Evening Star Newspaper, August 25, 1935, Page 32

D2 = : THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGT : D. 'C! AUGUST 25! 1935—PART TWO. THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY . +eeens.August 25, 1935 e P THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor e The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Offioe: 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York 0 ice: l 0 East 42n¢ L m. P SR lhnm. MShIgsn fon. Ensiand. Rate by Carrler Wflhln the City. Regutar Edition, Evening Star. p, -45¢ per month Besnta® Ah0aave) 600 par month 'rh Evenlnl Sha ‘Sund Sundays) -85¢ per month 'rh. Binday Blaver -5¢ per copy o Night Final Edition. 3 aay Star....70c per mont! ooncction mads & Ordors may be sent by mail of telephone Na- tional 5000. Rate by Mnll—l’aynhh in Advance. Maryland .nl Virginia, sfino 1 mo.. u % mo’, Iro 00; mo., Member of the Associated Press. Assoclated Press 1s exclusively entitled to th:e for ten%lc-tmn of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. iP%Fights of ublication of special dispatches erein are also reserved. —_—_— Soup to Nuts. The Seventy-fourth Congress is likely to go down in history as the greatest “spending” body that has represented the American people. Not only did it pass the largest single peace-time ap- propriation bill, $4,880,000,000, but it has enacted other measures which seem bound to lead to huge expenditures in the future, among them the so-called economic security act. Under the lead- ership of President Roosevelt these and other acts have been put through Con- gress without the slightest regard for a balanced budget. The President, and also the legislators, backed away com- pletely from the enactment of revenue legislation which might be construed as an effort to bring about some adequate relation between Government spending and Government income. Instead the President’s “share-the-wealth” tax law, generally considered a political ges- ture, was placed on the statute books. This tax law 1s expected to bring in not more than $250,000,000 additional revenue. This money, it is true, will be used for governmental expenditures. It is, however, but a drop in the bucket when the huge outgo is considered. And furthermore, the basic purpose of the measure, as explained by the President in his message to Congress, is to use the taxing power of the Government to_ redistribute wealth. It is part of the reform program—a part, indeed, which seems to have been intended to offset the ballyhoo of Senator Long of Louisi- ana. The taxing power of the Federal Government has been used to meet the necessary expenses of protection of the people in the past. The “share-the- wealth” wrinkle of Federal taxation is something new. And it appears' to have had its big start at the hands of the Louisiana Senator. President Roosevelt submitted to the Congress a long program of legislation. In the main the Congress has done what the President asked, from soup to nuts, from the $4,880,000,000 work- relief appropriation to the Guffey coal bill. His public utility holding company bill, with its “death sentence” menace to some of these companies in some- what changed form, was finally written into law. While there have been signs of restiveness among the members of House and Senate, and bitter excoria- tion by some of the Democrats, the well- greased administration steam roller has flattened all opposition. Although put upon notice by the Su- preme Court of the United States that the theory of many of the New Deal laws is unconstitutional, the President has persisted in his demand for more and more such legislation. The Con- gress has followed him. The outstanding and astounding performance by the Chief Executive and the national Legis- lature dominated by him was the pas- sage of the Guffey coal bill. The Presi- dent asked that this bill be passed, although the members of Congress might have reasonable doubts as to its con- stitutionality—indeed, he said, no matter how reasonable these doubts might appear to be. Furthermore, although there is prospect of court decisions holding unconstitutional the A. A. A, the T. V. A. and others of the alphabetical flock, the Congress at the behest of the President has put through laws adding to the powers of the Federal ‘Govern- ment in these instrumentalities. The homely potato has been added to the list of farm crops over which the A, A. A. is to have firm control. A measure of grave importance, not on the Roosevelt program, was forced through at the last moment, the neu- trality joint resolution barring the ship- ment of arms and munitions from this country to warring nations. In fact, this measure was not in accord with the President’s plan, which called for dis- cretionary power to be placed in his hands. The Congress, however, was in no mood to be checked when this meas- ure was actually before it. A concession -which the President was able to wring from it was to limit the mandatory fea- tures of the resolution as they relate to arms embargo to a period of six months. The members of Congress are return- ing to their homes. For the first time since last