Evening star., 1940-04-26

view. The poll
~ tician in him put
down the re-
Charles g. Ross. former. He was
also, I think, little tired.
The Democratic leaders OF Con-
gress have been happy to fall in
with his mood. Their whole aim
has been to prevent strife in the
party, and they have pursued this
aim with a remarkable degree OF
success. The truce patched up be-
tween the warning elements during
the special session has lasted. Even
the third-term threat has failed to
break the outward harmony.
Coast on Reforms.
All this is by way of saying that
for the rest Of the Roosevelt admin
istration. the New Deal, so far as
any Affirmative action is concerned,
is washed up. No new reform meas.
ure is being pressed by the admins.
tration, and none will be. Both Con.
gress and the President are coasting
toward the election. To those Of
the New Deal who believe that the
top should be kept spinning, this is
hateful condition; to the practical
politicians of the party, 1t is mama
from heaven.
Mr.. Roosevelt is reformer, but
he is also, and intensely, a practical
politician. Some times one phase Of
him is in the ascendant. some times
the other. The course he is follow
ing at the moment is dictated by his
conception of the demands of poll.
tics. 1t is course fully consistent
either with third-term candidacy
or with desire to hand on the
presidency to some other Democrat.
Whatever the Presidents motive
and the writer continues to believe
1t Is the latter-the net result of his
strategy, plus his pre-occupation
with foreign relations, is legislative
state of affairs from which the
emergence of any new issue is wholly
unlikely. Unless the war or a third.
term candidacy produces fresh ma.
terial, the campaign will be waged
around issues which already have
been made.
Three Issues in Congress.
The three main issues currently
engaging the attention of the Con.
gress have to do with the Wagner
Labor Relations Act, the Wages and
Hours Act and the Logan-Walter
bill. 1t is significant that in each
case, the administration people are
fighting not to extend their gains
but to hold what they have. The
tight centering around the Wagner
Act is to keep out the drastic Smith
amendments. In the case of the
wage-hour law it is to prevent the
riddling Of the act with the Barden
amendments. The Logan-Walter bill,
which the House has passed, repre-
sents an effort to put curb on the
administrative agencies of the Gov
ernment; it was designed to strike
especially at those created under the
New Deal.
The Logan-Walter bill, for sound
reasons, will be killed either in the
Senate or by presidential veto, and
it appears likely that both the Bar.
den amendments and the Smith
amendments will either be severely
toned down or go by the board. But
the point is that the New Deal, so
far from pressing on to new goals,
Is now definitely on the defensive. A
lot Of water has gone over the dam
since the first hundred days"
Hold on Congress Broken.
Two thoughts are now suggested
by the situation in which the New
Deal now finds itself. One is that
the silence of the President on the
third term has not had all the
effects predicted for it. 1t has
tremendously Influenced the CAM
paign for the presidency and it may
have had weight in foreign affairs,
but 1t has certainly not heightened
the Presidents influence in Con-
gress. To what low ebb this has
fallen was demonstrated by the
House vote of 279 to 81 for the
Logan-Walter bill, to which he is
known to be strongly opposed.
Similarly, If his power over Congress
had not declined greatly, the danger
to the Wagner and Wages and
Hours laws never would have reach.
ed Its present stage. So far as
legislation goes, the President would
be just as well OF, and perhaps
better, If he had taken himself out
OF the presidential race months
ago.
The other observation arising
from the present situation in Con-
gress-a situation that reflects the
conservative gains in 1898 and the
prospect OF a close election this
year-is that the New Deal as we
have known 1t for the last seven
years has come to a pause. We are
about to enter phase in which po-
litical controversy will be concerned
not with further experimentation,
but with the degree to which the
achievements of the New Deal shall
be preserved. No candidate. either
Democratic or Republican, is propos-
ing anything new. Failing a COM
plete change in the mood of the
country, the task of the next Presi-
dent, on the policy making as dis.
tinguished from the administrative
side, will lie very largely in the field
Of our foreign relations.
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