Evening star. [volume], February 09, 1937, Page A-9, Image 9

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Roosevelt May
Name 12 to
High Court
Number Can Be De
cided by Retirement
Decisions.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
UNLESS American public opin
ion manifests its disapproval
either by public meetings of
protest, resolutions of oppo
sition or messages and letters to mem
bers of Congress. President Roosevelt s
plan to ‘'pack” the Supreme Court of
the United States
Will become law
Within the next
90 days.
Conceivably,
Mr Roosevelt may
have the oppor
tunity of appoint
ing 12 out of the
15 Justices who
are to compose
the new court.
For a little no
ticed provision of
the President’s
bill eommuni
cated in draft David Lavrenev,
form to Congress
states that the number of judges
shall be "permanently increased by
the number appointed thereto” under
the first section of the bill, the one
that specifically enlarges the Supreme
Court to 15.
The opportunity to appoint 12 jus
tices comes about through the fact
that the proposal itself would permit
6 additional justices because 6 mem
bers of the present court are above 70
t years of age and have served more
than 10 years on the Federal bench.
If these 6 decided to retire before any
new justices are nominated, the court
would remain at 9, but only for a
little while, namely, until some new
justices or the three younger ones now
on the bench had served 10 years.
G. O. P. Hesitant on Issue.
If, however, the present 6 justices
Above 70 do not retire before the ad
ditional justices are named, the court
will promptly become a 15-judge court
as a permanent thing unless Congress
Should subsequently repeal the statute.
The reaction to this sweeping pro
posal to change the size of the court
is as yet uncrystallized in the Na
tional Capital. Republicans are hesi
tant to speak out because they do not
Want to make a partisan issue of the
measure. They feel that if the Su
preme Court proposal is to be defeated
It must be by the activity of Demo
crats, because the latter have a two
thirds control of both houses of
Congress.
Many Democrats privately denounce
the proposal, but they do not feel they
can vote against it unless the folks
back home tell them to do so. In the
absence of any word as to how public
opinion feels about President Roose
velt’s policies other than the Novem
ber 3 election, they are going to assume
that the American people voted vir
tually for a dictatorship by the Presi
dent and that they must follow his
wishes.
Missed “Turn to Right.”
But did the many Democrats who
Voted for Mr. Roosevelt believing his
second term would see a turn to the
right instead of the left, think they
would be approving a drastic change
in the Supreme Court and in the atti
tude of the Executive toward the
highest court in the land? Only those
Democrats who supported Mr. Roose
velt for re-election are privileged to
speak out these days and have their
influence felt, for under our system of
government the 16,000,000 Republicans
are represented in Congress by a much
less number of representatives than
would speak for the 38 per cent of the
total vote they polled in any parlia
mentarian system.
The expectation is that there will
be a great debate on the matter in the
Senate as it seems a foregone conclu
sion that the House will pass the bill
by a substantial majority, even though
a large number say privately it is
wrong. So many of the members owe
their re-election, they feel, to Mr.
Roosevelt that they will not oppose
him without some clear word from
back home to the contrary.
Prom a practical standpoint, of
course, the President's proposal is un
dergoing much criticism. Attention is
being called on Capitol Hill to the fact
that the President's statistics about
the work of the Supreme Court being
congested were interpreted in the op
posite manner by Solicitor Oeneral
Reed, whose report was recently trans
mitted to Congress by the Attorney
General himself. Undoubtedly this in
consistency will be mentioned a great
deal when the discussion starts in the
Senate and House.
Older Justices’ Testimony Improbable.
Whether members of the Supreme
Court will appear to testify before
cither the House or Senate Judiciary
Committees is not known, though it
is doubtful if the six justices who are
above 70 years of age would accept
the invitation. It is more likely that
they will feel the matter is of a per
sonal character in so far as it affects
them and that it is more incumbent
on the other members of the court—
Justices Stone, Cardozo and Roberts—
to offer such testimony as is sought
by Congress.
These three justices ought to know
Whether their colleagues are mentally
Incapacitated and whether the work
of the court is being slowed down be
cause of the advanced age of the six
Justices. The three youngest mem
bers could tell whether the older six
justices are agile and intellectually
powerful. As a matter of fact, every
bit of evidence hereabouts supports
the fact that the six Justices are men
tally above the level of energy for men
of their age and that they are doing
a better Job in keeping abreast of the
cases tiled than any preceding mem
bership of the Supreme Court.