January they will have a real opportunity to learn what their con- stituents are thinking, particularly about the New Deal. With a national election in the offing, ears will be close to the ground. Day of Peace. The Christian church during the' Middle Ages labored to establish a day of peace, a brief God's truce, when no man should raise his hand against an- For generations the effort was unsuccessful, and then, following & period of especially violent turmoil, princes and people alike agreed to make the experiment. The venture, incredible ! trouble that may develop. | cumstances, however, it cannot be con- as it may seem, enjoyed a considerable measure of success. Old chronicles tell how, during periods designated by the clergy, tillers of the fleld might sow or reap without molestation, travelers ride or walk the public highways without fear, women and children remain at home or go abroad without danger. In France, Italy and England, if not throughout the entire breadth of Europe, humanity could breathe freely for a while. And the church gradually extended the one day of peace until the truce of God began on Thursday evening and did not ter- minate until Monday morning—half the week was safe against war and strife and hate. But the dream of “a world made kind” faded under the influence of ambitious monarchies. Selfishness and passion sprang up ‘again like so many noxious weeds in a lovely garden; nations and classes became rivals in a new struggle for power, and the age of competition began. No one realized the ultimate end of it all, no one guessed what was to happen in the distant twentieth century—the whole earth locked in fratricidal conflict, then revolution and famine, disease and crime; millions mur- dered, millions physically and mentally marred, millions bowed and broken in a spiritual agony too deep and poignant to be expressed in words. Only an occasional scholar, turning the yellow leaves of ancient volumes, now remembers the lost years of long ago when the day of peace had its original meaning. But perhaps the time will come for another trial, another at- tempt to expand the Sabbath to include all other portions of the week. If it were worth trying in 1235, it might be in 1935. The aspiration of the people, it would seem, is not hostile to such a hope. Rather, it is ready as never be- fore for any endeavor which promises relief from existing sorrow. ——ee—— Mediterranean Moves. Great Britain's move toward a naval demonstration in the Mediterranean, as a step toward the preservation of peace, is not necessarily to be interpreted as a determination to intervene directly in the conflict between Italy and Ethi- opia, if that should occur. It appears to be a precautionary measure, to safe- guard the Suez Canal from seizure by Italy, rather than a step toward par- ticipation. ,Were there no war menace, it might indeed be considered simply as a practice maneuver, quite in the line of naval training rather than a measure of possible participation in any In the cir- strued other than a notice to Italy that Great Britain will not tolerate any abuse of the privilege of the use of the canal in the event of war. It is highly significant that imme- diately upon the development of the news that this program of a Mediter- ranean naval demonstration was in oraer a clamor of apprehension arose in England on the score of the sufficiency of Britain’s sea force for eventualities, which simply means a fear lest the naval power of Britain is not today adequate. Skepticism has been frankly expressed, the Daily Mail declaring that “the plain truth is that Great Britain is the most defenseless of all the great powers.” This must be taken with & grain of salt. There is little likelihood of fact in the assertion. The British naval force is today much greater than that of Italy and its facilities for har- borage are quite as extensive as those of that power. The outery of alarm on the score of a British naval weakness in the face of the impending crisis in Africa must be regarded as either a protest against any sort of participation in the Italo- Ethiopian imbroglio or as & stimulus to the strengthening of the defensive force of England. That there would be a definite resistance to any British move to engage, in whatever degree, in the conflict between Italy and Ethiopia is well assured. Yet there is the Suez Canal to be considered, a vital link be- tween England and its eastern posses- sions and closely allied interests. Its closure to the war fleet of Italy would perhaps be construed by that power as tantamount to intervention in behalf of Ethiopia. It might lead to the embroil- ment of the two powers. That is & contingency always to be borne in mind and it has doubtless been considered with the greatest care by the British ministry. If Great Britain is as weak in the Mediterranean and in naval defense generally as is intimated now by the critics of the ministry’s program of pre- paredness, it is quite in season for the matter to be put to the test at this juncture, when the essential factor of the British Empire’s security, the Suez Canil, lies on the path of a war- making