Evening star., 1940-01-19

presidents who occupied the White
House during that same interval
Mr.. Borah's life has been a re-
markable example of what real
power can be exerted by a man
who is in the minority. For, while
he has been chairman of the all
important Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee when his party
was in control of the Senate, he
has been equally, if not more in
f1uential, when his party has not
been in power. Likewise, on domes-
tic legislation Senator Borah has
differed with the regulars in his
own party, so he has really been in
a minority position. But this has
never diminished his ability to
sway the votes of his colleagues.
The Borah record is unique in
that his name is not attached to
= many pieces of legislation. He rarely
was found drafting bills, but he
often drafted resolutions of inquiry
or resolutions which directed the
thought of the Senate. More often
than not Borah's views have been
persuasive in private discussion with
other Senators, irrespective of party.
Revered Constitution.
The Idaho Senator has had two
main points of view-one the isola-
zionist doctrine as applied to foreign
affairs and the other the constitu-
tional doctrine as applied to domes-
tic affairs. He never allowed the
fact that proposal had bene-
ficent objective to interfere with his
opposition If the measure seemed
to him unconstitutional. Thus he
has fought the anti-lynching bill
as invalid, even though his liberal
record shows clearly how much out
Of sympathy he is with the forces
that permit lynchings in America.
Senator Borah has been staunch
believer in States rights and how
ever sympathetic he may have been
with the objectives of prohibition,
he wanted the States to deal with
matters that be believed were prop
erly within their police power.
Again and again in Republican
conventions, the Idaho Senator was
q difficult man to line up because
he insisted always on probing to the
bottom to see whether the party
was being controlled by what he
termed reactionary interests. He
never won favor with the conserva-
tive wing of the party and yet he
never bOlted the ticket as did other
progressives.
SHED From Candidates.
Mr.. Borah has preferred to re-
frain from active participation in
elections rather than to support
the candidate Of an opposing party
when he felt the Republican candi-
date was not suitable. He took
hardly any part in the 1896 presi-
dental campaign for Gov. Landon
because he believed Eastern interests
were really responsible for the party
platform and nomination.
The Borah biography encompasses
so many years of public life in this
Capital that it reads like a history
of the United States in the last 40
years, ever since the days when he
won fame as a champion of labor
in the famous Haywood trials in
Montana. Borah has been known as
liberal and progressive through
out his career and yet he has rarely
been aligned with doctrines such
as are advocated by present day
radicals.
Although on friendly terms with
President Roosevelt, Mr.. Borah has
looked askance at the growth of
bureaucracy under the New Deal
and the many evidences of what he
felt were unjust administration of
the law In respect to the rights of
citizens.
Tempered Opposition.
Senator Borah never carried his
opposition to the New Deal to the
extremes which other Republicans
have, but he nevertheless has
felt that it was not truly liberal in
many of its acts. Senator Borah
has been the implacable foe of mo-