Evening star. [volume], July 27, 1937, Page A-9, Image 9

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

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Rule to Require
6-to-3 Decision
Attacked
v --
Changing of Court Ma
jority Number Held
Needless, Inconsistent.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Notwithstanding the talk
among some members of the
House of Representatives
about enacting a law requiring
a six-to-three vote by the Supreme
Court w hen declaring acts of Congress
unconstitutional, the full extent of
legislation affect
ing the courts at
this session of
Congress will be
the passage of a
so-called proce
dural bill affect
ing the lower
courts only.
When the Sen
ate Judiciary
Committee turned
down Vice Presi
dent G a r n e r's
suggestion that
the motion to re
commit the court „ ...
, ,, , ... , David taiarencc.
packing bill be
deferred until a new bill could be
worked out. the Senators opposed to
the court-packing idea pointed out
that, they were taking no chances with
any new^ bills at this stage of the ses
sion and that they preferred to select
a bill that had already passed the
House. This measure, known as the
Sumners bill, has now been amended
by the Senate Judiciary Committee to
Inrlude the half dozen points agreed
upon last week. When it passes the
Senate, the Conference Committee
will naturally be limited by parlia
mentary rules to the sections already
in this measure and hence new sub
jects cannot be Inserted.
The Supreme Court reorganization
proposal is dead for this session. Even
the idea of requiring a two-thirds vote
nf the Supreme Court to declare acts
of Congress invalid would not get any
where in the Senate at this time were
It to pass the House.
The truth is the passage of a law to
Interfere with the judicial power by
telling the Supreme Court it cannot
bold acts of Congress invalid, except
by a six-to-three vote, is generally
regarded by well-informed lawyers to
he beyond the constitutional power of
Congress. The Constitution vests ihe
judicial power in the Supreme Court
and the essence of judicial power is
the right of the court to say what is
the final judgment and to reach it by
rules of Its own. Likewise historically
ft majority ruling is 5i per tent rather
than 6623 per cent unless particularly
specified.
iMi£nt Apply io i ongress.
There may be some virtue in chang
ing the definition of the word "major
ity” hereafter to mean 66~ , per cent
instead of 51 per cent, but if it
achieves popular favor the argument
may be made with equal force with
reference to acts of Congress. Why
should a five-to-four decision be pos
sible when enacting a law in the first
place? Thus last week in the leader
ship fight the majority party chose
Senator Barkley by a vote of 38 to 37,
which means that one man cast the
deciding vote in selecting a leader for
the majority party. The vote in per
centages was 50.67 for Barkley and
40.33 for Harrison, whereas a Supreme
Court five-to-four vote is really 56 per
rent versus 44 per cent of the mem
bership of the court.
Congress is quite accustomed to
/tne-man decisions and the Constitu
tion especially provides ior such con
tingencies in the Senate, where the
Vice President may cast the deciding
vote in case of a tie.
It would take a const it utional
, amendment in all probability to put
e two-thirds rule in effect in the
Supreme Court just as it would take
in amendment to the Constitution to
require legislation to be passed by a
two-thirds vote hereafter instead of
A simple majority.
“Reasonable Doubt” Theory.
Sentiment for a constitutional
imendment to support the six-to-three
Idea in Supreme Court opinions has
been gaining ground in Congress on
Ihe theory that "reasonable doubt”
fxists in a five-to-four decision but
that a six-to-three vote is more con
clusive. What is often overlooked, of
course, is that five Justices make the
decision of the Supreme Court and not
Ane.
There might be as much reason then
In the future, too. for pointing out
that the justice who added his vote
to make a minority of three into a
minority of four wields as much power
In the court as the justice who now
adds his vote to that of four others in
order to make the majority of five.
It will always be a one-man decision
In that sense no' matter what the
majority definition happens to be.
If Congress is really intent on abol
ishing the one-man decision idea, it
will examine the vast discretionary
powers it has vested in one man in the
executive branch of the Government.