fleet. ————————— It has not been shown that Will Rogers ever wrote a line of poetry in his life. The law of averages asserts itself in the sincere ‘and voluminous metrical tributes of affection his fate has inspired. After adjournment it will be possible to mention nmpenmre vithout sugges- tion of political complications. Local Relief. In the local budget discussion with the Commissioners last week Mr. Rufus Lusk, representing a small group of large taxpayers, suggested the cure for the local relief problem that would lie in merely stopping relief. Commissioner Allen suggested that while we are about it we should also prevent hot weather in Washington in the Summer months—the adoption of one idea being about as practical as the other. The proportions of the local relief problem, as'distinct from the national relief problem, are to be kept in mind. The great majority of those on relief rolls in Washington are supported, not by local revenues, but by national relief grants. Whether the cost of their relief is excessive, whether there are persons on relief who have no business being longth and, charges in the National Capital are matters, first, of opinion and, secondly, for decision by the Federal relief authorities, ‘The problem, which concerns the local officials has to do with the 4,541 cases of unemployables—the cripples, the sick, the very young and the very old— who lack both the means of livelihood and the ability to work. These, accord- ing to Mr. Hopkins, are to be made the exlusive responsibility of the munic- ipality next November. In addition, the local government may receive the added task of supplementirs; the relief needs of large families dependent upon the earnings of a single W. P. A. relief worker, ‘That problem is a tangible one which cannot be escaped. Drop these people from public relief and their only hope is private relief. Private relief, as repre- sented by the Community Chest organi- zations, cannot assume the burden without dropping every other activity, and that will not be done. Some of the cases will be cared for under the new social security legislation. The majority will remain public charges, prosperity or no prosperity. Until the community indicates that it prefers to care for them . through doubling, perhaps quadrupling, its contributions to the Community Chest they will be cared for from public funds. And the appropriation of such funds is necessary. Even a Summer session cannot pre- vent the United States Congress frem adjourning, in accordance with custom, with a large residue of unfinished busi- ness, e A 4 e A particlpant in the Cleveland air race is a lady designated as a flying nurse. If the next war is to be fought in the air, an airplane ambulance with plenty of speed might not be a bad idea. A “social lobby” is indignantly re- ferred to. Even the Summer resort post card inscribed “I wish you were here” may come to have its political signifi- cance, Housewives have taken note of the fact that while the Department of Agri- cul!,ure has developed numerous best sellers, pork chops are no longer among them. The thermometer looms large in statesmanship. After a prolonged ses- sion in Washington there will be a series of nominating conventions next Summer. ——— e While on shipboard Postmaster Gen- eral Farley became acquainted with a child actress. A seasoned politician may benefit by communion with the inno- cence of the Hollywood theater. As wars are promiscuously discussed, it may be expedient to get the Prince of Wales into action again as an am- bassador of good will: Lotteries are advocated by many citi- zens. To keep them honest is not easy. Lottery control may be one of the prob- lems of the future. i Low-number tags indicate official ownership of automobiles and there- fore the most precise co-operation with the police in safety precautions. Surviving pork has become sufficiently precious to cause the Department of Agriculture to interest itself in a hog cholera cure. A Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Ask Me Not to Lunch. Oh, ask me not to lunch, dear friend, For I must own at last, The time has come when I must end Convivial repast. Observing strangers we must heed, Though tame the table chat The gossip that may thence proceed 1s something far from flat. Send me a telegram some day Or call me on the phone, And tell me just which stocks to play And which to let alone. If you for me should place a bet Upon a private hunch, Sincerest gratitude you'll get— But ask me not to lunch. Individualism, “Of course you like money,” interviewer. “Of course,” rejoined Senator Sorghum. “I'm still struggling to save a little for- tune for myself.” “And then what?” . “I'll ask Carter Glass what's going to become of it.” Jud Tunkins says his Congressman gets so many letters that it takes a brass band and a parade to attract his atten- tion. said the Governments Disagree. Why should we worry o'er the pow'rs That governments have shown? Although some say they don’t like ours, They do not like their own. - Insides. “What we want to do,” said the excited citizen, “is to show the public all the inside facts.” “Why?” asked