Evening star., 1939-03-18

tlOES OrO q. r. c.,s r;
While the Presi- '" ''"'o
dent has indicated the need of neu-
trality revision, he has not yet been
specific.
Amending the Neutrality Act
especially to give the President
greater authority and possibly des-
ignate, at least by inference, an
aggressor nation in a foreign war,
is not going to be an easy task
Administration leaders fully recog-
niZe that fact. If they had not,
they would have been moving for
amendment long ago. There is a
very considerable sentiment among
the members of the House and Sem
ate not to place in the administra-
ton any invitation to move this
country nearer war.
The Clarks, the Vandenbergs and
the Nyes of the Senate. not to men
ton the Borahs and the Johnsons,
have viewed the handling of our
foreign relations by the present ad-
ministration with considerable sus-
picion. AS they see it, or have seen
it. the President and his aides have
been entirely too willing to have
this country step into affairs of
Europe. The first cold chill ran
down their spines when the Presi-
dent made his Chicago speech in
1887, asserting that some of the
foreign aggressor nations could well
be 'quarantined" by the rest of the
world-meaning particularly by the
United States and the remaining
democracies. They have never re-
covered any confidence in the ad-
ministration's handling of foreign
affairs. More recently they have
several times charged that the coun-
try was being led further and
further toward foreign entangle-
ments by the President.
Senator Vandenberg and some OF
the others in this group insist that
If there is to be any amendment
of the Neutrality Act, it will be in
the direction of granting the Presi-
dent greater discretion. The Mich
igan Senator is confident that an
overwhelming majority of the
American people would back the
stand of members of Congress who
are insisting upon rigid neutrality
on the part of this country.
Reorganization Battle On.
The final battle over the Presi-
dents reorganization bill is on-in
the Senate. The bill has been
greatly changed since it was first
produced in 1887. just after the
President made public a report Of
his special Commission on Govern
ment Reorganization. But there is
a fundamental principle involved in
the new bill just as it was in the
old. That Is, the power of the
President to make such shifts in
the Government agencies as he sees
fit, leaving it, as practical matter,
impossible for Congress to veto his
orders in this respect.
The House has passed the reor-
ganization bill this time, and the
Senate alone stands between the
abandonment of the legislative right
and the President. The Senate,
with its overwhelming Democratic
majority, is perhaps in worse case
than the House when it comes to
resisting demands for greater power
from the Chief Executive. How
ever, there is very determined
group in the Upper House, intent
upon amending the bill so that the
Presidents executive orders will not
become law until the Congress shall
have approved them by vote of both
houses. That is the orderly way.
Democratic Senators, thinking OF
their party and what it has to face
next year, are disinclined to buck
the President If they can avoid it.
Nevertheless, many of them are to-
day fighting with backs against the
wall for policies and principles which
they believe right even though they
must oppose the titular leader of
their party. The same is true of
Democratic members of the House.
Take the case of Representative
Woodrum of Virginia. Mr.. Wood
rum, who has long been regarded as
one of the ablest and most consci-
entious members Of the House, led
the fight early In the present session
which resulted in knocking $780,
100000 asked by the President for
the w. P. A. for the remainder of
the present fiscal year.
WoOdrum Disciplined.
Now Mr.. Woodrum has been disci-
plined. He no longer is permitted
to handle, as chairman of House
Appropriations Committee subcom-
mittee, the deficiency appropriation
bill for the w. P. A. That job has
been taken from him and given to
the more amenable Representative