Many lawyers in the National Cap
ital feel that Mr. Roosevelt’s message
was a tragic attack on six men who
have given the best years of their
lives to public service. They are being
held up before the country as in some
way mentally slow or incapable and
they are in no position to talk back
because Supreme Court justices can
not, with good taste, engage In a
debate in the public prints or else
where on the merits of legislation
Affecting themselves.
Justices “Views” Guarded.
Feeling runs high here since the
President's message was delivered.
What are the personal comments of
members of the court is not known,
but it is probably not mere speculation
to suggest that they consider Mr.
Roosevelt has chosen the wrong way
to overturn decisions of the Supreme
Court which he does not like.
Members of the court who dissent
from their colleagues have always had
the greatest respect for the opinions
if the others. They may think these
News Behind the News
Congressional Foes of Court Revamping Caught
in Political Pressure.
BY PAUL MALLON.
CONGRESSIONAL politicians were frankly caught in the switches
by President Roosevelt's move to repack the Supreme Court
Leaders knew they had to go along with the President and gave
guarded approval of his course. But the rank and file found
Itself wholly unable to guess the probable public reaction with any degree
of self-confidence. Thao is why they remained quiet.
A few felt that the move would cause Mr. Roosevelt’s popularity to
decline. They figured that it would confirm the political suspicions voiced
against him, but, more important, that it destroyed his formerly advan
tageous political position. It would force upon him a direct responsibility
for hours, wages, working conditions, farm prices, and all complalned-of
ills. In the course of years, the exercise of this responsibility might very
naturally be expected to prove discouraging. Note—N. R. A. experience,
also A. A. A., including production control, etc.
A majority of congressional politicians, however, seemed to be con
tent to analyze immediate rather
than long-range prospects. They
judged the move would be unpop
ular among statesmen, lawyers and
well - informed critics, popular
1 among people who do not under
stand ultimate ramifications or de
tails, which would mean the great
bulk of the people of the country.
That is why predictions now are
being freely made that the plan
will be adopted.
*TUf
GirncftT
,fT^«
AU./
I-2L
There is another equally important hidden reason.
To live, Congressmen need support of the leaders of their party.
They must get their committee assignments from the top. (Note—
The experience of young Senator Rush Holt of West Virginia now
being chastised by Senate leaders for rebellion.) They must get
executive appointments for their friends back home, if they are to
keep friends.
* * * *
The inside scene in which Mr. Roosevelt moved tc revise the consti
tution without changing it was lost in the shuffle when he submitted his
sensational message to Congress. It should be painted to hang alongside
the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Washington at Valley
Forge, and Coolidge taking the oath by the light of an oil lamp.
It was 11 a m., last Friday. Two hundred newsmen filed in to the
circular presidential office, where he was seated at his desk. Behind him
sat his publicity experts, Charles Michelson, Steve Early, Marvin Mac
Intyre, the men who tell him what popular effect his moves will have.
The President lit a cigarette in an amber holder and announced with a
flashing glint that he had a matter “somewhat important” to announce.
He cautioned reporters not to mention the matter to any one outside their
own offices until the reading of his message In Congress actually began.
A voice from the audience called out that every one had brought his lunch.
The President led the laughter.
Then he started to read his message, pointing out what he con
sidered the significant things the newspapers should stress. His voice
had a barely noticeable quality of strained emotion. It was pitched
a couple of notes higher than his ordinary conversational tone.
Obviously, he was aware of the importance of the setting, but he
broke the text with sly observations, indicating he was not over
whelmed by solemnity.
• • • •
When he came to the point about the ages of the justices being "a
subject of delicacy,” he read the words with such mock emphasis that his
COURT
• if BU-L
i
ever-appreciatlve audience again
tittered so much he had to pause
before continuing.
Laughs broke out frequently
thereafter, heaviest and longest
when the President identified Jus
tice McReynolds as one of the two
Attorney Generals who he said had
once recommended appointment of
additional judges in court* whose
aged justices would not retire.
The humor of the reference was
striking to the audience, as Mr. Mcttevnolds is now one of the Suprrm
Court justices whose retirement is most desired at the White House.
But the climax came when the President explained in a pointedly
casual manner that the text of the bill he was submitting to Con
gress was "just something for them to work on—just to save them
the trouble of writing something.’’ The audience well knew how Con
gress hates to be put in the rubber-stamp category by hairing the text
of bills submitted by Executive authorities. The President joined in
the merriment over his own solicitude about saving congressional time.