old Doc Pillsbury, “There is expert use for an X-ray photo- graph, but it is entirely lacking in popular fascination.” Radio Riot. “Home on the Range,” ‘Where rangers ride! ‘We'll make a change To spaces wide. For busy bluff < ‘We'll still prepare. The jazzy stuft ‘Will all be there. “Dem’s de original Ten Command- ments,” said Uncle Even, “but e lawyers and politicians sho’ly has put & lot o President Is Now Changing Jobs BY OWEN L. SCOTT, President Roosevelt is in the¢”process of changing jobs. From March 4, 1933, until now he has functioned as an “emergency” President, initiating daring experiments, forcing reforms, corralling new powers for the Executive, planning, acting and driving ahead. That job is about ended with the adjournment of Congress. The emer- gency no longer impresses people. They have turned their attention from the excitement of one dazzling Washington performance after another to the more personal problem of trying to make a living in spite of, or with the help of, the Government. - So President Roosevelt, provided by Congress with nearly-all the powers and plans for which he has asked, is faced with the problem of turning from as- saults on the old order of things to the more prosaic job of trying to make his now completed new set-up function effectively. kR k. His first job involved constant, rapid- fire action to keep the people aroused to the need for change or to take ad- vantage of their desire for change. The President proved a master of that type of performance. In spite of tales about presidential defeats on one legislative plan after another, the fact is that the White House has had from Congress just about what it wanted on every vital point. The national planning machine is built in the way that Mr. Roosevelt desired it. The second job, just ahead, calls for new technique and other abilities than the first. Painstaking details of admin- istration will carry more importance than planning for new ventures. Fewer chances will occur for grand gestures; more for carefully arrived at adminis- trative decisions that will spell success or failure of the ambitious plans ap- proved by Congress. Those plans sooner or later will affect the lives of nearly all citizens. The interest of these citizens and others will be in the functioning of the various programs; not in alluring descriptions of the future hope that they hold out. , ¥ Mr. Roosevelt's new problem is to put his promises to work, now that Congress has given its O. K. to go ahead. ‘The size of that job is staggering to the administrators. They can be ex- pected to turn to the White House for guidance, and Mr. Roosevelt increasingly can be expected to become immersed in problems of administration. Seven months have passed since the President asked Congress to give him four billion dollars to be used in shifting the Nation from a dole to a work-relief basis. Nearly five months have elapsed since Congress gave him the money. Yet today that most ambitious of New Deal plans presents more problems than accomplishments. Promises made at a moment when four billion dollars seemed like a lot of money cannot be fulfilled. Those billions would feed great numbers of people, but, as it has turned out, they will not cover wage and material costs in the type of program that Mr. Roosevelt vi- sioned to give jobs to those people. * k * % So the President finds States and cities not satisfied, organized labor not satis- fied, voters, at least in Rhode Island, ot satisfied, and-many of -the relief workers themselves not satisfled. He is unable to provide the volume of useful work or the type of useful work that he described to the country in January. If jobs are created on the scale he proposes, .the . money will be used up and more billions then would be needed mext year Plenty of administrative problems to keep any President busy are wrapped up in that single New Deal project. It is but one of many. If they are solved there will then be the problems raised by the country’s new program of old- age insurance and its budding venture into unemployment insurance on a State-Federal basis. The country appears not yet to appre- ciate the scope of the venture into na- tional insurance approved by Congress. Nothing that eventually will directly affect so many people has been enacted in the recent legislative history of the Nation. *x k% Next January will give the country its first pay roll tax. This tax, like the processing tax, is a New Deal creation and one that provides the heart of the social security plan, just as the process- ing tax is the heart of the farm program. At first the tax will apply only to employers of four or more persons and will be payable January 1, 1937, on the pay rolls of the previous year. But then, beginning January 1, all em- ployers and all workers in industry will feel the tax. In the end it will amount to 9 per cent of the country's pay roll, with employes paying 3 per cent and employers 6 per cent. Of most direct effect on the bulk of the country’s population is the old- age insurance system. This is a sys- tem of forced saving, through the pay roll tax medium, which is