Prom 1789 to 1933, the most money
that all Presidents of the United
States had to spend in ways in which
they could exercise their own discre
tion amounted to a total over all the
I-——'—
I
years of only $1,687,000,000. One man
in the White House since 1933 has had
$16,438,000,000 placed at his discretion.
The one-man idea extends also to
hundreds of laws where the powers of
■ the presidency are greater today than
| they ever have been before. It is true
1 these powers can be revoked by Con
: gress. but between elections much
| damage can be done to the economic
: system as well as to the fiscal system
■ of the country. Incidentally, to repeal
an act of Congress requires not a sim
ple majority but two-thirds. So a
President of the United States is really
nowadays more powerful than two
thirds of the Senate and more power
ful than the House of Representatives
when it casts one vote less than two
thirds for a proposal. For it takes a
full two-thirds of both houses to over
ride a presidential veto.
(Copyright. 1 M.)7.)
--•
ELIOT TO SPEAK
Charles W. Eliot, chairman of Pres
ident Roosevelt's Commission on Na
tional Resources, will discuss “State
and Federal Planning" tomorrow at
a special conference on taxation and
planning, held in connection with the
Massachusetts farm and home week
at Amherst, Mass.
Mrs. Lydia Anne Lynde, extension
specialist in parent education, Depart
ment of Agriculture, and O. E. Reed,
chief of the department's Bureau of
Dairy Industry, also are Included
among the speakers.
Good Juiy Duty Excuse.
KANSAS CITY, July 27 OP).—<Carl
P. Werner's lawyer told the Judge
Werner couldn't serve on the jury In
a mail fraud case.
"Why not?" asked Judge Collpt.
“He's one of the defendants," the
attorney replied.
What’s Back of It All
Roosevelt-Lcwis Break Seen Looming—New Deal
Steel Strike Stand Held Displeasing.
BY H. R. BAUKHAGE.
BEHIND the fog that envelops C. I. O'* charge that the administra
tion has been indifferent to the rights of labor in the “little steel”
strike three things are hldaen:
1. There never has been a real split between the President
and John Lewis.
2. There isn't any now.
3 There is one coming.
By collusion, or coincidence, the first story several weeks ago of
the break between the White House and Mr. Lewis, the man who claims
that labor won the election," had all the appearances of stemming from
both sides. Before long unofficial spokesmen (on both sides) were saying
that no parting of the ways had been reached.
Now the same sources (on both sides again) are predicting that
the fork in the road is just a piece farther down and around the corner.
Mr. Lewis has been using a type of pressure on the White House
somewhat suggestive of that which "a high official" recently pointed out
h^d been used on the Supreme
j Court to keep their decisions "more
on judicial than on legislative
lines."
When the head of the C. I. O.
thought he wasn't getting what he
felt he had coming from the ad- i
ministration he cast out a hardly
concealed hint. Frequently all Mr. ,
I<ewis got in answer was an im
J pressive silence. Sometimes he
shared a gentle wallop with his
opponents—the plague wished on his house, for instance, which he didn't
like at all.
However, these little literary bruises were only signboards pointing
to the fork in the road and the end of a beautiful friendship.
* * *
As one friend of the administration puts it, "Some day John Lewis
is gong to ask too much."
Cold-blooded associates of Mr. Lewis say the same thing In different
words—namely, that "President Roosevelt is going to do too little."
They say the Democratic party platform promised protection to
labor to organize without employer interference. The United Mine
Workers declare that the administration is already indifferent to
"flagrant and wanton" violations of labor in the steel strike.
When the White House-C. L. O. split does come it will probably come
on an epigram.
Mr. lewis will doubtless say again. "Life is not cushioned with
sophistries"; ask for deeds, and. unable to summon them, turn his bark
on the pillared mansion on Pennsylvania avenue. He knows when he
does that it will be giving aid and comfort to some of the administration's
enemies.
