this proposed legislation. It is there that
the administration is expected to meet
its stoutest opposition. The claim of the
opposition leaders that AZ or 43 Senators
will speak and vote against the bill, made
two weeks ago, has been increased.
Some Of them are now saying that when
and II q vote comes on the Presidents
original proposal, a majority will be
found against 1t. What the opposition
believes, and fears in measure, is that
an adroit effort at compromise will be
made by the administration Senators
which will change the battle lines. They
are fairly confident that they can defeat
the Presidents plan If it is allowed to
remain in its original form. Meanwhile,
in the House the opposition is making
some gains, although it is not claimed
that the bill could be voted down in tnat
body. There are, however, many mem
bers of the House who hope they will
never have to vote on it, and who are
looking to the Senate to give them a
way out.
James Truslow Adams, winner of the
Pulitzer prize for the best history of the
United States, has taken up the cudgels
for the Supreme Court. In q radio ad-
dress Mr.. Adams insisted that the issue
was and should be entirely bipartisan;
that he would be making the same OBJ
servations had Landon, the Republican
presidential nominee last year, been in
the White House and had submitted
recommendations similar to those made
by President Roosevelt. With that
preface, the historian attacked the court
bill with skill. He said, among other
things:
our fundamental law but ourselves. But
what is that law? 1t is the Constitution,
and in any complex state there must be
somebody which is the umpire when the
problem arises as to what is constitu-
tional and what is not. Who will the
umpire be? II the President tries to
take away our freedom Of speech, II
Congress takes away our property un-
lawfully, II State Legislature, as in the
recent case Of Louisiana under the die
tatorship of Huey Long, takes away the
freedom Of the press, who Is to save us
except the courts? The Anglo-Saxon
race in the British Empire and the
United States has been the most success
full in the dif1cult art Of self government,
and everywhere 1t has given this power
Of Interpreting the Constitution to a
Supreme Court. Canada and Australia
each has Supreme Court which per-
forms the same function as ours. The
Judiciary Committee Of the Privy Council
In England acts as the same sort Of
Supreme Court for the empire, and has
only lately declared certain Canadian
acts unconstitutional. Our written
Constitution and our Supreme Court are
not peculiar to the United States. They
have been found essential in every
federal union. Such government needs
an umpire somewhere just as much as
base ball does. It is obvious that an
umpire must be impartial. What good
would an umpire in ball game be If he
were to be bought by one side or the
other, or physically threatened, or told
that If he did not give the desired de-
cision he would be chucked out in the
middle Of the game, or that two other
umpires would be put in to vote with
him who would give the decision as
ordered?"
Having won the political campaign Of
1886, some Of the Democratic key men
are stepping out into private business.
w. Forbes Morgan, treasurer of the
Democratic National Committee, has be-
come car Of the liquor traff1c, and now
Emil Hurja, who has been an assistant
chairman of the National Copmittee, Is
leaving to take position with finan-
cial house in New York. There have
been others who occupied lesser positions
in the organization to leave also. The
generalissimo, Chairman James A. Far
ley, stays on. Indeed, he not only con-
tinues to hold his job as national
chairman, but he also remains member
Of the Presidents cabinet. For three
years or more, predictions have been
made that Mr.. Farley was about to leave
the cabinet-or the job Of national chair
man. More recently, and since the last
election, it has been stated with much
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