One newsman murmured a question which was not heard, whereupo;
Mr. Roosevelt asked: ‘ Did some one have a happy thought?" When the
laughter at the emphasis he put on "happy” died down, it was discovered
the inquiry was happily In line with the tone of the proceedings. The
inquiry was:
"Your plan is to enlarge the judiciary in cases where judges have
lost the mental capacity to resign?"
Any need for an answer was lost in the gale of guffaws. There were
no other questions. Every one went out, still laughing.
(Copyright, 1937.)
CTHE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
1 necessarily The Star's. Such opinions are presented in
The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its
readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star's.
The Other Court Attack
Strikers Manage to Keep Decrees for Evacuation
Impotent.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
THE paramount subject In every
body’s mind today is Mr:
Roosevelt’s action about the
Supreme Court. Most of the
aspects of that action will remain for
a long time; for discussing them there
will be abundant opportunity. But
there is one aspect which, unless at
tention is called to it at once, will
escape notice. And if the outcome is
what now seems
indicated, it will
become a momen
t o u s precedent
for the future and
a material reduc
tion of the au
thority of all
courts.
Between Mr.
Roosevelt’s action
about the Federal
courts and the
Michigan ‘‘sit
down’’ strike, the
relation may not
be apparent at „ . _
first glance. But M"k 8-,M’“
the relation is fundamental In the
sense that both are attacks upon the
power of all courts. Both are parts
of a movement advancing on several
fronts, designed to reduce, or having
the effect of reducing, the authority
of the judicial arm of government and
Increasing the authority of the Exec
utive.
Mr. Roosevelt’s action about the
courts and the developments in the
Michigan strike are further related
in that the conferences about the
strike were inspired by Mr. Roosevelt
and are sponsored by him. When
Gov. Murphy of Michigan asked the
head of the strikers and the officials
of General Motors to confer with him.
he stated in his request that it was
”in accordance with the wish of the
President of the United States.”
Throughout the conferences newspa
per dispatches have repeatedly quoted
Gov. Murphy as saying he was keep
ing in constant touch with President
Roosevelt.
Eclipses Strike.
One of the effects of Mr. Roosevelt’*
sensational action about the courts, at
the particular time he took it, was to
take public attention away from what
is happening In Michigan. For more
than two weeks the Michigan strike
had been occupying first place in the
attention of the public, with increas
ing concern about developments in
that quarter. Suddenly, last Friday,
i Mr. Roosevelt’s action about the courts
| eclipsed everything else. X observed
1 In a New York newspaper on Saturday
morning a dispatch which recited a
momentous development in Michigan.
; That dispatch ordinarily would have
occupied the first page and would have
attracted grave attention from the
country'. But with Mr. Roosevelts
action about the courts filling the first
page and several succeeding ones, the
] dispatch about the Michigan strike
was pushed into the obscurity of
page 32.
Understanding of the present stage
of the Michigan strike may be had
by following the recent developments
In aequence.
On February 1, General Motor*
counsel went before the County Court
In Flint, Mich., to ask for an injunc
tion ordering the sit-down strikers to
terminate their illegal occupancy of
General Motor*’ property.
Lewis Expands.
During the very hours when this
application was being argued before
the court, Lewis’ union, far from show
ing respect to the court, or apprehen
sion about what action the court
might take, actually enlarged the area
of their strike. They continued to
occupy the two buildings they had held
for four weeks—and they threw an
additional force of sit-down strikers
into a third building.
The following day. the court handed
down its decision. The court declared
that the occupation of General Mo
tors' property by the sit-down strikers
was illegal. The court issued an order
calling on the sit-down strikers to
leave the plants.
This order by the court was deliv
ered to the sheriff. The sheriff read
it to the sit-down strikers. The re
sponse of the sit-downers was, accord
ing to newspaper reports, a booing of
the sheriff.
The sit-down strikers sent a tele
gram to Gov. Murphy of Michigan
saying, among other things, "We have
decided to stay in the plant.”
The strikers were now not only in
illegal possession of private property;
they were also in contempt of court.
The court, apparently, according to
Michigan procedure, took the ground
that it was not called upon to do any
thing further until General Motors
gave the court formal notice that the
court's order had not been obeyed, and
that the illegal possession continued.
This General Motors did. Thereupon,
the court issued what Is known as a
“writ of body attachment.”
Obviously the sheriff could not,
alone, arrest and remove several hun
dred men. On February 5 he asked
Gov. Murphy to give him the assist
ance of the National Guard to carry
out the court's writ.
Court’s Guns Spiked.