* * * *
The answer seems to be the pursuit nf a goal under the shibboleth
borrowed from the English labor movement before it had a party of its
own "independence."
I^tbor sympathizers point to certain cities where they say, as in
Detroit and Akron, labor is getting behind candidates. Openly and defi
nitely they are supporting these office seekers, not to run on a labor ticket,
but under an old-line party banner while committed to a labor following.
* * * *
Last week each member of Congress received on a card as big as
the Saturday Evening Post a reproduction of a picture now almost as
ymg |S famous as the "Nude Descending
,4*^RICH/ the Stairrase."
It shows John Lewis, Mrs.
lewis and their son coming down
the step* at the Soviet Embassy,
where they had been invited to a
reception to eat caviar and meet
the first trans-polar fivers.
The picture bore the label of
. a union printer, but did not indi
cate who had sent it.
S^ne members of Congress
thought that perhaps Mr. Lewis had hired a Wcial secretary. Latpr they
found out that the picture had been distributed by the Washington rep
resentative of the Citizens’ National Committee of Johnstown.
* * * *
Sian in the Department of the Interior:
‘ Visit the department's recreation room. It picks you up when
the office lets you down."
* * * *
"The union," wrote the United Federal Workers of America (W. H. P.
Local No. 1), "has just learned that Mr. Hopkins is planning to leave
town today for an indefinite period. We have wired Mr. Hopkins that
he fulfill his responsibility to his employes by negotiating with the union
t before leaving town.”
That was last Saturday.
But Mr. Hopkins, with Skipper Jimmy Roosevelt, had a rendezvous
i with the presidential yacht Potomac that he had to negotiate, too.
'Copyright. ] PUT. by the North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)
CTHE opinions of the writers on this page are their oion, not
x 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.
Court Issue Still Alive
Country Should Know Exact Stand of Public Figures
on Issue, Observer Says.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
U8T as the court light collapsed
following the President’s sur
render. there was beginning to
foil up throughout the country
a wave of opposition to it, organized
and spontaneous. What will now hap
pen to that surge of emotion? Al
though the fight Is won, yet It seems
likely the issue
will still be a liv
ing thing in next
year’s primaries
and elections—
the beginning of
the primaries is
scarcely eight
months away. It
is hard to con
ceive that any
new future issue
will be so vital as
the memory of
the court one.
If It turns out
that the record Mark Salliran.
of the court fight
is an issue in next year's elections, It
is desirable the country should know
just what the record is, Just who was
for the court measure, who against it.
Up to a certain point this can be
known. It cannot be known exactly
because there was never a roll call
directly on the measure. But a list
can be made of about 42 Senators who
in one way or another went on rec
ord against the measure. Ten mem
bers of thp Senate Judiciary Commit
tee did it by signing an adverse re
port against the measure. Others
made speeches against it, others brief
public statements.
Another list can be made of about
40 Senators who one way or another
went on record in favor of the measure.
There remain about 14 Senators w ho
never took a position publicly. Hew
obscure the position of some is is illus
trated by Senator Wagner of New
York. The day before the fight ended
Senator Wagner received a letter from
Gov. Lehman of New York asking him
to vote against the measure. Senator.
Wagner answered the day after thp
fight ended, but hp did not state how
he would have voted had there been
a roll call.
Among the 42 who were on record
against, the court measure it would be
difficult to make distinctions.
cream lor uni s nereat.
To try to assign relative credit for
defeat of the measure would be futile
and could not be accurate. Different
men had different opportunities.
Much credit would go to Senator
Burke of Nebraska for having con
ducted the struggle in and before the
Senate Judiciary Committee. Very
much would go to Senator Wheeler of
Montana, because his opposition led
many liberals am^ even radicals first
to doubt and then to oppose. Much
credit would go to Senator O'Mahoney
of Wyoming, because of the fidelity to
conscience which led him to forego
personal loyalty to President Roose
velt and National Chairman Farley
Much would go to Senator Glass of
Virginia for the hour-long radio speech
that he rose from a sick bed to make.
