Evening star., 1938-01-02

preted the Constitution very much to
their liking. 1t has upheld the greedy
millionaire. It has also upheld the dis
possessed widow. It has ruled against
labor. 1t has also put exploiting capitalists
in cells. 1t has stepped down from its high
bench to save innocent, helpless men
from the executioner and from the mob.
A fundamental of American Govern
ment is threatened. If the Supreme Court
could be tampered with-what can es-
cape? The plan is defeated. The court
wins
When the struggle is at its height, Justice
Van Devanter. one Of the courts conserva-
tive group resigns. President Roosevelt
has the opportunity to appoint liberal
to his own liking. He names Senator
Hugo L. Black Of Alabama. Senator Black
has been an ardent New Dealer. He has
also, it is recalled, been an eminent
member Of the night-shirted Ku Klux
Klan, which few years ago was proposing
BY methods not exactly constitutional to
bring about the supremacy in America Of
white, Nordic Protestants.
Liberalism and the Ku Klux do not
exactly mix. How about the constitutional
rights of Catholics, Jews and Negroes?
Nonetheless. Mr.. Black takes the oath and
puts on his robe-the black robe of a
justice. He never really believed In the
principles Of the K. K. K. he says, in a
radio speech-scorning the press. Few
actually thought he did. His worst enemies
credited him with ordinary intelligence.
But a man must take some responsibility
for the company he keeps.
A+*
IT Is one Of those fateful years of the
comets. Astronomers glimpse nine of
these will-o -the-wlsp wanderers among
the stars. One becomes visible to the naked
eye near the handle of the Big Dipper in
August. Through the ages man has looked
upon them as cosmic demons, agents of
the malevolent aspects of the absolute
1882 was the worst comet year on record
l3 of them noted in observatory reports
and something was certainly wrong that
year. But there is an average of S every IL
months. good years and bad years.
As the cool summer draws to its close it
becomes evident that 1887 is an un-
healthy year with 4 fair-sized epidenmic
OF infantile paralysis. more influenza.
pneumonia. measles, scarlet fever, and
appendicitis than normal. The death rate
Is up few tenths of l per cent; small
enough on paper. but it means that nearly
half million more people die in the
United States than during fat, energetic,
healthy 1896.
Everywhere there are bumper crops.
Cotton, corn. wheat, potatoes are too
abundant. A year ago the great North
western wheat belt, thousands of square
miles. looking like a mosaic of burned
toast, seemed doomed. Roads were con-
gested with refugees of the drought. There
was talk of giving the land back to the
Indians and the bison. This summer the
fields are green.
The farmers get no checks from the
Agriculture Adjustment Administration,
abolished by the Supreme Court and work.
ing feverishly to close its accounts il WASH
ington. Nonetheless, the total farm in
come for the year is $8.500, 600, ,000-an in
crease Of close 10 billion and a half over
1896.
DR.. Rexford G. Tugwell idealistic COL
lege professor who served for four years
as the New Deals whipping boy, resigns
and shortly thereafter the Resettlement
Administration comes to an end. It was q
noble experiment" 1t left behind half
dozen model communities scattered over
the country about which there has been
a good deal of joking. They are expert
ments, the end results of which still are a
the jokers will look very ridiculous and
DR.. Tugwell will 60 down in history as
very great man. Then again, he may have
been following phantom light.
Ten years ago man flew from New
York to Paris and became overnight one
of Americas folk heroes. Others followed
the trail-some to brief episodes Of glory
with brass bands playing in the old home
towns and some to unknown graves under
the Atlantic. The summer of 1887 sees
the beginning Of routine airplane voyages
from the United States to Europe
Perhaps the most colorful figure to arise
in the wake Of Lindberg was q young
woman, Amelia Earhart. For . decade
she thrilled the world with one air exploit
after another. She is the first woman to
fly over the Atlantic She is the second
person to fly alone over the Atlantic. She
hies alone from Hawaii to California. She
seems to bear charmed life.
Amelia Earhart starts out on q flight
around the world. She cracks up in
Hawaii, but bravely starts again-the other
way around. Somewhere in the middle Of
the Pacific she and her navigator disap-
pear. For days there is frantic
search. Weak, mysterious radio signals
are heard, keeping hope alive. And then
thsre is unbroken silence over ~ vast