To this request the Governor up to
this writing has made no reply. The
situation in Michigan is that the court
has followed the procedure laid down
for it by law. The court, however, is
made impotent to enforce its decree
so long as the Governor of the State
does not provide the necessary force.
What Mr. Roosevelt has done at
Washington with his proposal to re
duce the independence of the courts
is a frontal attack on the authority
of the judicial branch of government.
What Governor Murphy, the New Deal
Governor of Michigan, has done,
amounts to a flank attack. The two
actions fit into the same pattern.
Those are the basic facts of the
situation. Perhaps it should be said
in fairness to Governor Murphy that
in failing to give support to the court
and sheriff, he seems to put his fail
ure on the ground that he wishes not
to cause disorder. But there might not
now be danger of disorder if earlier
he had made clear his determination
that in any and all eventualities he
would see that the law was upheld.
(Copyright, 193?.)
opinions are misguided and bad in in
terpretation of constitutional law, but
they want decisions overturned by the
forces of reason and persuasion in new
j cases or new laws rather than by the
' exercise of a President’s political
powers in Congress.
It is known that justices of the
court feel that their Saturday con
j ferences in which each justice must
! “recite,” so to speak, on every case
; argued the previous five days is a long
i and laborious task. Discussion even
by nine men is held to be tedious,
especially when sharply controversial
i matters present themselves. What
I then is to happen if 15 justices have
! to be heard each Saturday afternoon.
| and if the many briefs and records and
opinions have to be examined by each
of 15 justices, when petitions for
review are presented?
The opinion of several lawyers who
practice before the Supreme Court
and who are familiar with court pro
cedure is that Mr. Roosevelt has made
out a very weak case for increasing the
sire of the Supreme Court, though, to
be sure, his comments on the crowded
condition of the lower courts and the
need for additional judges there are
accepted as in the main praiseworthy.
(Copyright, 1937.)
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“Sherlock, stop that infernal snooping—You won't
find anything wrong with that Coffee—it's Wilkins"
Cohen Figures in Court Plan
Corcoran Also Prominent in Move by Roosevelt to
Get Power to Name 6 More Associate Justices.
BY LEMUEL F. PARTON.
TWO comparatively young New York lawyers are known to have had
much to do with shaping the President's Supreme Court plan and,
possibly to have Inspired It. They are Benjamin V. Cohen, early
day braln-truster, and Thomas Corcoran, counsel for the R. F. C.
and one of the President’s chief liaisons with Congress at the last session.
Both have been deep in the power light, particularly Mr. Cohen,
which, according to Washington Interpretations, helped bring the Supreme
Court issue to a head. It was soon after Federal
Judge Gore's antl-T. V. A. injunctions of last Decem
ber that a possibly drastic court proposal became
imminent.
Mr. Cohen was appointed last month as general
counsel for the President's new National Power
Committee. For several years he has been allied With
the more aggressive administrative faction in the
power controversy. It was he who drafted the holding
company act and who insisted on its more lethal pro
visions. He helped draft the securities act, as well as
a number of other New Deal measures, and. when any
sweeping new legislation is proposed, he is quite likely
to appear somewhere in the picture—particularly if it
starts at the White House.
He was attorney for the United States Shipping
_ , , v Cah._ Board at the age of 21, Immediately after his gradua
tion from the University of Chicago Law School. He
practiced law In New York from 1920 to 1930, and during those year* was a
vigorous advocate of public ownership and development of natural re
sources.
Mr. Cocoran, a graduate of the Harvard Law School, was secretary for
the late Justice Holmes, later engaging In law practice in New York. He
joined the staff of the R. F. C. late in the Hoover administration.
In the paper today Premier Blum of France rate* a paragraph and
Capt. Molyneux, a column—cable toll* notwithstanding. The world now
may know that Gauguin pink will be leading this year, that sheath gowns
will be ankle length and that “romance” gowns will have 30 yards of cloth.
This famous Paris dressmaker was first a “Tommy” and then a cap
tain in the British Army in the World War, decorated for bravery, gaining
the French Legion of Honor. He now makes the gowns for the British
royal family. He left college in Ireland to go to the war. Demobilized in
London, he was asked by a friend to sketch some stage costumes. The
friend liked them and suggested he take up designing. He designed a gown
for his mother. Thus began his career.
He has 1,500 employes in his dress shop near the Place de la Concorde.
He has a large perfumery factory, an apartment house at Biarritz and
estate at Monte Carlo with eight gardens, where he studies flowers for
clothes motifs. He says he gets more inspiration out of the gardenia than
anything else. His success, he reports, is the result of learning just one
thing: "Never design a gown to make them 6ay ‘What a beautiful gown!’