The Republican Senators should not
be forgotten. Particularly should they
not be forgotten because, with con
scious sel^sacrifice, they invited for
getting and invited it for the purpose
of helping the cause.
The day after Mr. Roosevelt gave
out his measure—February 5—the Re
publican Senators saw where their
greatest opportunity for service lay.
They realized there were only 16 of
them In a Senate of 96, and therefore
they could not be the backbone of the
opposition. They realized that in
proportion as Republicans refrained
from taking the lead against the
measure, so would It be easier for
Democrats to take the lead. Just who
were the Republican Senators who
first saw this condition and brought
about a program of self-sacrificing
silence, no one can say certainly.
From some things that occurred It
seems likely that Senators Borati, Mc
Nary and Vandenberg had something
to do with it.
Because of the way the fight ended,
In fiasco and surrender by the Presi
dent and his friends, several Senators
opposed to the court measure have
lost opportunities which probably
they would have prized, and which
would have given them, fn the eyes of
the public, an additional esteem that
they cannot now have. For example,
who can doubt that Senator Burke of
Nebraska, had the fight gone on,
would have made a notable speech
against the measure. He has the
ability. Normally it would have been
appropriate for Senator Burke to make
the opening speech against the meas
ure. Probably the fact that he did
not means that he placed generalship
above persona] advantage and gave
the opportunities for the early speeches
to other Senators.
And who can doubt that Senator
Borah would have made one of the
great speeches of a career already
great? Or that Senator Vandenburg
would have made a notable speech?
Quite possibly some of the younger
Senators might have been able to
make speeches which would establish
them in Senate and national esteem.
And who can have any doubt that,
the veteran Senator Hiram Johnson of
CalfTorma might have crowned his
career with an impassioned pica of
the kind he used to make against the
League of Nations? He was deeply
moved by the court measure. One of
the mast touching scenes I have ever j
observed on the Senate fiix>r occurred
two days before the fight collapsed.
Senator O’Mahoney of Wyoming had
concluded a speech agamst the court
measure, and a most excellent one—
It was probably the best analysis of
the measure as a whole made by any ;
one. Senator O'Mahoney, slender and
boyish looking, was gathering up his
papers. Across the aisle and up to
his desk came Senator Johnson, walk
ing slowly. One noticed, a little poig
nantly, that Senator Johnson is no
longer young. Gravely, affectionately,
with emotion restrained and yet ap
parent, the older man shook the
younger one's hand, turned slowly, and
went back to his seat. A few days
later, when the fight was over and
won. Senator Johnson arose. He .said:
“Glory be to God!" Those were the
last words spoken in a debate on a
great issue, a debate that, ?Pould have
been ever greater had the fight
gone on.
(Copyright. 1937.)
—--— •- —
It's Twins.
LYONS, Kftns. (4b.—Twin geese
hatched from an egg on Nellie War
ners farm.
Employes’ Meeting Canceled.
Cancellation of the meeting of the
United Civil Service Employes sched
uled for Thursday was announced to
day.
The national offices of the organi
sation are being moved from the Na
tional Press Building to the McGill
Building. SOB O street. i
n.-7
An American
You Should
Know
Stewart McDonald
Aids Thousands to
Own Their Homes.
BY DF.UA PYNCHON.
THE Federal Housing Adminis
tration has an attractive busi
ness proposition to offer pros
pective home owners. A man
can now own his own home for lews
outlay per month than rental, If he
can pass the F. H A. tests. Examiners'
yardsticks measure individual relia
bility, neighbor
hood values, con
struction stand
ards before na
tional O K. is
forthcoming.
Sanguine, can
ny Stewart Mc
Donald is admin
istrator of thw
far-flung invest
ment in homes.
