Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-04

partisan position so far as the Con-
eress was concerned.
In his own home State, OF course,
Mr. Roosevelt expressed preference
for Governor, but this is IN accord
ance with custom and is privilege
which, every President in the past
has exercised without mourning hos
tile criticism.
Perhaps more significant than the
forebearance of the President Is the
attitude of the electorate itself. With
rare exceptions, the campaign has
been fought on a win the-war basis,
and there has been a healthy rival
~ between the parties in asserting
that its members could do more
than the other toward attaining the
objective -victory
Damaged War Effort.
But even considering the fact that
the war mechanism itself has been
kept free from political entangle-
ment. and the President has not
taken part, the unfortunate fact re-
mains that the election campaign
was damaging to the war effort.
Members found 1t necessary to 60
home to meet the attacks of would
Remembers and this meant that for
the last several weeks the Congress
has had only handful here to do
business.
Nobody can feel proud of the
enti-infiatior law, which was about
the most hastily drawn and ambig-
uously phrased legislation passed in
many years. Whether this was be-
cause q campaign made 1t difficult
to be explicit, lest some members be
punished by minority groups, or
whether 1t was because the Congress
did not feel free to debate the meas
ure or to give it the consideration
it deserved, the net result was a law
that has already antagonized many
groups because inequitable regula-
tions and interpretations have been
derived from 1t.
Many vital studies that should
have been made by Congress on the
draft and manpower problems have
been put aside, and the whole tend,
ency has been to abandon the legis-
lative process for the time being SO
that the members could 60 home to
conduct their campaigns. !
No such disruption has been found
necessary in the other dernocracies
allied with us in this war. Thus, 1t
has been a long time since Britain
had an election for Parliament, and
the same Is true for Canada. In the
parliamentary states, agreement be-
tween the parties makes possible
postponement Of an election till an
opportune time, while In America,
because the Constitution fixes the
date, it becomes necessary to hold
an election no matter how mop
perfume the occasion may be.
1910 an Example.
Thus in 1910, after France fell and
America discovered the big emer-
eency demanded immediate expan-
sion of the Army and Navy, 1t was
necessary for the commander in
chief to become absorbed In presi-
dental campaign If he wished to
stay in power and If the majority of
the people concurred In that idea.
Abroad-just across the line in
Canada, for instance,-under the
parliamentary system, the legisla-
tive body can decide when 1t wants
. change in the executive.
1t may we'll happen that in 1914
the country will be faced with the
same situation that confronted it in
1910 and large number of persons
will insist that there be no change
in the midst of war. Yet If the war
? should end six months after the
election and change should then
be desirable, the people would have
no opportunity for an election to
bring about such change.
The congressional election OF 1912
Is over. The people can well ask
themselves the question whether it
has been worth while and whether
the same objective-an expression OF
the will of the electorate-could not
be achieved henceforthh just the
same through a constitutional
amendment giving the people the
right to have an election at any
time, and this would mean the right
to defer or postpone an election
presidential or congressional, when
the Nation is absorbed In crisis tn
yolving the very safety of the Repub-
lie.
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