Evening star., 1938-01-13
Why Pass Lynch Bill?
Way Might Be Opened for Those Who d.
Authoritarian Government.
n Government.

cials for whatever some Federal OH
cial might deem to be lack Of all
due diligence" "All due diligence" Il
an elastic and therefore dangerous
phrase.
Government Form Threatened.
To deal with this rarest Of crimes
. bill Is introduced In Congress which,
in the belief Of Senator Borah and
other competent Judges, would de-
stroy the last vestige Of State rights"
and by doing that would change our
form Of government. To deal with
this rarest Of crimes, more than .
week Of the time Of the Senate Is
consumed. and program Of impor-
tant public legislation Is held up. It
Is said that 1t is the opponents Of
the measure who are causing delay.
II they are consciously practicing delay
they are justified by the importance
Of the issue. But is 1t the opponents
Of the bill who are causing the delay?
Is not the delay rather to be charged
to those who insist on keeping the
measure before the Senator It is
these who should answer why. Why
must this bill be kept before the Sen
ate? Why must it be passed now?
The number who really press the bill
Is not large. Many who will vote for
the bill when the roll call comes
would in their hearts prefer that the
bill be dropped.
The objections to the measure 60 to
the heart Of two matters which now
are Of the highest importance. First.
the bill. II passed and sustained by the
Supreme Court, would open . gate
through which the Federal Govern
ment could take over-I quote . COM
petent constitutional student-prac-
tically any function Of the State it
chooses. The bill would thus make
the way broad and clear for those
who wish to bring about In America
centralized. authoritarian govern
ment.
Rule by Pressure Groups.
Second, passage Of the bill would
give enormous momentum to what
Is recognized Is one Of the most
serious Of our political evils. Passage
Of the bill would be another example
Of government by small pressure
groups" The number of voters to
whom this bill is supposed to appeal
Is probably less than . million. the
Negro voters in Northern cities. sena-
tor Byrnes Of South Carolina made
. statement which no advocate OF
the measure challenged: "One Negro
Walter White, secretary of the
Association for the Advancement Of the
Colored People-has ordered this bill
to pass If Walter White, who
from day to day sits in the gallery,
should consent to have this bill laid
aside, its advocates would desert It
H quickly as football players un-
scramble when the whistle Of the
referee Is head. . For years =
White has worked for this bill. Now
that he has secured the balance Of
the voting power in 30 many States,
he can order its passage"
ID Is not . happy condition when
such . statement as that can be
made-whether the man in the gal.
lery be Of one race or another, whether
the number Of voters he represents
be million or two million or any other
small fraction Of the total electorate.
For the next step. and the likely
step. would be that . man IN the
gallery might demand and get
measure that would take us farther
toward that authoritarian type Of
government recently developed in
Europe, which it Is Americas greatest
present concern to avoid.
(Copyright, 1881