Evening star. [volume], April 19, 1937, Page A-11, Image 11

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

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Odds Now
Give Court
Bill Edge
Informal Polls Taken,
However, Held Not
Satisfactory.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
NO QUESTION is more frequent
ly or more persistently asked
of Washington correspondents
than this: "Will the Presi
dent's bill to reorganize the Supreme
Court pass, and if so, when?”
Informal polls have been taken and
several of them published, bpt they
ao not. sausiy. ,
The .reason Is j
that many Sena- ;
tom are non- j
committal, and as i
for the House the j
understanding Is '
that members i
there will not line ;
up till they see |
the form In which ?
the bill is pre- |
sen ted to the Sen- ;
ate for discussion, i
Why are so :
many Senators i
non - committal?
Some of them feel
David Lawrence.
iney neea not antagonize me aamm
Istration unnecessarily and that a
compromise bill will come out of the
Senate committee, and thus spare
them all the grief that comes from
a fight against them, engineered by
the Farley political machine.
The vote probably is close today—
not more than five to 10 votes either
way. But the general expectation is
that the bill transmitted by the Pres
ident with his message to Congress
on February 5 will be materially al
tered. The debate has brought out
several defects which the administra
tion Itself will want to correct.
Present Status of Bill.
Thus, as the measure stands today,
Mr. Roosevelt or a future President
could appoint a man at the age of 69
and he would be eligible to serve for
10 years—namely, till he is 79. That
would not be infusing “young blood,”
and six old men can be appointed if
the proposed bill written at the White
House were passed.
Some amendment insisting that no
body shall be appointed who is over
60 years of age would seem to be likely,
though this might cut off some of
the candidates for the Supreme Court
bench who have been active in behalf
of the President's plan.
Talk of “compromise" is heard on
•very side. But what is “compro
mise"? Certaintly, in a close fight, it
is a mistake for either side to con
cede at this stage of the game that
any compromise will be accepted.
If President Roosevelt really wanted
to compromise, he would not say so
at this time. He could wait till the
bill came out of the Senate commit
tee or he could stand pat till the bill
passed the Senate and wait and see
what changes the House might make
and then try to work out a compro
mise in conference.
The Senate Judiciary Committee
will rewrite the bill. The committee
will not ask Mr. Roosevelt's views be
cause a majority there is opposed to
his plan anyhow. Yet an effort to
meet the public sentiment which wants
some sort of change will be made.
Limit of 75 Indicated.
Thus, for instance, the reporting out
of constitutional amendments requir
ing retirement at 75 may be looked for.
This might be adopted by the com
mittee Irrespective of the President's
bill.
As for the basic issue—whether when
a President of the United States
wants the decisions of the Supreme
Court changed, he need only ask Con
gress to increase the size of the cour^—
this is something that doesn’t permit
of a middle ground. If Mr. Roosevelt
Is right, then two or six justices added
makes the scheme objectionable from
the viewpoint of those who are taking
their stand on principle. Just one
germ of a contagious disease injected
Into the human constitutional system
Is as bad as a great many germs.
From the standpoint of the Presi
dent's supporters, they, too, will want
six justices because they think Mr.
Roosevelt needs at least six more to
balance the four who have been con
sistently Invalidating New Deal laws
and the one who has done it occasion
ally.
There’s another kind of a com
promise possible. If the debate is
prolonged and the Senators opposed to
the President's plan succeed in arous
ing by their speeches a considerable
sentiment against action for some time
to come, the present session of the
Supreme Court may when it ends in
June see two resignations. This would
completely transform the issue for the
time being. Opponents would say they
want to learn what type of justices
Mr. Roosevelt plans to appoint. Sup
porters might be disposed to wait till
the nominations are announced and
thus an agreement might be reached
to defer action until after confirma
tion by a majority of the Senate.
But how do the votes stand now?
The answer is that from the very
beginning it has been apparent that
solely on personal conviction and on
a secret ballot, the proposal of Mr.
Roosevelt to pack the court would be
overwhelmingly beaten in both houses.
Says Farley Machine Active.
