Evening star., 1939-05-15
Congress Chided for
Added Farm Subsidies
BIomes Popular Election Of
Senators for Decline
Of Craftsmanship
To the Editor Of The Star:

Of Craftsmanship
To the Editor Of The star:
With the national debt swollen beyond
all reason, the budget hopelessly out of
balance, taxation confiscatory IN its mag
nitude, banks and other financial insti-
tutions loaded with Government obliga-
tions to such an extent that compara-
lively small drop In their artificially
maintained price would throw most of
them into bankruptcy, and with millions
out of employment through the business
paralysis thus caused, another raid on
the Treasury is being planned to the ex-
tent of nearly s400 100000 in favor of the
farmers, and this is backed even by Sem
ators who heretofore have been firm ad-
vocates of economy.
Could there be more convincing
demonstration Of the utter helplessness
OF Congress as now constituted to with
stand the attacks of organized special
interests blind to every other considera-
ton than what they deem their own ad-
vantage, and is 1t not another proof add
ed to the many which have preceded it,
that a pure democracy such as this has
become since the amendment which
made the Senate elective, has in 1t the
seeds OF failure, which in time must
wreck the whole governmental fabric,
just as such other democracies have al
ways been wrecked in the past?
1t has been we'll said that we now have
no national legislature-no legislative
body in which the general good of the
country has first place. For the great
majority Of Senators and Congressman
alike local benefits at public expense,
and the desire for reelection, are para
mount and all else secondary.
1t is amazing how blind most people
seem to be to the gravity of the situa-
ton and the dire effects of this ill-con-
sidered change in the fundamental law.
BY 1t the whole character of the Gov
ernment was completely altered. 1t Is
no longer representative, as it was in
tended to be, of both the majority and
the minority; the least but wisest part of
the population has been stripped of
power
At the very threshold of our political
history in the New England Colonies,
while Cotton Mather held that democ-
racy was no fit government for church
or commonwealth, Gov. Winthrop, in a
letter to the Rev. Thomas Hooker, de-
Tended the restriction Of the suffrage
on the ground that "the best part is al
ways the least and of that best part the
wiser part is always the lesser" Mr..
Hooker replied to the effect that in his
judgment 1t was best for the content
ment Of the people that all should have
a voice In government
Before the amendment the Constitu-
ton conformed to both Of these princi-
Piles. The election of Congressman gave
all voice in government, while the ap-
pointive Senate gave representation to
the least or wiser part of the people
Since the amendment that part has been
virtually disfranchised, for how can 1t
be said to be represented when the most
ignorant vote is full Offset for the
most intelligent one?
Before the amendment this was not a
pure democracy, but a democracy held
IN check by a Senate composed of men
not directly responsible to the electorate
and free to act as seemed best without
undue regard to popular clamor.
Writing before the amendment, Lord
Brice in speaking of the Senate says: "It
has succeeded by effecting that chief
object Of the fathers of the Constitu-
tion-the creation of center of gravity
IN the Government-an authority able
to correct and check on the one hand
the democratic recklessness' of the
House, on the other the 'monarchical
ambition of the President 1T has sue
ceeded in making itself eminent and re-
spected. 1t has drawn the best talent of
the Nation, so far as the talent flows to
politics, into its body, has established
an intellectual supremacy, has furnished
a vantage ground from which men Of
ability can speak with authority to their
fellow citizens"
1t is needless to say these words no
longer apply. Formerly Senators could
be statesmen, now they must be poll
ticians and most of them are politicians
Of no very high order.
For nearly hundred years the Senate
acted as a sort of balance wheel, so to
speak, holding the Government steady
on its course; now, with that influence
withdrawn, the thing runs wild.
That matters have gone as we'll as they
have since the change is due solely to
the momentum acquired before that time,
but this influence is fading and we have
ever-increasing proof that something
is rotten in the state Of Denmark"-that
the cancer inherent in an uncontrolled
or pure democracy is performing its
deadly work. On the other hand a de-
mocracy is the only form of government
which can insure liberty to the indi-
vidual. How great then was the achieve
ment which made it practicable. The
American Constitution before this dis
astrous amendment provided for the
most perfect Government ever devised
by man, and because two or three un-
scrupulous persons bought entrance to
the Senate we destroyed the very fea-
ture upon which its stability depended.
1t seems to me that most of the evils
which have beset the country during