Evening star., 1939-04-24
Washington Observations
Republicans Not Likely to Regain Power
Without Leader, Constructive Program

cause for concern. The Republicans
are not likely to regain power by
mere jeremiads about II 900 900 un-
employed, about a $4,000 900 900 ma
tional debt, about lack of business
confidence, about mounting Federal
deficits, about jingoistic foreign pol
icy. about ailing agriculture, about
the evils Of w. p. A. and about all
the other things that are out OF
joint. The chances are at least
even that unless the outs are able
to pledge better results than the ms
have produced, the country may
prefer to bear those ills it has than
ny to others that it knows not of.
At the Young Democrats Jackson
Day dinner the other night, Mr..
Roosevelt invited non-New Dealers
to leave the Democratic party. AS
a matter Of fact, Rooseveltians at
this writing are far more afraid of
losing national Office through defec-
tlons within Democratic ranks than
they are of defeat by the Republican
party as such.
AS the cash-and-carry provision
OF the neutrality law expires on
April 30, this week is to be marked
by an 1lth-hour intensive effort
on the part of groups which favor
the Thomas amendment. This pro-
yides that whenever the President
finds that nation signatory to a
treaty to which the United States
Is party makes war in violation
OF that treaty, the President, with
congressional approval, may exempt
the attacked nation in whole or in
part from the EMBRACE on shipment
OF arms IN wartime. The intent OF
the Thomas amendment, as former
Secretary OF State Stimson told the
Senate Foreign Relations Commit
tee, Is to modify legislation which
IN effect compels the United States
to assist in aggression" The ex-
lsting law makes no distinction be-
tween the nation that respects a
treaty and the nation that violates
it.
There will open at Kansas CITY
on Wednesday the great Methodist
Uniting Conference, which expects
to spend three weeks setting up ad-
mlnistrative machinery for a church
OF 100000 members. the largest
Protestant organization in the
United States. The conference will
offlclally merge the Methodist Epis-
copal, Methodist Episcopal South
and Methodist Protestant Churches.
to form a new Methodist Church.
The new church will be divided into
SIX jurisdictions, five based on geo.
graphical regions. the sixth includ-
ing all Negro churches and over
tapping the others geographically.
Bishops will be elected by iurisdic-
tions and will have no outside au-
thority. Negroes will have more
self-government than before. The
Methodist Church in America was
founded in 1874 on a wave of dem
ocratic feeling, through desire to
be religiously as well as politically
free from England. The Methodist
Protestant Church was born in
1928, also on a wave of democratic
feeling. Members who formed that
body felt that Methodist Episcopal
bishops were too autocratic and that
laymen should have a greater voice
in governing the church. The
Southern Methodist Church was
founded in 1874, when the Meth
odist Episcopal Church split amic-
ably over slavery. Unfortunately the
good feeling between the branches
soon vanished and for all these
years one side or the other has been
waving the bloody shirt.
(Copyright, 1939)