Evening star., 1938-07-12
The Political Mill
New Dealers Today Doefully Watch Van Nuys
Nomination, Hope for Oklahoma Victory.

In Oklahoma on Saturday, there
will be still more embarrassment for
the President. However, the defeat Of
Thomas would remove from the upper
house one Of the most sincere 1nfla-
tionists In Congress-and that might
give some members Of the adminis-
tration bit of satisfaction. On the
other hand, II Thomas Is . victor in
the three -cornered race today the
President will be given the credit Of
pulling him through. That will not
only help the Presidents prestige po-
ltically, but also will give hope to
the other candidates he has approved.
Chandler May Administer Pill.
The bitterest Of all pills for the
President and New Deal inner circle
would be the defeat Of Senator Bark
ley by Gov. Happy" Chandler in
the Democratic senatorial primary on
August 6. Nearly all observers who
have visited Kentucky give Senator
Barkley very much the edge in this
contest. Nevertheless Gov. Chandler
has not given up, and he Is making
the most Of the fact that the Presi-
dent in his Kentucky address said
few kind words about him as Gov
ernor.
The President might have spared
himself q great deal Of trouble and
vexation If he had never sent to
Congress his bill to increase the mem
bership of the Supreme Court. He
might even have gotten by with his
bill for the reorganization Of the
executive departments without much
trouble. But the court bill and all
its implications reused . great deal
Of suspicion about the plan to au-
thorize the President to revamp the
executive agencies as he saw 1it.
Members Of Congress and many peo-
pie generally figured that II the Chief
Executive would 60 to the extent Of
remaking the Supreme Court to get
the kind of decisions he wanted from
that high tribunal, he might 60 to
any lengths in the reorganization OF
the executive branch.
May Have Avoided Purge.
Had the President not sent the court
bill to Congress in February. 1887,
there would have been no Van Nuys
case There would have IN all proba-
bility been no demand for purge"
and the President would not have
felt called upon to promote q purge.
AS things have worked out. the
President has had the appointment
of two new members Of the Supreme
Court already and with the death Of
the late Associate Justice Cardozo, he
is to appoint a third new member.
That constitutes one-third Of the
entire membership Of the court. Two
members Of the Court retired"
after the Summers Voluntary Re-
tirement Act was put through
Associate Justices Van Devanter and
Sutherland. and the President put
in their places Associate Justices
Black and Reed.
Justice Cardozo was q New Yorker,
which leads to the opinion that the
President may reward Senator Wagner
of that State with appointment to
the highest bench. He has done
uluCIl lOG IIlc ftOOSSNclL lNCW OSAl.
He was formerly . judge in New
York and he is very highly regarded.
The President failed to reward the
late Senator Robinson Of Arkansas
with appointment to the Supreme
Court-as he might have done last
year. He may pass up Senator Wag-
ner now.
Early Announcement Forecast.
If Senator Wagner is to have the
appointment, the President may be
expected to make the announcement
on an early date. For Wagner is up
for denomination to the Senate this
year If he is not to be candidate
for the Senate. the Democrats must
have time to revise their slate. At
present Gov. Lehman has announced
his own candidacy for the Senate
seat made vacant by the death of
the late Senator Copeland. Wagner
has been expected to succeed himself.
Lehman denounced the Presidents
court bill in letter to Senator Wag-
ner last year-and since then the
49,