Evening star., 1938-09-22


designate his own party affiliation
when he becomes a member of the
new Congress next January.
Committee chairmanships are de-
cided, Of course. by party caucus. In
the Senate George Norris of Nebraska
did not run either as a Republican
or Democrat in the party primaries
in 1886 and Notwithstanding the fact
that there were regular Democratic
and Republican nominees in the No
veniber election of that year, he ap-
peared on the ballot as an "inde-
pendent and won. He lists himself
as an independent Republican"
If Mr.. O'Connor wins as an inde-
pendent. he may insist that he was
entitled to the Democratic nomination
and believes himself still Democrat,
especially since his opponent in the
race, James Fay, now is scheduled
to run on two party designations
namely, the Democratic and the Amer
lean Labor party.
One seat, more or less. is not the
real concern of Mr.. Roosevelt, but
whether the all-important chairman
ship of the House Rules Committee
should be retained by MIR. O'Connor.
Should he be elected to Congress
as an independent. the Democrats
of the House would have to decide
whether they wanted to elect him
to the Craftsmanship of the COM
mittee. Doubtless Mr. Roosevelt would
oppose such step just as he has
-. 1f ~,
O'Connor in the party primaries.
May Begin Great Battle.
The controversy might we'll develop
into one of farreaching significance
and could conceivably be the be-
ginning of an independent Democratic
movement in the House such as has
been foreshadowed for some time. If,
of course, Mr. O'Connor is defeated
in the autumn election. the question
of a craftsmanship for Mr. OConnor
will not arise.
The general impression here, how
ever. is that since Mr.. OConnor Jared
so we'll in the Republican primaries,
and since he has so many friends on
the Democratic side, he can come back
to Congress, and if he does he may
become the leader of an independent
bloc, irrespective of the outcome of the
Craftsmanship issue itself.
From every standpoint, it would ap-
pear that Mr.. Roosevelt has simply
gone from the frying pan into the fire
on the purge" issue, and that the
victory won by his henchman, James
Fay, this week may prove to be of
doubtful value to the administration.
Certainly it keeps alive dissension
which otherwise might have been con-
siderably diminished by a harmony
front, such as Senator George of Geor
gia now is exhibiting. The various
Senators who have won denomination
on the Democratic ticket over the pro-
test of Mr. Roosevelt will, of course,
remember the effort on the President S
part to defeat them, but it has for
some time seemed unlikely that the
purge" issue would come up in the
Senate.
May Toss Issue Into House.
The one chance for the revival of
the issue came in the New York City
election and here. by reason of the
circumstances under which Mr.. O'Con-
nor entered both party primaries, the
whole purge" question doubtless will
come before the House next January.
something which will by no means be
an advantage to the administration,
especially as there will be a stable
increase in the Republican member
ship anyway.
Should Mr.. OConnor be elected but
decide not to seek the Craftsmanship
of the House Rules Committee, he
would still remain member of that
committee, but the Craftsmanship
would go to Representative SABBATH of
Illinois, who has been a 100 per cent
Rooseveltian. Whether Mr. SABBATH
could command as much support from
the Democrats on the Rules Commit
tee as did Mr.. OConnor is doubtful.
For undoubtedly the opposition to the
administration will have crystallized
far more in the next session than it has
in the past. Whichever way the situ-
alton is viewed. the purge" issue
means more friction inside the Dem
ocratic party.
Copyright. 1889