Evening star., 1944-06-15
Pussyfoot Role Seen
By COP in Congress
Politically Safe Silence Kept
on Issues of Day, Says Writer
By David laurence

on Issues Of Day, Says Writer
By Dapid Laurence
The Democratic party, with 216
members. no longer has majority of
the House Of Representatives while the
Republican party, with 2l2 members.
has strength nearly equal to that Of
the Democrats. Recent elections to All
vacancies have diminished the Demo-
cratic total.
But the public would hardly suspect
that the two major parties are so closely
divided In the Lower House Of Congress.
Certainly very little has happened
since the present Congress took ONCE
in January, 1943, to indicate that the
Republicans as q whole have developed
. program that can be readily identified
by observers. While there has been
opposition from time to time by the
Republicans who voted In a bloc, it
would be difficult to discover BIZ the
reading Of the record just what the RE-
publican party would do II It had COM
plete control Of the machinery Of the
House Of Representatives
Whether the subject Is labor or agri-
culture or taxation or price control or
the Montgomery Ward case or any one
Of q number Of issues that are supposed
to be close to the hearts and minds Of
the people, the Republicans have done
little to manifest how they would
handle these matters II they really had
the majority.
PussyfOot Role.
The Republican party in the House
has played the same pussyfoot role
which has so often been adopted in
past years by the minority party on
either side of the political aisle. The
strategy is to avoid commitments on
major issues and appear to be friendly
to all groups in the hope that the
minority party will be the beneficiary
at the polls Of all the protests and dis
satisfactions of the people over the
legislative acts OF the majority party.
Under the existing constitutional
system, 1t Is thus possible for minority
party to come within fve votes Of
actually being a majority in the House
Of Representatives and yet escape ell
responsibility for the action Of the
House. That Is why the term ''respon-
sible government" is so often used to
describe parliamentary system where
powerful minority, or one that almost
divides power with the opposition side,
has been virtually compelled BY public
opinion to assume responsibility In the
cabinet. II the parties were almost as
equally divided in Canada, Britain or
Australia as they are In the House Of
Representatives today, Q coalition gov
ernment would be In power in the ex-
ecutiye branch. There need then to
have been no election In the midst
of the invasion campaign.
It is true, Of course, that the Republi-
cans have supported the major war
programs and particularly the appropri-
ations for military purposes. On these
there have been virtually unanimous
votes.
Safe Silence on Issues.
But on the issues which divide the
country, particularly questions arising
out Of administrative bureaucracy OF
misuse Of public power ~ In thu Ward
case, the Republicans have preferred to
maintain politically safe silence. In
deed, to speak out forthrfghtly ID con-
sidered unwise on the eve OF an election.
Gov. Dewey's candidacy, for example,
has managed to draw support from
many elements because the New York
Governor has kept his views on specific
questions very much to himself.
The party in power, however, has not
hesitated to commit itself to particular
positions on domestic issues. There Is,
OF course, q possible inference from all
this that the Democratic position Is
much stronger than the Republicans
would like to admit
Certainly If the Republican party Is
afraid to make an issue on certain do
mestic questions, 1t could be construed
to mean that the Democratic position
has considerable popular support. The
behavior of the Republican party in the
House of Representatives appears to be
more and more an admission that the
Democratic positions on various issues
is much more likely to receive public
support at the polls than the Repuh-
licans care to concede at this time.
Some day the idea of responsible
government" which enables the people
to check both legislative and executive
branches as the case may be by COM
pelling or threatening an election at any
time-the parliamentary system used in
Canada and Australia-may prove even
more advantageous than it appears at
present. For while the change is funda-
mental. it may be the only way in the
end that the people as whole can exer-
else check upon the growing powers
of the central government.
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