Evening star., 1946-02-15

nothing the Senate has done tends to
enhance its reputation or increase
its prestige-quite the reverse. And
there are quite few Senators cam
did enough to admit it. A number
of examples can be given, the most
conspicuous of which is the four
weeks FEPC filibuster which prac-
tically strangled the Senate for all
that time and very recently ended
with the sidetracking of the meas
ure.
Wholly disregarding the merits of
the bill and the question of whether
any filibuster can be justified, that
filibuster was q farce and fraud.
For the plain truth is, that, from
the start, 1t was perfectly clear
that the filibuster was going to
succeed and the only possible result
was the agreement finally reached
by which the bill was laid aside. A
long time before the finish 1t was
almost impossible to find a Senator
on either side who did not fully
understand this. Certainly, the
leaders understood 1t from the first
day.
Reasons Political.
Why, then, did they let the thing
run for four weeks, during which
the Senate was unable to turn a
wheel? The answer, of course, is
politics. Both Democratic and Re-
publican Senators in the majority
favoring the bill were anxious to
establish a record-some to please
the CIO, others to placate the
Negro vote in pivotal Northern and
Western States. And neither, the
administration Democrats nor the
regular Republicans really exerted
themselves to stop the filibuster.
Instead, they let 1t proceed without
inconveniencing themselves by long
sessions or any genuine test Of en-
durance. Some of them actually
helped the filibuster along by max
ing speeches themselves while the
fllibusters rested. In fact, the whole
business was saturated with false
pretense and hypocrisy.
Another little incident that re-
hected no credit on the Senate was
the way in which one Of its commit
tees let George Allen, whom the
President had named RFC director,
clown himself into the job. There
were some pretty sound reasons for
objecting to this appointment, but
Mr.. Allen nullified them, so far as
the committee was concerned, by
quips, cracks and grimaces that ap-
parently threw the committeeman
into stitches"
Certainly. Mr.. Aliens witticisms,
when read in print. seemed feeble
and not very funny. But they must
have seemed funny to the members
Of the committee who were reported
as roaring with laughter" Almost
Immediately they acted favorably on
his nomination. RI ~
Hearing Becomes Farce.
Thus, the hearing was turned into
farce. 1t does seem that after the
roaring had ceased, some Senator
might have said, We'll, Mr.. Allen,
you are no doubt very amusing. But,
after all, this is a serious business
in which we are engaged and serious
questions affecting your qualifica-
tions for high public Office have
been raised. So let's cut out the
clowning and behave more like men
and less like children" That would
have been in keeping with the tradi-
tions Of the Senate and more be-
coming to the Senators.
Another incident of a slightly diff
ferent kind but equally difficult to
reconcile with senatorial self-respect
occurred in another Senate commit
tee when a clustering, bull-dozing
labor leader publicly berated the
President and members of Congress,
applying to them derogatory adjec-
tives and calling names.