But since the administration keeps
tabs on every member of Congress
and the Farley machine already is
-'•Jtive in building a backfire against
meThbers of the Senate who have de
clared themselves publicly against the
President's plan, many Senators have
to choose between allowing some Par
ley-chosen Democrats to come to the
Senate in their places or standing by
and trusting to future developments
to enable them to modify the 111
eflects which they believe will flow
from a packing of the court.
The chances of passing the Presi
dent's bill with a few amendments,
but not altering the basic principle
he has in mind, grow better every
day that the Parley political machine
Is at work. Many persons have pro
tested by letter to their Senators
against the Supreme Court bill but
not enough of them have said In so
many words that they will not vote
next time for a member of Congress
who approves by his vote the Presi
dent’s bill.
Nor have enough Republican vot
ers written their pledges of support of
Democratic Senators who might be
wavering and who would like to
know now whether they can count
gains from the conservative group to
offset the votes being mobilized by
the so-called ‘‘Non-Partison Labor
League” and other New Deal mechan
isms for lining up votes.
As it is, the chances of the Presi
dent’s winning the fight are better
than even.
(Copmtbt, IBS?.)
News Behind the News
Confusion Obtains in Government as Roosevelt
Plans Are Checked.
BY PAUL MALLON.
THE Government Is moving along daily with a dull Spring air of
assurance, but underneath there has rarely been such lack of order.
Nearly everything seems to be Involved In confusion. Price policy,
budget, sit-downs, taxes, Government finances, Government re
organisation, new N. R. A., new Supreme Court, hours and wages, arma
ments and nearly anything you can mention.
Some or these conditions may
clear up shortly; others may become
serious. But, for the present, there
is little clarity of thought about
action or detailed purposes in con
nection with anything.
# For instance, there is no legis
lative program and has been none
since Congress started in January.
Old hands cannot remember when
a legislative program was lacking
after three and a half months of
congressional debate.
The reason is obvious.
congress cannot formulate a program wnen n aoes not Know what
legislation is to be marked "must.” President Roosevelt has been
blocked and. delayed for one reason or another in working out his
objectives.
What he does In the next 30 days may tell the tale for the next
three years.
* * * *
Tax BUI Talk—at Financing Time.
A very definite semi-official assurance Is abroad In certain financial
quarters that there will not be a tax bill.
The explanation jor all this talk about one, they say, is
Treasury financing strategy. Experienced bond market men have
noticed that, whenever the Treasury is confronted with a financing
problem, as at present, a flurry of unofficial tax increase stories
appear. After the financing is complete, the talk sometimes dies
down.
Thus evidence, however, is not conclusive. There may or may not be
a tax bill. You will know definitely in mid-May.
* * * *
Reorganization Plan Acquires Scars.
The President's Government reorganization plan is being severely
cuffed around backstage. The joint congressional committee which is
supposed to be formulating the legislation Is so mixed up It has not held
a meeting for the last two weeks.
In the end. the President probably will get his six new secre
taries. Committeemen seem to feel that, if Mr. Roosevelt says he
needs these new jobs, they cannot go behind his request. They are
nowhere near as enthusiastic about creating the two new Gov
ernment departments (welfare for fckes and public works for
Hopkins> as their published words would indicate.
They are already determined not to give the President control over
the budgets of several independent commissions.
Sentiment appears crystallizing against placing the Interstate Com
merce Commission and the Federal Communications Commission under
departmental control.
At * * *
Disarmament Just a Dream.
The new ordainers have practically given up on disarmament. No
public word has been spoken on the subject, but the various things which
have been tried out on the inside are said to have been filed away.
* * * *
Relief and Budget Message Due.
What they will do about the budget spending and the related subject
of the Government bond market is up to Mr. Roosevelt’s message this
<■
%
r*
week on relief and budget revision.
Evidence is available that he tore
up his original message, or at least
abandoned his original idea. The
new one may be more to the liking
of the Eccles-Morgenthau school of
curtailment and budget balancing,
^ not merely on paper, but in fact.
The only really dangerous
factor In the situation is prices.
