Evening star., 1953-04-23
The 'TideIonds' FiIibuster

The current Senate "talkathon"-which in
cludes many far-ranging speeches of an inordi-
nately long wnded nature-is directed against
the majority'S desire to enact legislation quit
claiming to the adjacent States the submerged
land and oil resources within their historic
seaward boundaries.
According to the Speech-makerS however,
they are not engaged in filibuster. After ALL
"filibuSter" is a horrid word to the so-called
liberals" who are doing most of the talking
So they are calling it merely an effort to
educate" the American people to what they
describe as "give-away," "grab," an example
of highway robbery in broad daylight" and
piece of villainy that makes the scandal of
Teapot Dome seem mild by comparison.
But these self-righteous liberals" who are
saying these things-ad intinitun,, ad nauSean1
are not truly educating America. Instead
they are befuddling it with lot of half truths
gross exaggerationS and plain, downright nom
sense. And all the WHILE as minority members
who have often assailed the "evil" of filibuS-
tering, they are employing the techniques of
that "evil' (Which is not really eviD to prevent
the majority from exercising its will as regards
the misnamed "tidelands" issue.
If they sincerely wish to educate" the
American people, the gentlemen staging this
"talkathon" ought not to brush aside-as they
do brush aSide-certain pertinent facts. These
facts include the following: (1) The Supreme
Court, despite what the liberals" have been
saying to the contrary, has never explicitly
stated that the submerged lands in question
are owned" by the Nation as whole; (2)
Justices Reed and Frankfurter have handed
down dissenting opinions that argue most
cogently against people who are always citing
the courts rulings as proof positive that quit
claim legislation is robbery; CD those rulings,
as matter of actuality, have made clear that
Congress has every right to enact such legisla-
ton if it so wills; and a. the States have great
deal Of moral and legal force to back up their
claims-that is, the claims as set forth in the
House-approved bill that confines them to a
strictly limited area.
There are numerous other facts that the
liberals brush aside much too lightly, and
perhaps the greatest of these is this one: That
large bipartisan majorities in both houses Of
Congress- together with the Eisenhower ad-
ministration, are profoundly convinced that
quitclaim legislation should be enacted to settle
this issue on fair and equitable basis. The
bill being debated in the Senate has weaknesses
that might make veto justifiable, but the bill
adopted by an overwhelming vote in the House
seems sound in every respect
People who describe such measure as
"give-away," or as something comparable to
the Teapot Dome scandal are actually casting
aspersions on the integrity of large congress
sional majorities made up of members of both
parties. Those members are neither knaves
nor fools. They are honestly convinced
with good reason-that a quitclaim is fully
justified in terms of both law and morals
The minority stands on weak ground in staging
"talkathon" whose effect whiting or unwit-
ting-is to give the impression that these men
are engaged in an act of grand larceny against
the Nation.