Evening star., 1950-12-31

of its policies, and in an atmos-
war in Korea, the new Congress
i. whip. Two candidates for the lead.
erShip have been placed in the
field by their friends - Senator
Mcfarland of Arizona and Sena.
: tor O'Mahoney of Wyoming. Nc.
Farland's hat was in the ring first
He has the backing of many oil
the Southern Democrats, and il
: has been reported he has 80 or 81
Senators pledged to support him
If that be true, he will be elected
; leader. However, the friends oil
!, Senator O'Mahoney have been ac-
tive for him and hope that even
tually their man will win.
There is no indication so fal
that the President has abandoned
in any way his civil rights pro-
gram-including a national FEPC
an anti-poll tax bill and an anti
lynching bill. These measures are
strongly opposed by Southern
Democrats. and while they can
pass the House, under the Senate
rules, the bloc of Southern Sena-
tors will undoubtedly resist their
passage to the utmost-whicll
means f1libuster. The Southerners
were not favorably impressed when
during the present Congress SEN
ator Lucas and Senator Myers both
demanded action on the civil
rights bills, and particularly on the
FEPC bill. In some measure. the
contest over the leadership place
may be colored by this issue. Sew
eral Senator'S names have been
mentioned in connection with as
slstant leader, among them Sena-
tors johnson of Texas, Kerr of
Oklahoma and Sparkman of Ala
bama.
Committee Changes Due
Here again, with war conditions
existing in this country-even
though war may not have been
acknowledgements for the civil
rights legislation will probably be
on the increase. despite the fact
that any attempt to impose these
proposed laws on the South might
cause bad situation.
The Republicans have practi-
cally no problem over their organ
ization in either the House or SEN
ate. Minority Leader Martin of
Massachusetts, and Republican
Whip ArendS of Illinois are sure
OF reelection, and in the Senate
Mr.. Taft, chairman of the Repub-
llcan Policy Committee, and Mr..
Milllkin, chairman of the Repub-
lcan Conference, both came
through the November elections
triumphantly and are regarded as
sure of holding their present posi-
tions in the party organization.
Senator Wherry of Nebraska.
q. Q. P. floor leader, is a holdover
and there is no disposition to
move him from his present office.
Because of the increase in Re-
publican Senators, the G. o. P. will
receive additional places on some
OF the major committees, among
them the Foreign Relations Com
mittee. 1t has been generally
understood that the Pacific Coast
would get this committee assign
ment, since no Republican farther
West than Senator Hickenlooper
OF Iowa is now a member. Sena-
tor Morse of Oregon and Senator
Knowland of California both have
been put forward-although Mr..
Morse is understood to have had a
tacit claim on the next Republican
appointment to this committee.
Vandenberg Uncertain
Senator Taft, senior to both
Senators Morse and Knowland, is
at present a member of the Labor
and Public Welfare Committees
and of the Finance Committee. He
might. if he wished. demand a
place on the Foreign Relations
Committee. but unless he changes
his mind, he does not intend to
take such q stand. What he may
do. however, is to seek appoint
ment to the Armed Services Com
mittee, giving up his place on
Finance and retaining that on the
Labor Committee.
The uncertainty about the re-
turn of Senator Vandenberg of
Michigan, ranking Republican
member of the Foreign Relations
Committee, still further makes
uncertain Republican representa- :
ton on that committee. The Re-
publicans have hoped strongly
that Mr.. Vandenberg's health
would be such that he could be in
Washington for the opening of
the new Congress. Mr.. Vanden-
berg has been the strong and
dominating figure on foreign af-
fairs for the Republicans in Con-
gress, and his leadership is greatly
missed. With Mr.. Vandenberg
away. the Republicans have been
anything but unified on the ques-
ton of foreign policy-except in
their demands for the elimina-
ton of Dean Acheson as Secretary
of State. In this coming session
of Congress, when foreign affairs
will be a dominating question, it
is of great Importance that the
Republicans get together on for
eign policy - which certainly
seems necessary if there is to be a
bipartisan stand and unity in the
country.
The new Congress will have to
pass on greatly increased taxes,
needed to pay the bills for what
amounts to a huge standing Army.
This will mean increases in the
personal income tax, perhaps to a
point never reached before. If
the country is to be solvent, it
cannot avoid paying on the barrel
the increased expenditures. A
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