He is a hard
headed business
man. who came
to Washington jn
Stewart McDonald. 5/1 help
"Jimmy" Moffett,
has stayed on, built a great organiza
tion of 3,000 persons. Going down his
own business road, building air castles
along the way, scrapping a few, willing
to do the Job that other fellows re
fused, using a spade, if he couldn't
get a harp, he has the energy’ to
lataie a national Dusiness proposition.
Since 1934 200.000 people are well
on their way toward home ownership.
F. H. A has on its books insured loans
of $1,7.50,000.000, with increases at the
rate of $60,000,000 a month. Most
mortgages are taken out by families
earning $2,500 a year, in towns of less
than 25,000 Inhabitants. Monthly pay
ments may run up to 20 years. Taxes,
in'erest, amortization, insurance are
all sliced off together, "like a chunk
of bologna," McDonald says. You know
the size of the ' chunk" when you
start your home. It has brought in
terest rates down, house building up.
F. H. A. does not lend the money.
It simply co-operates with priva'e cap
ital, guaran'ees the mortgage, acts n
custodian of a mortgage insurance
fund for the benefit of the home
buyer.
These investments ar® "preferred"
for banks and insurance companies.
Careful appraisals by F. H A. expert
examiners in the fiR offices through
out the country assure the soundness
of an American investment in Amer
ican futures. Records show that total
Losses in foreclosures have been less
than $5,000. It is a record for any
business man.
McDonald's life and works insure
success for future publication His
parents came here from Scotland after
the Civil Wag, settled in O?.a'oona,
Minn., where McDonald was born.
With an engineering degree at Cor
nell in 1909 he went into the railroad
business first off. Traveling on, ha
tackled a sick carriage business, with
the help of friends and money: turned
it into the coming automobile busi
ness, built it up. sold it out profitable;
took an ailing plow business, d.d t'n«
same: became interested in electrical
machinery, banking, politics in St.
I/mix. Mo.
We, the People
Capital and Labor Stop Transportation Systems, but
Reactions Are Found Widely Different.
BY JAY FRANKLIN.
WO recent events in the Eastern part of the United States are
recommended to those who want to know What makes the wheels
go round—or stop—in American industry.
The first has been well advertised by the “Thar she blows!”
boys at Nantucket. The Morgan-controlled steamship line which links the
old whaling port and its army of Summer visitors to the mainland was tied
up by a seamen’s strike. Twenty thousand people on the island were seri
ously inconvenienced and food supply was menaced as a result. There were
the usual loud cries from the volunteer harpooners of organized labor. They
took the amusing form of a "threat” to secede from the Union or at least to
annex themselves to New York State unless tile Governor of Massachusetts
“did something’’ about the strikers at once.
Joking aside, inconvenience to 20,000 people is a serious matter, when
coupled with a possible food shortage, suspension of mail service and other
fine points of a stoppage of organ
ized communication. Judging by
the dense silence in which later de
velopments in this particular strike
have been shrouded, a settlement
satisfactory to the strikers must be
on the way.
* * * *
At the same time that the sun
tanned tories were gnashing their
tennis-rackets at the striking sea
men, a Federal court in New York
City airily issued a writ to a United States marshal for the seizure of a fleet
of buses operating on Staten Island. The writ was in satisfaction of an
unpaid debt of the bus corporation, due to the two automobile companies
which had supplied the vehicles for the Staten Island transportation
system. (Yes, General Motors was one!)
As a result of this judicial strike, 20.000 Staten Islanders were
compelled to walk to work, to be late at their places of employment
or to pay $2 and S3 taxi fares to take them to the femes. The incon
venience of 20.000 people is not a small affair and for a Federal
court to assume the responsibility of depriving them of their means
of transportation would seem to be fully as serious as for the seamen
to tie up ferry communication between Nantucket and New Bedford.