On this he still has his unan
nounced “plan,” but no one knows
wnat he will do with It. There will be legislation on this subject, and
probably also on the new N. R. A. and hours-wages, again no one know*
what.
# * * *
Sit-Down Legislation Unlikely.
There will be no sit-down legislation, unless the current spread of
small strikes breaks into big ones. The President himself gave an indica
tion on this by amplifying his silence on the subject at his last two press
conferences.
* * * *
Problems Crowd Around.
Few authorities can recall a time when a President of the United
States was beset with so many confusing problems in peace times. Even
in the early days of the New Deal there were only one or two subjects
hanging fire at a time, and the only problem was to work them out. Now
there are dozens of problems pressing for solution and few acceptable
solutions being suggested—that is, solutions acceptable from a presidential
standpoint.
(Copyright, 1H37.)
J'HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
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 he contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s.
Spanish War’s Lessons
Cash Declared to Have Thrown White Light on
World’s Class Struggle.
BY DOROTHY THOMPSON.
THE lessons of Spain are numer
ous. No situation since 1S33
has thrown into clearer light
the forces moving Europe and
the western world, or dispelled more
idols of the market place, military, so
cial and political.
First of all, military. For years the
idea of the slash
ing, elemental of- :
fensive, the sur
prise a 11 a c k
which would
overcome all re
sistance and re
sult In victory in
three days’ or
three weeks’, time,
has dominated
the thinking of
war offices and of
journalists and
commentators on
military affairs.
The undeclared
war launched
Dorothy Thompson.
against civilians witn an uie man la
ments of modern technology, re
sulting In Immediate moral collapse
and surrender, has seemed the perfect
weapon for nations with formidable
military machines, but without the
capability of long endurance in a for
eign war. Thus Gen. Goering i,s un
derstood to have told a citizen of a
neighboring neutral country six or
eight months ago that the next war
would be immediate and elemental in
its fury and whoever struck first with
the most completely mobilized forces
would certainly win it. On that theory
strategies have been planned.
The Spanish experience casts se
rious doubts upon this thesis, Gen.
Franco’s was certainly a surprise at
tack, against a government which was
innerly divided and extremely weak.
Gen. Franco himself disintegrated the
Spanish army by his rebellion, taking
with him the largest part of its staff
officers. Franco had, from the begin
ning, the financial and other support
of interested parties outside Spain. He
had voluntary support in some of the
democratic countries—in England, for
instance—and definite and official
support from nations which do not
have to consult their people. Either
he, personally, or his supporters had
certainly consulted the highest in
stances in Germany and been assured
of support months before the coup
broke. This column has definite and
reliable sources for believing this to
be true. And if it was, one may cer
tainly infer that Italy was also a party
to the plot.
Errors by Franco.
One can speculate now whether
errors which Franco made in the first
week of the campaign were not re
sponsible for his failure to win im
mediately. But the fact is that nine
months have passed. Franco has
not taken the capital, he has lost
positions which he gained, and it is
now quite clear that he cannot possibly
win unless Germany and Italy are pre
pared to undertake an outright con
quest of Spain with all the men and
arms necessary.
Franco has had from the beginning
officers, trained Moroccan, Italian and
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German troops, the support of the
rich of Spain, and even some Spanish
people, to throw against an unpre
pared population, the "rabble,” who, at
the outset, though they displayed re
markable personal valor, were lamen
tably organized and lacking in any
military discipline. Both sides, of
course, eventually enlisted foreigners
in their ranks. But Franco’s foreign
ers were brigades of trained and dis
ciplined soldiers, there under orders
of their governments, while the loyal
ists have a revolutionary army of men
who have enlisted against the policy
of their governments, with no official
aid, either out of conviction for a
cause or out of pure adventure.
Why, under all these circumstances,
has Franco not won?
One is forced to conclude that there
is still such a thing in the world as
moral force. As in the United States
in 1776, the social revolutionary forces
and the national will are both, appar
ently, on the same side. That means
an alliance with history. The most
dynamic spirit in Spain is with the
loyalists. For that spirit recognizes
the urgent, inexorable need for a
better material life for the impover
ished long-suffering Spanish people.
