Evening star., 1941-01-03
Of Nebraska

a III e II q III { II l 23$sssESssSsSS
fathered by
Senator Norris David Lawrence.
Of Nebraska.
If the old method were still in
force, the Congress would not have
expired today, but would have
continued until March 4. and il
there were no extra SOS ions, the
new members would not have been
able to take their seats until De-
CembCr, 194l. Il was the power
welded by So-called lame duck
members who, though defeated. were
able to cast important ballots on
new legislation that caused the
change in the Constitution to be
made.
The fact that the voice of the
people should be heard 50 quickly
after an election is normally not
important but when vital issues
are at stake it is an improvement
in representative government to be
able to put a new Congress into
power eight weeks after election.
Anti-New Dealers Can Control.
This time despite the fact that
the electoral college majority of the
President was a landslide, the con-
gressioral election was about a
standOf compared to the 1888 eleC-
ton Thus there are 1862 RCpub-
licans in the new Congress and 267
Democrats, whereas in the Congress
which has lust ended its session and
which was elected in November,
1888, there were 167 Republicans
and 258 Democrats. This means
that the ma iOrity in the House can
still be controlled by an anti-NeW
Deal group because on several i'm
portant occasions at least 65 to 70
Democrats OF the conservative
school voted with the solid Repub-
lican bloc to override the wishes
of the Executive on domestic
matters.
In the Senate, on the other hand,
the Republicans made a gain in the
election eight weeks ago. There are
now % Republican votes as con-
trasted with "a, and one Farmer
Laborite. Senator Shipstead, who
now casts his lot with the Repub
liCans The Democrats have Sc votes
as compared with 60 in the last ses-
sion. Thus the Democrats have two
votes more than tWo-thirds which
is the number required TO ratify
treaties.
The presence Of % Republican
votes means that in order to develop
a situation such as exists in the
House. there must be switch of q
Democrats. or about one-third of
the Democratic bloc, to make a
coalition. In the fight against the
Presidents bill to add six judges to
the Supreme Court so as to bring
about change in the nature of its
decisions, enough Democrats joined
with the Republicans to assure a
ma ajOrity in defeating the measure.
Some Look Toward 1912.
In the composition Of the new
Congress are some Democrats who
come up for election in 1912 and
who Will not have President RoOSe-
velt's name on the ballot to help
them. These Democrats, being de-
sirOus Of getting Republican votes in
the electorate, are the ones most
likely to Join with the Republicans
in the Senate on issues of conServa-
tism versus radicaliSm. Those whose
terms presently expire are the ones
who are puzzled in trying to figure
out why in an election in which Mr..
Roosevelt polled a heavy electoral
majority and yet the narrOWeSt pop
ular majority PERCENTAGE since 1916,
the vote for the Senate revealed
Republican gain. Is there trend
toward the Republican party and
If so, what must Democrats up for
election in 1912 do to win Repub-
lican help next time if they expect
reelection? These are the questions
which. though outWardly not always
visible. may be influential in bring
ing about coalition against the
administration every now and then
on domestic issues.
There are signs, on the other
hand. that the administration itself
NAV play toward the conservative
side Of the fence Already the pro-
poSal to END the power Of the Presi-
dent to deValue the currency at will
indicates a readiness to listen to
some Of the conservative proposals
that have for several months been
made with reference to monetary
questions.
The word has gone forth, also,
from administration quarters that
Mr.. Roosevelt is not just now inter-
ested in carrying on his battle for
reform because he wishes to put
every emphasis on national defense.
He is represented as feeling that ad-
iustmentS must be made in the in
terest Of accelerated production and
that reform must take second place
If it impairs the national defense
effort or stirs up unnecessary con-
troversy. 1t may be, Of course, that
the Democratic members of Con-
gress who are up for election in 1912
will argue at that time that their
party has had a conservative trend
and will seek support on that basis.
Certainly so far as anybody knows
now there are no legislative recon-
mendations likely to divide Con-
gress except possibly the issues
growing out of labor policy and
amendments to existing labor laws.
Some changes in the labor laws will
be urged by the conservatives, and
on the issue of allowing the execu-
tive agencies to introduce at will
punishments of their own against
those employers who refuse to be
bludgeoned into unionization on de-
fense contracts there are likely to be
many divisions apart from party
lines.
Home, Sweet Home