designed to assure all workers in industry a pen- sion ranging from $17.50 to $81.50 per month, after they reach the age of 65 Unemployment insurance starts on a narrower basis, with plans dependent upon State laws. But the whole ven- ture is the beginning of a system vast in scope, creating problems of adminis- tration that will need to be solved by Mr. Roosevelt. * Kk % At the President’s request, Congress has voted to reshift the controls in the Federal Reserve banking system. The country has been told that Senator Glass of Virginia won a sweeping vic- tory for orthodoxy in the new bank law. Actually, astute New Deal analysts say, - he came out decidedly second best, with victory really going to Marriner S. Eccles, governor of the Federal Reserve Board. As a result of that victory, Mr. Roose- velt now is given an opportunity to take control of the machinery that provides the country with its bank money or credit. Credit control, formerly in the hands of bankers, is wrested from them and centralized in a committee that Mr. Roosevelt control by appointment. the economic future of the country. One decision, under banker control, gave the country the deflation of 1921 and another laid the groundwork for the credit inflation that led up to the 1929 crash.. Now the President has the chance to shape new policies, with con- trol shifted from bankers to the Gov- ernment. * * X ¥ The New Deal farm procnm is pro- viding some interesting tests of presi- dential administration. Economic planners, unconcerned by politics, have turned thumbs down on a continued price-fixing loan for cotton at 12 eents a pound. lunlhemfinmqulunnnmd southern income. there and no business being publio’| Kinks nto " . st | To continue thess losss weuld mesn ‘, A HARD JOURNEY BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D.D,, LL. D, D.C. L, BISHOP OF WASHINGT During the more recent years multi- tudes of our people have found the journey of life increasingly hard and difficult. Probably not in the history of this country have the trials been more exacting or severe. Where hitherto ‘we were ignorant of how the other half lives, now it has become impossible to know how a majority of our fellow citizens have carried on in the face of insuperable difficulties. Y may be that this situation has made us all more sensitive and genuinely sympathetic. It is certainly true that all of us have found that dependence upon material things, important as they are, does not meet all the demands and desires of life: At times and in days of general prosperity we may have thought that all that was necessary to insure happi- ness and satisfaction was the “full din- ner pail,” with a sufficient reserve for recreations and amusements. This fllu- sion has been shattered by flve years of privation and suffering. We are be- ginning to realize the force of the an- cient word: “Man shall not live by bread alone.” We have had ample proof of the incapacity of prosperity to make a people strong and stable morally and to satisfy the yearnings of their finer natures. An incident in one of the Old Testa- ment books, contained in the nineteenth chapter of First Kings, is quite de- scriptive of a state of mind that is alto- gether common to many of us. A great leader and prophet, Elijah by name, who had worked zealously for the good of the people, found himself facing a situ- ation that was so threatening and dis- astrous in its prospects that, despite his courage, he fled from it in utter hope- lessness and despair. Everything he had built seemed lost, his own followers had ceased to be loyal; the forces of evil were in power and there seemed nothing of hope and promise ahead. Flying be- fore the storm, Elijah sought the silence of the wilderness, and there in despair, “he requested for himself that he might die, and said, it is enough; now O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” In expectation that the end was at hand and that all his high hopes had turned to ashes, he awaited death. In this critical situation a voice came to him out of the silences, saying, “Arise and eat, because the Journey 1is too great for thee.” 'This was followed with a word of assurance and the promise that, presently, there should come better days, when the forces that were against him should be de- stroyed and the people return to normal and happier conditions. In his despair, the leader had forgotten to reckon with forces that were stronger and mightier than those that had threatened his defeat. He had signally failed in the day of his adversity, but henceforth he was to be invested with a power that in his anguish of mind he had neglected and forgotten. While the story is an oid one, it has elements that are common to our mod- ern life. We show a brave front when all things are favorable to us; our con- fidence is unimpaired when every con- dition is to our liking; we break under a long and severe strain and display weaknesses that betray our want of trust in God. It has been made evident to us these past five years that we have relied solely upon our own strength and prowess, we were sufficient unto ourselves for any