Montana labor news., 1937-07-29
COPELAND PLAYS A
POLITICAL TRICK
By HENRY ION
Federated Press

tne ScurVleSt pOltlcal trlckS tried
here in some time was attempted by
Sen. Royal D. Copeland Cd, N. "
upon the occasion of the death of
majority leader Joseph T. Robinson
ID, Ark.
As the Senate recessed the night
before Copeland had the floor and
therefore was the first to speak as
the Senate convened, confronted
with the knowledge that Robinson
was dead. The galleries were
hushed, all the Senators were in their
seats wearing sober expressions and
the scene was painfully dramatic.
Copeland began by saying, "Mr.
President, we walk today in the val
ley of the shadow of DEATH" A few
sentences later he declared, 'I be-
came concerned what l saw through
my medical eyes" then later pulled
this one out of the bag, My fellow
senators, sometimes | am sorry that
| ever studied medicine.
NEARLY fifty years have elapsed
since 1 received that coveted diploma
but the embarrassment of medical
knowledge is that many times it dis
closes to the medical man in the
face and bearing of a friend the
warning his dissolution is near at
hand
''Mr, President, I say in all seri-
BUSINESS to my brethren that the men
ace is here in this chamber today"
Doc Copeland, be it remembered,
gets his reputation as a medical man
from the health advisory column he
runs in Hearst newspapers. Be it
further remembered that Doc Cope
land is in the Senate upon the suf-
ferance of Mr.. William Randolph
Hearst who compromised on the
medico when a deadlock between
himself and Alfred E. Smith de-
veloped,
What Copeland attempted to do
was to cash in on his reputation as
a doctor, acquired through a public
ity build-up in the Hearst press, in
order to scare the daylights out of
the aged senators in the chamber by
telling them that if they continued
the fight on the court bill they
would all soon be corpses. All in
the name of humanity and science,
the good doctor was doing this.
That Copeland did succeed in
soaring some of the Senators, con-
cerned about their health, cannot be
denied. No man likes to be told by
a person with medical degree, even
though it was gotten in the years
when sour milk was thought a good
remedy for a sore toe, that he is
going to die. Neither can it be de-
MED that it was lousy trick to play,
even in a game of politics.
y
President Roosevelt has announced
that the court bill must 90 through
at this session. Some inclination of
what will happen to those Senators
who do not play along was given
here by Gov. Townsend of Indiana
when he announced that the Demo-
cratic machine in his state will not
support Sen. Frederick Van Nuys
d., Ind.) in the 1888 election.
Townsend made his announcement
in the anteroom, within earshot of
the President if the doors were open,
of the White House. The way he
put it was, Il don't think we could
nominate Van Nuys if we wanted
to-" Van Nuys opposes the court
bill and he is a member of the SEN
ate judiciary committee that promul-
gated singing attack on the Presi-
dent and his court plan. The words
of Townsend carried meaning to
many another senator whose term
expires next year.
There is some talk here concerning
the Presidents decision not to 60 to |
Robinson's funeral in Little Rock, |
Ark. Some wags have even sug-
gested that it might be a mistake
similar to that allegedly made by
Leon Trotsky when he did not ap-
pear at the funeral of Lenin, Robin
sons similarity to Lenin being that
he, too, played role in the political |
fate of nation.
1t is suggested that among the SEN
ators gathered for the obsequies
around the bier of Joe there will be
discussion and that much of the dis
cussion will turn upon the court bill |
and its legislative future. Some are
not SO sure that the present battalion
of death was not formed when the
senators buried Nathan Bachman,
late of Tennessee.
Just before Bachman died it was
expected that he would break a great
silence and announce himself in op-
position to the court plan. Those
that attended his funeral sat up the
whole night and imbibed freely of
spurious stimulants. Who knows
what manner of ghoulish pact was
made over the bones of Nate Bach
man and who knows what ghoulish
pact may be made over the hardly
cool corpse of Joe Robinson?
WASHINGTON -(Epl = pafifiopc