And that means a realignment in
society, the sweeping away of such
special interests as prevent the appli
cation of more scientific methods to
social, technical, agrarian organiza
tion. And the people of Spain, who
are proud, intellectual, logical and
fierce, as well as profoundly patriotic,
know quite well that no junta of gen
erals can solve Spain’s pressing
problems.
Poet’* Words Revelatory.
Nor can patriotism, nationalism,
win by means of an invasion of for
eign troops, or establish its moral
prestige by high treason. The words
of the dying Spanish poet Unamuno
are revelatory. He had supported
Franco against the government, yet
he is reported to have said before his
death: “When I see the Germans in
the streets of Salamanca I know my
country has been betrayed.’’ And he
was right. For the soldiers were
mercenaries- They were not fighting
for Spain, but for foreign imperial
ist interests. What have they to do
with Spanish nationalism? Just as
the invasions into revolutionary Rus
slo of Yudenitch, Denikin and Wran
gel, backed and financed by foreign
powers anxious to recapture their lost
economic Interests, finally consoli
dated the Russian people behind the
Red Army, so the invasion into Spain
of Italians, Germans and, above all,
of Moors, tore open the eyes of the
people of Spain and pulled the na
tional feeling into alliance with the
social revolution. So that to be a
good Spaniard, to be a lover of Spain,
to be a patriot, meant for thousands
to stand shoulder to shoulder with the
"rabble”—as once it meant in this
country, before there ever was a
United States.
CCopVUht. 193? J
This Changing World
Row Over Former Prince Nicholas Susceptible of
Serious Consequences in Rumania.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.
THE row between Brother Carol and Brother Nicholas of Rumania,
regarding the right of the latter to lead his own life, might create
serious troubles In the Danubian kingdom.
Carol, as King, objects strenuously to his younger brother and
former regent having married the lady of his choice.
* a * a
Carol Is acting like a fox who has gone on a vegeterian diet. He wants
the family of which he is the head
to lead a highly regal life.
The row might be of little Inter
national consequence if It were not
for the Rumanian Nazis, the Iron
Guards, who have taken sides
with the prince.
Nicholas' wife is a Ru
manian and a Christian.
Mme. Lupescu is a Jewess.
The prince does not play a
political role in his country
hence his wife cannot pull any strings behind the scenes. Mme.
Lupescu has managed to surround Carol with a court camarilla,
which keeps out of office all those who might oppose the unofficial
wife of King Carol.
* * * *
The Iron Guards have been looking for a chance to start a campaign
against the King. They are still smarting because the Rumanian govern
ment is unwilling to side with the dictators of Central Europe—Mussolini
and Hitler. They consider tha Carol-Nlcholas incident as a godsend which
will enable the Iron Guard leaders to let loose a flood of oratory and thus
gain more partisans.
* * * *
President Quezon has finished his Mexican visit. Officially, he
went over to rest and pay a call on the Mexican President. The
real scope of the visit, however, is that Quezon is endeavoring to
get the Latin American republics to accept the new Philippine Re
public in the Pan-American concert.
President Roosevelt is not opposed to withdrawing all political immix
ture of the United States in the new reupblic some time in 1938 or 1939.
Whether the other Latin-American nations would want to bring the
new state into their family is another matter. The American continents
are practically safe; there is no real
danger of their being invaded by
any Asiatic or European power or /
group of powers.
This is not the case with the
Philippines. Although for the time
being the danger of a Japanese
invasion has subsided, that danger
will always remain a possibility.
They are too close to the wolf.
* * * *
Another Lawrence of Arabia haa
appeared on the political horizon of the Middle East in the person of Sir
John Philby, the political advisor of King Ibn Saud, the master of Arabia,
Sir John is a Britisher who has been converted to Islamism,
partly because he prefers that religion to Christianity and partly
because he wants to be close to Ibn Saud at Mecca. As a Christian,
it does not matter how friendly the head of the Arab kingdom may
be to him, he could not enter the holy city.
