Evening star., 1939-10-30

NC dSSuItu lOl uOIileStlC ISSUES!
Few people may have noticed that
In the roll call on the repeal of the
embargo there were 55 Democrats
and that the measure would have
passed even If all the Republican
votes had been cast against it. The
same will not be true in the House
of Representative this week, where
Republican votes alone can assure
passage. But the fact that the DEM
Ocratlc party was united sufficiently
to muster 55 votes with help from
Senators who hitherto have been
opposed to the administration is an
achievement which still is we'll
worth analyzing.
In the first place, the leadership
on this issue was uneXcelled. 1t was
not one-man affair. The Demo-
Gratis had men like Senator Byrnes
and Senator Connolly assisting
Leader Barkley and running
throughout the Democratic side was
an earnest sort of harmony which
placed the public welfare high above
any other consideration.
President Co-Operates.
In the next place, the attitude of
the President himself was one OF
alert cooperation. Every minute
that he was needed for assent to a
slight change here or shift in
strategy on a particular point he
was ready and willing There was
neither arbitrarinesS nor stubborn
ness-his heart was bent on getting
the ultimate result.
One cannot help wondering and
asking why this same attitude on
the part of all concerned is not pos
sible on domestic issues. Again and
again the President has had avail
able to his side and can still have
available the services of outstand-
ing members of the Senate, includ-
ing Vice President Garner himself.
Again and again these Democrats
of seasoned experience and shreWd
political judgment have known just
what had to be done to keep the
party together.
What then has impaired har-
mony? The general belief is that
a group OF young men zealously in
terested in reform and without
knowledge of practical politics and
the processes of legislative adjust
ment and compromise have kept
the President in constant mood OF
inf1eXibility, if not outright hostility.
picturing to him the conservative
members of his party as wicked
allies of the wicked" world of
finance and business or else stirring
the ire of a sometimes too sensitive
group of older Democrats on Capitol
Hill who are inclined to be annoyed
with reform for reforms sake.
The episode of the roll call last
week has its strange aspects. Few
things have been debated with more
feeling and more evidence of deep
conviction and with less relation
ship to party politics. 1t was not
a desire to keep the Democratic
party harmonious which brought
such big majority to the PreSi-
dent, for at no time was the party
itself considered or talked of. Run
ming throughout the debate waZ
rather an aWareness of how serious
for the Nation the whole issue was
and of how important it was to put
aside all the pettiness that some
times envelope legislation.
Barkley Does Effective Job.
The average bystander will ask
why this isn't the rule all the time,
why men who reach the United
States Senate cannot elevate the
discussion of all questions to the
same high plane and dispose of all
issues with only the thought of the
public welfare. Men in Congress
doubtless will always differ, but it
is significant that quite often they
are kept harmonious by a skillful
and a knowing leadership. Senator
Barkley did better job of holding
his party together on the embargo
issue than on anything since he
was elected by one vote to his pres
ent post. The uphill fight which
the administration has had to Sc
cure harmony, and then only to
secure it on foreign issue, might
never have happened if Senator
Pat Harrison had been elected
leader But that's water over the
dam now and Mr. Barkley has also
by a turn of fate had the expert
ence of leading a foe from his own
State, the new junior Senator,
Happy" Chandler, to the rostrum
and to vote in support of his
leadership.
But Mr.. Barkley's effective work
which was made possible by the
splendid help he had from his own
side of the aisle is not the most
important development. 1t is that
the President himself has accepted
team play as meaning general
all-around spirit of common counsel
for the good of a cause If he
wishes to complete his term with
record of legislative successes un-
paralleled in his whole career, if
he wishes to see the January session
revise effectively and without i'm
pairment of objectives some of the
clumsy legislation on the statute
books, including the Wagner Labor
Act, the wage and hour law and
some aspects of the social security
law, not to mention the lopsided
system of tax rates, he can by the
same sort of teamwork get an over
whelming majority of Democrats in
the Senate and bring about coali-
ton in the House of Republicans
and Democrats sufficient to put
through any major measure. What
stands in the way? Only the Presi-
dent can give answer.