Evening star., 1941-01-10

SiOnS the same #E.x1 ~
thing has hap M
pened.
Today in the David Lawrence.
midst of a war crisis it might be
supposed that partisanship would be
laid aside in the interest OF national
unity But it is not being laid aside,
for the reason that the President
and the opposition inside and out
side of Congress have not made
peace. Maybe Mr.. Roosevelt doesn't
believe in appeasement even inside
the United States.
No progress can be made by IN
sistence on the surrender of the
minority. One side must begin
to trust the other and the men IN
public office can afford to take the
initiative because they can WELD
more power and they have more
access every day to the channels
of public expression than do their
opponents.
A good beginning has been made,
nevertheless, by some OF the oppo-
nents of Mr.. Roosevelt. This cor
respondent has learned, for in
stance. that if Mr.. Roosevelt were
to have some one Sift out the many
thousands of kilograms which he
received strongly commencing his
fireside chat and message to Con-
gress he would find therein the
names of some of the most proml-
nent businessmen and financlers
in the country-men who never
voted for him in any election but
who think he is 100 per cent right
on his foreign policy.
Applause in Evidence.
Applause such as Mr.. Roosevelt
has never before received is in evi-
dence in writing in his own eXecu-
tive offices. Now the attitude of Re-
publican members of Congress is
not difficult to understand. They
feel Mr.. Roosevelt is still at war
with them. He never mentioned
the name of his opponent IN the
campaign, they say, and he failed
to attend the Gridiron dinner at
which Mr.. Willkie was an invited
guest. This may seem trivial
basis for complaint, and it prob
ably is, but it illustrates an atti-
tude and an atmosphere which
governs the strictly political men,
bers of Congress when they sit in a
joint session firmly convinced that
the artificial draft in the Democratic
National Convention last July and
the exploitation of the war crisis
abroad were responsible for the
breaking of a third term precedent
and the loss to them of national
election.
But while there is a certain i'll
temper on the Republican side, there
is another factor which keeps the
President from moving over toward
his opponents in gestures of friend
illness. Just about the time Mr.,
Roosevelt gets ready to show a
trustfulness in the business and
industrial men who have patriotic
ally offered their services to the
Government, he gets what has be-
come known in Washington
vernacular as q needing" by left
wingers. AS the story goes, Mr..
Roosevelt responds to needing.
Example of Needing"
An example of needing" which
is being widely reported occurred
the other Gay. Mr.. Roosevelt had
asked that the executive order,
whereby the duties of the Office for
production management were to be
outlined. be written by the lawyers
In and around the Defense Commls-
sion. A certain group Of lawyers
from New York worked on the task.
Some comment is said to have been
made by one of the lawyers to the
effect that if the language of the
executive order could be handled
adroitly. all the advantages which
labor unions had gotten under the
New Deal could be swept aside and
the reactionary elements could get
back all their previous weapons
that could be used against labor.
Now maybe the lawyer SAID this
and maybe he didn't. But by the
time the story was repeated on sup
posedly unquestioned authority, the
New Dealers were able to prevent
the executive order from being writ
ten as originally intended, and also
Mr.. Roosevelt did not give Mr..
Knudsen the broad authority which
a fortnight ago it was generally
believed he would delegate to the
former motor company executive.
Beset With Own Pride.
Mutual trust is difficult to establish
when men are beSet with their own
pride-and who has more pride or
ego than political folks and some
of the officeholders whose heads
swell up when they are given au-
thority? Many of them assume they
own the Government, and that the
people are to be divided into two
classes when they come before Gov
ernment tribunals-those that have
supported and those that have op-
posed the administration in past
elections.
Some day, if the President rose
above the petty squabbling of Wash
ington by acts that carried convic-
ton and by gestures of friendliness
to his opponents, he would be
amazed at the progress he would
make. But as matters stand today
Republican leaders who want to see
Britain win are fearful that If
America enters the war, the Roose-
welt administration will establish
such controls over business and in
dustry as will completely destroy
the free enterprise system and civil
liberties. They may be seeing things
under the bed, but it is what many
of them think and it is one Of the
main reasons why they do not trust
the Presidents policies and do not
applaud in joint sessions. Such
being the case, there is great
chance for Mr.. Roosevelt in his thirc