eventuality. All this assurance has been tragically shaken, and some are of the mind of Elijah— there is nothing that can be done about it and there is little light on the shadowy road that lies ahead. When we reach the stage where we assume this attitude, we are doomed to further trials and disappointments. . The situation that confronts us is not an insuperable one nor are its prob- lems insoluble. To many, these years have been sobering ones, they have driven us to deeper reflection, and the future that lies before us will bring either increasing miseries or increasing | happiness just in proportion as we read and apprehend the lessons our trials have sought to make clear to us. We have passed through other periods that tested our patience and our moral worth and we have slrvived them; we can do so again, but we will do it the sooner and the more effectively if we heed the summons to rise and eat because the Journey is too great for us; which lit- erally means recognizing anew our de- pendence upon Him in whose hand are the issues of life. ~When America abandons her conceits and undue self- confidence and turns with deepened de- “votion to God and obeys more com- pletely His will, she will be on the road not the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord.” Fifty- Years Ago In The Star The traffic dangers in Washington were not as extensive or as grave as Dlngeroul today, but they were none- D theless the cause of vigor- TiViNg. ous protest. The Star of August 18, 1885, says: “The common indulgence in fast driv- ing over street crossings in Washington resulted in the destruction of a carriage and the probable ruin of a horse on one of the uptown streets last evening. ‘This is an encouraging sign to pe- destrians. So long as nothing more sericus than the occasional killing or maiming of a foot passenger came from fast driving, there was little prospect of a reform. But now that it is demon- strated that horses may be hurt and carriages damaged through that dan- gerous pastime there is ground for hope that drivers will, in the future, be a little more careful. It is evident that as a rule they hold property to be more valuable than persons, especially a poor devil of a person who goes about on foot.” * % * “The alleged break between Tilden and the administration,” says The Star Tilden and of August 22, 1885, “must be taken with more than Cleveland. the usual grain of salt. Still the report is plausible, for Tilen has never shown himself a warm friend of Cleveland and he may feel less fa- vorably inclined than ever now in view of the disregard which the President displayed for his recommendations in respect to the New York City appoint- ments. However, it would be very unlike Tilden to let any resentment he might feel show in his conduct. “If Tilden really has broken with the administration and has decided to fight it, that is his privilege as an American citizen. But, not to mince words, it is another proof that the once keen and subtle politician is in his dotage. No private citizen, however great his genius, or his claims on the Nation's gratitude and regard, can fight the President with the slightest success. That truth has been demonstrated over and over again. The odds are too great. Tilden would be crushed just as Grant, for instance, was overridden when he threw himself into the breach to save Conkling and Platt. It is not a question of individuals, but a battle between a man and a machine, Personally, Tilden might still wield a greater influence than Cleve- land, but the President of the United States would ride over the Sage of Greystone as the steamship City of Rome recently cut down a fishing schooner on the Banks without jarring the pas- sengers of the great ship from their sleep. “Our history is strewn with the wrecks of great men who have measured their individual strength against that of the *Government. In two or three instances also a whole, party has broken with its chief. But even then the President has won. His power, in fact, is almost irre- sistible. In his single person he repre- sents under the Constitution a power equal to that of all the Senators and Representatives, or of the Supreme Court, and by the course of events his authority is practically in excess of what the framers of the Constitution in- tended. His chief check in our day is not so much in legal restraints as in the moral influence of public opinion. An administration that has the confi- dence of the masses of the people has little to fear from the hostility of any individual or even of any party.” & repetition of the old Farm Board program of stabilization. That program in the end cost the taxpayers about half a billion dollars. The broader present program could, in the end, cost quite a bit more. Mr. Roosevelt, faced with that situation, had ta choose between the planners and the politicians. The same problem is arising in corn, where politicians want a higher price- fixing loan for that commodity and the planners oppose. It arose, too, in the directing the A. - said: Capital Sidelights By mdy. ‘When the Republicans come back into control of the House—as they eventually