Yet there were r.o demands that Staten Island secede from the Union
nr annex itself to the State of New Jersey unless the Governor of New
ork State or the Mayor of New York City “did something’’ at once about
the Federal court. There was only a short newspaper item about the inci
dent and afterwards a silence so dense that one can only conclude that
transportation facilities have been restored to State Island commuters.
Two islands, two transportation systems, 20.000 people in each ease,
one inconvenienced by a strike of labor, the other by a strike of capital,
the first widely advertised as spot news, the second buried so hastily as to
suggest foul play.
This raises the Question: When is a strike not a strike? To
say that a strike is not a strike when ordered by a Federal judge is
to substitute empty legalism for the facts. If the conienience and
welfare of the general public is to be the paramount considerntion
in industrial disputes—as is argued by the Santucketeers—why dors
it not apply to a stoppage such as that staged on Staten Island by
the creditors of the local bus company?
What seems to be urgently needed In this country is a vitalized concept
of the general welfare as the controlling force In civilized society. Capital
\s labor generally settles its disputes at the expense of the public at large.
The worker Is interested in higher wages, shorter hours; capital Is inter
ested In higher profits and monopoly prices, the farmer wants higher prices
for food. The result is a spiral so vicious that it breaks through the cycle of
supply and demand with constantly increasing living costs until the public
is unable to buy and the answer is either inflation or collapse.
Where is the man who will
dramatize this situation and redi
rect our economic, financial and
judicial institutions Into greater
production, lower prices and higher
purrhasing power? Henry Wallace
has been toying with the idea of
"balanced abundance" for the last
few years but has been diverted by
the prire-raising demands of his
agricultural constituents. Until we
get away from the notion that
money is wealth we are doomed to revolve in the squirrel cag“ of bnnm
and-crash economics which gave us the great depression of 1929 and Is
sweeping us toward the depression coming In the 1940s, if not sooner.
(Ooprrtght, la.'tT.)
„ E AMOUNT.LESS SPACE
IS THE MODERN WAT
A beer can is shaped like this []. ft exactly
fits its contents. There’s no waste space . •.
whether you’re carrying beer home from the
small kitchens ... store, or storing beer for a trip in car, trailer
SMALL REFRIGERATORS
Cali for or boat, you will appreciate the efficiency
Bmmr and Aim in Cant
No matter how big your re- of the beer can. It's the MODERN way. !
frigerator is, chances are H's
crowded right this minute;
Canned beer fits in the smalt
spaces, one flat can on top
of another. Say "IN CANS"
I when you order beer or ale.
LISET'S 1ST
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KEEPING COOL NO
PROBLEM TO
TROPICS EXPLORER!
Mr. Anthony
Fiala, noted
jungle explor
er,says :“When
I hit the jungle
trail tea is a
No. 1 necessity.
I vitalize with
tea to beat fa
tigue, nervous tension, sweltering
heat. Tea is the jungle belt’s most
Eopular drink. Tea gets you cool and
eeps you cool far longer than other
BO-called cooling drinks.”
The difference between tea and
other so-called cooling drinks is
this: Tea does more than merely
quench thirst. Tea actually LOW
ERS body temperature. Its cooling
effect is more LASTING. *
Besides its cooling, vitalizing ef
fects, iced tea tastes delicious. To get
real flavor and VITALITY, select a
good brand of Orange Pekoe that
cornea from India, Ceylon, and Java
Sumatra.
Anthony Ffato
*■-*■
DO TH IS every week >
Rub 'Vaseline' Hair Tonic liberally into the scalp before i
every shampoo... massage vigorously to stimulate cir« §
culation... loosen scalp muscles., .thoroughly cleanse, m
* DO THIS everyday..
Brush a few drops of 'Vaseline' Hair Tonic on the
hair before grooming... it keeps unruly hair neat... j
k supplements natural scalp oils . .. corrects dryness.
Vaseline HAIRTONIC
ICO. MW. Cfcmtmifc Bf. 0».. Of't
« 1