Philby is suspected by many as an agent of the British government.
This may be so, although for the time being he acts more as an enemy than
a friend of his government.
* * * *
Ambassador Luther’s outburst at the Bierabend he gave for the
Washington newspaper men was, to say the least, unusual.
German Ambassadors from the time of Von Prittwitz have followed
the custom of giving a yearly entertainment of the most informal nature.
.Beer, sausages and scrambled eggs are served at small tables. But in the
past political discussions were strictly taboo. Neither Von Prittwitz nor
Luther in the last eight years mentioned politics. If ever international
problems were discussed by some individual newsman with either the
Ambassador or any member of the staff, it was purely a personal affair.
a * * *
Ambassador Luther’s “speech" is being interpreted here as a personal
gesture, before his departure for Germany. Dr. Luther is a converted
Nazi. That is to say, he started by being an opponent of the present
regime; then, realizing the hold Hitler got on the country and the re
markable restoration of the Reich as one of the most powerful nations in
Europe, he became a super-Nazi.
Luther is going back to Germany. His unhesitating Nazi policy in
this country is not generally known in the Reich because it has never
received much publicity. The attacks he has been subjected to in this
country from various anti-Nazi groups and in the House of Representatives,
were not sufficient to show what a good fighter for the cause he was.
He needed just before his return to Berlin some real outburst. And the
otherwise pleasant and uneventful Bierabend offered the retiring Am
bassador the occasion to make the front page, both in this country and
in Germany.
(Copyright, 1937.)
Headline Folk
and What
They Do
Hunt for George Rice,
Parole Breaker, Re
calls Old Days.
BY LEMUEL F. PART0N.
WHEN George Graham Rice
broke his parole last No
vember Federal authorities
made a rather desultory
search. It was learned today that
they and State authorities, too, have,
for some reason or other, become in
tensely interested and there is a real
hunt on.
Man and boy, this writer has ob
served Mr. Rice as on- of the most
interesting of our illustrious pica
roons, as dependable as the old faith
ful geyser, in always erupting again
after a spell of quiesence. It is 47
years now since he first went to jaiL
He emerged in 1933 from Atlanta,
where he had gone in 1928 after
typical stock operations which had
fleeced victims of several millions.
I unintentionally gypped him of
$1,150 once, but failed to get my cut
and didn't know until years after
ward what had happened. It was in
the hell-roaring days of Goldfield.
Rife and Larry Sullivan, the famous
crimp, were selling blue sky to all
comers and popping champagne corks
all around town. In the absence of
the boss, I was running the Goldfield
Tribune.
A story came 'n which It was made
clear that one of the mo6t fabulous
Sullivan-Rice promotions was an
eight-foot prospect hole without a
trace of color in it. I was unable to
verify it and threw it away. That
evening I had a visit from a ratty
curb broker, quite rich and powerful
now, who, in those days, was doing
minor assignments of dirty work for
Sullivan and Rice. He asked how
wt were going to play that "blue bird”
story. I told him I had thrown it
away.
Goldfield went to pot and Rice went
to jail and the world wagged on about
15 years. One day, on Market street,
San Francisco, a stranger began
thumping me on the back and in
sisting he had been looking for me
for years to buy me a drink. We
had the drink, and I finally identified
him as Rice’s one-time scavenger and
fixer. He had been working in gun
running and filibustering deals in
South America.
"You remember that night I came
in and asked you about the blue bird
story?”
"Yes.”
"Well, I'll tell you what happened.
Rice slipped me $200 and said, 'Go
down to the Tribune office and grease
that big tramp. Don’t let that story
get into the paper.’ I went back to
the office, talked to you and went
back to Rice. 'He's a tough ombre,' I
said. 'He laughed at me when I
flashed that $200.’ Rice handed me
another $200 and told me to try again.
| X made five or six trips down past
| your office, going back to Rice’s office
I each time for more money. Finally,
j when I had run it up to $1,150, I
called it a night's work and knocked
off. The next day Rice patted me on
the back for keeping the story out of
the paper and said it was cheap at
the price.”
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