must—there is only one man standing out for the Speakership—Bertrand H. Snell of New York, who has made a strong impression on party leaders and the rank and file of his colleagues by the way in which he has handled his party’s interests during an unusually difficult period. Early in life he trained to be a teacher—then he attended that college noted for the statesmen it has produced, Amherst, where he was a fel- low alumnus with such men, who later were honored in Congress, as Speakers Rainey and Gillett. In his younger days he did hard manual labor, but in later years was director in a trust company, a large manufacturing concern, an in- surance corporation and president of the board-of trustees of Clarkson Col- lege in his old home town, Potsdam, N. Y. He has sometimes been men- tioned as a possible candidate for Presi- dent, but he has not been sirened by that “bee.” Now, when Snell becomes Speaker, a relatively young member of the House is slated for floor leader—is now in train- ing for $hat job—according to the time- honored organization policy of the Re- publicans. That is Representative Jos- eph W. Martin of North Attleboro, Mass., a member of the House for 11 years, who is acting as assistant floor leader for his party. He is a member of the Rules (Policy) Committee. The legislative life 1s “meat” to “Joe” Mar- tin—he is a bachelor and the political game is his “best” girl. As a newspaper owner, from early youth he has been helping to guide public opinion and to keep the people in his geographical area informed about affairs of public interest and welfare. He has had good legislative training as a member of the Massachu- setts House of Representatives apd the State Senate before coming to Congress. For 20 years he has represented his peo- ple at national nominating and party platform conventions. Nearly 20 years ago he won his spurs as chairman of the Massachusetts Street Railway Inves- tigating Committee. ‘He was executive secretary of the Republican State Com- mittee. Since coming to Congress he has devoted himself assiduously to help- ing to handle party interests in the House, and he has been very popular. * ok %k x Page boys and other employes of the House are conspicuously ambitious—they all aim to be admirals, colonels, doctors, lawyers, industrial leaders—any place at the top of the ladder that may be gained by climbing, and they demon- strate dnily their eagerness to be of service. As an example, here’s a young man who served in the World War, and who, after he came out of the Navy, studied law—Ralph G. Meyer, from “Egypt,” Southern Illinois. He was brought w the service of+the House six years ago by former Representative Thomas 8. Williams, a good friend of the Distriet’s citizenry, now judge of the Court of Claims. Young Meyer is minority as- sistant in charge of telephones in the Republican cloak room, where he keeps members informed as to what is doing on the floor of the House. He is & graduate of George Washington Uni- versity Law School and has recently been admitted as a member of the bar of the State of Illinois. * ok K K mennusehpmdotmpngelorce “Daddy” Shannon is particular patron saint of the plm who have sending flowers and writing him been in the hospital because they appreciate his many kindnesses to them. Almost daily some t member pays trib- ute to these “mercuries.” Only yester- day Repngenhfive ‘Tom Jenkins of Ohio “The House has a wonderfully efficient force of pages, courteous, in- telligent, eager, ambitious—who help amazingly in the work of Congress. They use theit heads as well as their heels when sent on an errand. They are little men, well worthy of some day being Congressmen and leaders in pro- fessional and business life.” As a mat- ter of fact there is in the House right now a member who came up from serv- ice as a page—Representative Donald H. McLean, who was appointed page by Viee President Garret A. Hobart in De- cember, 1897, and who was later private secretary to Senator John Kean of New The Cabinet Under the Constitution By Frederic J. Haskin. -No mention s made of a President's cabinet in the Constitution of the United States. The body has been a sort of political evolution down through the century and a half of the American Republic. There has never been a ques- tion as to the supremacy of the presi- dential office, but there is held by some constitutional lawyers the view ‘hat the framers intended tho cabinet to serve as a check and balance to the President, in line with the general theory of checks and balances as carried out in the divi- sion of the governmental organization into legislative, executive and judicial branches. It fs intensely interesting to study the minds of the framers of the Constitu- tion. The council of the star chamber at the old palace of Westminster, ale though abolished by the long Parliament, had not been forgotten by the Colonial students, and still fresher in their minds was the cabal of Charles II. The idea of having the head of the American state surrounded by a tightly organized body, wholly subservient to him, was repuge nant. The only reference to the cabinet in the