Always make them say How beautiful she looks!’ ”
(Copyright, 193T.)
EX-KAISER CELEBATES
SERVICE IN REICH ARMY
Marks 60th Anniversary of Join
ing Military Forces—Veterans
Honored Ouests.
Br tbe Associated Press.
DOORN, the Netherlands. February
9.—The glory of Imperial Germany
was revived in exile today as former
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany cele
brated the sixtieth anniversary of his
service with the army he once com
manded as supreme war lord.
One of the honored guests at the
former Emperor's celebration was a
servant at Doom House, but, as an
ex-sergeant of Wilhelm's old regiment,
he took his place with the other vet
erans for the occasion.
All wore their army uniforms with
out side arms as a symbol of the
glory of the fatherland
A delegation from Germany, head
ed by Prince Eitel Frederick, the ex
Kaiser's second son. arrived at Doom
House Monday night, and today the
one-time comrades at arms planned to
lunch and dine together, reminiscing
over the past.
The former Kaiser is 78 years of age.
BROOKLYN RACKETEER
KILLED ON BUSY STREET
Pushed From Auto and Shot to
Death—8mall Son, Playing
Nearby, Hears Gun.
By the Assoclsted Pres*.
NEW YORK, February 9.—Henry
(Knockout) Halperin, 38. Brooklyn
small-time racketeer and former box
er. was slain at a busy downtown
Brooklyn corner last night by a man
who pushed him out of a car and flred
six shots into him.
Police said he hag freed himself
four time* of murder charges, most
recently in connection with the slay
ing of Reuben (Ruby the Mock)
Shapiro last September.
Halperin slumped into a gutter and
died in the arms of Joseph Horner,
30. an eye-witness, while the Rev.
Lawrence Bracken, who ran Jrom St
Vincent's Home nearby, administered
last rltea of the Catholic Church.
Police said the racketeer's 4-year
old son was playing a block away in
the yard of the Children's Society, of
which he is a ward, and heard the
noise of the shooting.
Americans
You Should
Know
Dr. Louise Stanley
Helps Solve Problems
for Housewives.
BY DELIA PYNCHON.
THE problem of where we shall
live, what we shall eat, and
wherewithall we shall be
clothed, faces some family
every day. The problem has changed
considerably since the cave lady used
to akin and cook the game her mate
caught. Now it must be scientifically
determined what
the public should
eat, educate them
to eat it, and in
addition, per
suade the farmer
to grow it.
This large or
der has been
handed to Dr.
Louise Stanley.
She is chief of
the Bureau of
Home Economics,
United States De
partment of Ag
'•culture. As eco- Dr 8tllU,y.
nomic ‘Santa
Claus” to an inquiring Nation, Dr.
Stanley has no equal.
Dr. Stanley has had 20 years of in
tensive preparation for the position
she now holds. Degrees were bestowed
upon her like war medals on dis
tinguished soldiers. For 16 years she
taught home economics at the Uni
versity of Missouri. In reality she
was a pioneer in college home eco
nomics.
War Promoted Food Consciousness.
The Department of Agriculture be
gan its campaign for scientific plan
ning of foods and clothing 30 years
ago. These tables are still standard.
About the time of the World War
every one became food conscious. Our
patriotic duty was to conserve sugar
and flour, to can surplus vegetables
and fruit. We wanted the Govern
ment to tell us how. and they did.
The present Bureau of Home Eco
nomics was created in 1923 with Dr.
Stanley as its chief. With new sci
entific knowledge and greater co-ordi
nation of consumer and producer
problems, the scope of the former
division has been enlarged. Pro
ducers. whether farmers or manu
facturers, are proceeding acording to
findings of this bureau.
Recently an interesting new 'yel
low white" potato was found by plant
explorers in South America It is
now being tested for what appears
to be a superabundance of the im
portant vitamin A.
Direct* Chemist*.
Laboratories under Dr. Stanley’s
jurisdiction, headed by chemistry ex
perts. dally are analyzing foods. They
are study mg cotton and wool to de
termine serviceability.
The Bureau of Home Economics
sent out 18.143,556 bulletins last year
to educate the public what they
should scientifically raise, want and
use. Bulletins on school lunches,
house cleaning made easier, home bak
ing and canning led the list of popu
lar demand.
Dr. Stanley’s adopted daughter. 8
years old. lives with her and admit
tedly takes her spare time.
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