Constitution is indirect and is found in the language “he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal of- ficer in each of the executive depart- ments upon any subject relating to duties of their respective offices * * *.” Commenting on this clause, James Iredell, one of the earliest expounders of the Constitution, writing in 1788, said: “He is not to be assisted by a council, summoned to a jovial dinner, perhaps, and giving their opinions according to the nod of the President, but the opin- ion is to be given with the utmost solemnity in writing, No after-equivo- cation can explain it away. From those written opinions, weighed with care, surely the President can form as good a judgment as if they had been given by a dozen formal characters carelessly met together on a slight appointment. And this further advantage would be derived from the proposed system (which would be wanting if he had constitutional ad- vice to screen him), the President must be personally responsible for everything.” * ox o % ‘The earlier Presidents fully understood why no constitutional cabinet was set up which, on the one hand, could be made a tool or, on the other, used as what Iredell calls a screen, and they acted accordingly. Washington was elected almost as though by acclama- tion. There was none to stand against him. Nevertheless, there were already parties in the country and bitter political enmities. But Washington selected his cabinet exclusively from no single group. He appointed Hamilton, the outstand- ing Federalist, as his Secretary of the Treasury because of his proven talents for fiscal organization, and Thomas Jef- ferson, the leading Republican and rival of Hamilton, as Secretary of State. In 1810 Jefferson wrote, reminiscently: “Hamilton and myself were daily pitted in the cabinet like two cocks.” So bitter did some of the discussions become at times that the President was obliged to intercede and beg for mutual forbear- ance. but he asked for the resignation of neither. Years later, in Lincoln’s cab- inet, Stanton and Seward were starmy petrels. It is customary for a President’s cab- inet to resign upon a change of admin- istration in these times, but that was not at first the procedure. When John Adams became President he retained in office the entire cabinet which had served under Washington, regarding them as independent officers of the Re- public and not as his personsl coterie. Indeed, most of them were openly hostile to Adams and there were dissensions which ultimately broke up the group. There was nothing hasty about the framing of the Constitution, and the idea of a council somewhat along the lines of the British privy council which had been in existence since the days of William the Conqueror was thoroughly canvassed. Definite proposals to this end were made and discussed in the convention. B ¥ One plan, identified with the pro- posals of Charles Pinckney and Gouver- neur Morris, would have erected a privy council for the President. It would have been ccmposed of the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice of the United States and the heads of the executive departments. It was not known how many executive departments there would be and at first there were but four. The plan provided that the President might lay before this council any matter concerning the execution of his office on which he desired guidance. One of the strong arguments which de- feated this and similar proposals was that constitutional existence of such a body would reduce the President’s re- sponsibility. During the early years of Washing- ton's administration the practice of re- quiring opinions in writing from the heads of departments, as stated in the Constitution, was followed scrupulously. That is, there were no cabinet meetings. The communications between the Presi- dent and the members of his cabinet were almost on a plane with the diplo- matic notes which today pass between governments. It was not until the threat of war with France or, possibly, with England impended that a need was felt for a closer, face-to-face discussion. Jefferson wrote: “The ordinary busi- ness of every day is done by consultation between the President and the head of the department alone. For measures of im] nce or difficulty, a consultation is held with the heads of departments, either assembled or by taking their opin- jons separately in conversation or in writing. The latter is most strictly in the spirit of the Constitution because the President, on weighing the advice of all, is left free to make up an opinion for himself. In this way they are not brought together and it is not neces- sarily known what opinion the others have given.” Jefferson regarded cabinet meetings by strict letter unconstitutional, saying that the Government, when cab- inet meetings were held, mere nearly approximated a dfrectory. TR ok ok % In modern practice about the only formal writings of the cabinet heads are their annual reports, and these are not uniformly made to the President. The of Commerce, for example, re- who served under Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, or James Wilson,