Evening Star Newspaper, February 7, 1937, Page 4

FLAYS COURT PLAN Charges President Trying to Pack Tribunal, Hopes Congress Will Rebel. BY the Associated Press. RICHMOND, Va. February 6.— The Richmond Times-Dispatch, in an editorial today, charged Presi- dent Roosevelt with “trying to get through Congress a piece of legis- lation which will make it possible to pack the Supreme Court in such & way as to insure its approval of virtually any law he manages to have passed,” and said: “We have supported Mr. Roosevelt heretofore in many of his purposes | and objectives, but we certainly can- not go along with him on his latest | proposal. We earnestly hope Con- gress will have the intestinal fortitude to vote it down.” The paper said the President, by “failing to intimate in any way during | the campaign that he planned to revolutionize the system under which the court operates,” has been “guilty of a lack of frankness with the peo- ple and with Congress, which does him little credit.” Suggests He Ask Amendment. The Times-Dispatch suggested the President “should frankly and openly announce for a constitutional amend- ment,” saying “no one could question the propriety of such a step.” The News-Leader, in an editorial, maintained “we need time to weigh | # all the considerations” of the plan presented to Congress yesterday, and | added: | “For that reason we shall oppose in | every permissible way decisive action at this session of Congress. So great a change as this should not be made hastily. The country has not been prepared for it. Throughout the cam- paign, the President gave no notice of any intention to pack the court or to change its powers. Instead of presenting the issue, he deliberately avoided it. Rather should he urge, at the proper time, that the entire ques- tion be presented the count in the congressional election of 1938.” Other press comment follows: ST. LOUIS GLOBE DEMOCRAT. ‘While these recommendations are made on the plea that the Supreme end other courts are overcrowded with work, there cun be no doubt that the President’s purpose is to obtain the control of the courts which this proposal would give to him. Certainly its main effect would be to enable him to pack the court with men whose opinions as to the Constitution would be in harmony with his own, and who | could be expected to convert the court | into an agency subservient to the ends | of executive and legislative policies. A court that would be responsible to the trends of popular opinion and to the courses of dominant parties, rather than to the dictates of the Constitu- tion, would become useless as a guard- lan and protector of the Constitution, and that document which we have fondly regarded as immortal might Just as well be consigned to the de- partment of historic archives as a gelic of a past age. MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE. Having lectured the Supreme Court in his message to Congress, President T JUDGE LANDIS=—70. N SECTY "ROPER -70th year. ATOR NORRIS—T75. CHARLES HE SUNDAY STAR, “'ASHIX'GTON. CONNIE MACK—74. SCHWAB- HENRY FORD— “Little by little, new facts become blurred through old glasses, fitted, as it were, for the needs of another generation; older me=, assuming that the scene is the same as it was in the past, cease to explore or inquire into the present or the Juture * * *”—From the President’s message on the judiciary. _‘?Hundreds of World Leaders | Performed Best Work Past 70 SENATOR BORAH—T1.. DOCKET REFUTES NEED FOR CHANGE The world would have suffered an irreparable loss had some of its great men been forced -to cease work at 70, age at which President Roosevelt 1d like to have justices retire, ac- cording to Dr. W. A. Newman Dor- land, noted physician and author of the woul Present State Fails to Show Need for Additional Justices. The President's suggestion that the burden of work in the Supreme Court would be materially lightened by the | appointment of additional or younger judges finds little support in the pres- ent state of the docket. At this time there are 19 cases that | he wag 74, Dr. Dorland pointci out ! dietionaries. “The Triumph of Maturity,” published in 1927 by the Illinois Department of Public Welfare. The loss would have been felt espe- cially in the fields of jurisprudence, science and art, he found from a study of the careers of 400 of the world's most distinguished men. Savigny, the great German jurist, sometimes called the founder of mod- ern jurisprudence, did not publish his famous treatise on “Obligations™ until Roosevelt, now takes down the hickory | have been argued and submitted or | in his work, a copy of which is in the stick. The stick is labeled *‘reorgan- ization,” but few will be deceived. First and last, it is an instrument of | are only 167 cases of all kinds on the | coercion, designed to force the court into a complete surrender of its in- dependence. It is Mr. Roosevelt's way of making the court his captive and | decision. Eleven of these were sub- mitted during the past week. There docket. Retirement at “Three Score and Ten” for 400 Noted Men Would Have Proved Costly to Civilization. his work on ‘Aristotle’ At this time he writes: ‘My power of doing work is sadly diminished as to quan- tity, but as to quality, I am sure that my intellect is as good as it ever was.’ He died in his 77th year, leaving “Aristotle’ unfinished. “At 72 Handel, blind for the last six years of his life. composed his oratorio, ‘Triumph of Time and Truth,’ and died at 74, working until the last. Eight days before his death he played |the organ at & performance of his ‘Messiah.” “At the same age Meyverbeer pro- | duced his greatest opera, ‘L’Africaine’; Samuel Johnson published the best of | his works, ‘Lives of the Poets’ and | Littre completed his greatest of all Wordsworth Lived to 80. | D. C. FEBRUARY chancellor of the German Empir 7. 1937—PART ONE Invertebrates, and lived until 85 years of age. “Field Marshal Paul von Hinden- burg at 79 assum-1 the presidency of the German republic, and directed it safely between monarchy and com- munism; Georges Clemenceau, the doctor-statesman, in 1918, when 78, was premier of France and one of the ‘Big Four’ who dictated the peace terms to - -many at the close of the World War; Sir James Murray edited the English dictionary until his death, at 78, and “Vhittier, at the same age, published ‘Poems of Nature’ and ‘St. Gregory's Guest.’ Bryant Active to 84. “William Cullen Bryant, when 75, published his ‘Letters From Spain and Other Countries’ and ‘Letters from the East’; when 77 he published his bril- liant translations of the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’; at %9 & volume of ‘Ora- tions and Addresses’; and was active until his death from heat-exhaus- tion when 84 years old. “Browning wrote with undiminished vigor until his death at 77. When 75 he published ‘Parleyings with Certain People, and ‘Asolando’ appeared shortly before the close of his life. Joseph Jefferson, the beloved Amer- ican comedian, was as effective in all his roles -.aen 75 as when at the height of his physical power.” Dr. Dorland listed the following “Titans” among those who performed | great achievements at 80 or older: | Cato, Plutarch, Socrates, Arnauld, the ! theologian; Gladstone, four times pre- mier of England; the artist West; | Goethe, the composer; Simonides, the | poet; Ranke, historian; Prince Blu- oldier; Buffon, French natural- | isi; Palmerston, prime minister of | England; John Quincy Adams, Elbert | H. Gary and George H. Baker, business and financial leaders; Bancroft, his- | torian; Peale, painter; Voltaire, phi- | losopher; ‘Tennyson, poet; New- ton, physicist; Spencer. philosopher; ‘Thomas Jefferson, Talleyrand, French | statesman; Von Moltke, German war- | rior; John Wesley, theologian; Michel- _ | angelo, painter; Izaak Walton, author; | Pope Leo XIII, and Chauncey Depew, | railroad magnate. “With such achievements of the | truly aged confronting us,” Dr. Dor- land stated, “who's so bold as to at- 'tempt to set a limit to the usefulness of any man . TEXTILE WORKERS BACK PROPOSALS ON JUDICIARY |Gorman Says Roosevelt Plan ‘Would Open Way for Indus- trial Regulation. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, February 6. —The Met- ropolitan Textile Councii today in- dorsed President Roosevelt's proposals for judiciary reforms after they were commended by Francis J. Gorman, president of the United Textile ‘Workers of America. Gorman said the program proposed by Mr. Roosevelt would open “the way for a sound approach on the question of industrial regulation.” Organized textile workers through- out the country, he said, now could = t 74, published his med- From an Old “"Helmy on Emerson; at 76, published ‘A Mor- tal A athy’ and ‘The Ne Port- folio’ wrote ‘Our Hundred Days in Europe.” and. at 79. published ‘Over the Teacups, dying al the ripe old age of 85, “Longfellow. at 75, wrote his im- posing meditation, ‘Hermes Tris- megistus’ and the beautiful ‘Bells of San Blas’' At the same age Isaac d'Israeli published his ‘Amenities of Literature,’ a three-volume «work, and that nothwithstanding total blindness | for three years preceding. | “At 75 Henry Clay wase still a lead- | er in the land, Hallam published his | ‘Literary Essays and Characters,’ Met- | ternich was driven from his power, | Bismarck was forced from the chan- | ,cenorsmp by the German Emperor, | Crispi assumed the premiership of Italy and Allen G. Thurman was move forward “with assurance” in their drive for enactment of a na- tional textile act by Congress. Court Building Lacks Space for SixMore Judges Bench in New $10,- 000,000 Structure Will Seat Only 9. It President Roosevelt realizes his desire to appoint six new justices to the Supreme Court, somebody is going to have to perform a major operation on the $10,000,000 structure completed last year as a permanent home for the high tribunal. ‘The problem of office space probably won’'t be important since only three of the justices—Chief Justice Hughes and Associates Roberts and °‘ither- land—use the sumptuous private of- fices provided for them. The others cling to the old offices they use. when the Supreme Court was housed in the Capitol Building. In the court room itself, however, an increase in the number of jus- tices would create a serious problem, since the spacious chamber was de- signed to accommodate a bench seat- | ing nine and only nine jurists. From an architectural standpoint, it would be impossible to enlarge the bench to HAMILTON ASSAILS COURT PROPOSAL Says President Acts “to Im- pose His Poiicies on People.” BY the Assoclated Press. PITTSBURGH, February 6.—John D. M. Hamilton, Republican national chairman, said tonight President Roosevelt sought to enlarge the Su- preme Court “so his policies may be imposed upon our people by justices tacitly pledged to that end before they are appointed.” In an address to the Amen Corner at a local hotel, Hamilton said the Republican party was ‘“confronted with an immediate task—that of questioning” the program presented Congress yesterday by Roosevelt. That program, Hamilton argued, would destroy “every vestige of the hope expressed by Madison that this court would ‘be an impenetrable bul- wark against every assumption of power in the legislative or the execu- tive.” Suggests “Opposition” Party. seat six more judges. It has been suggested that a semi- | circular bench might be installed to provide sufficient seating space, but there is dou** whether this would har- | monize with the design ol the room. | One wag proposed a V-shaped bench, one side for the left wing and the other for the right. Although it looks like an exceedingly | difficult problem, nobody seems to be | worrying much about it. The official attitude is that it is a bridge which need not be crossed until it is reached, NEW JERSEY BAR HITS COURT PLAN. By the Assoctated Press. NEWARK., N. J., February 6—The New Jersey State Bar Association to- day adopted a resolution opposing en- actment of the President’s court reor- ganization plan and set up a special committee to combat it. Officers said 450 lawyers attended and only a small minority opposed the action. | Merritt Lane of Newark said that if the program was enacted “what we understand to be constitutional gov- ernment will no longer endure in this country.” “If this effort succeeds” declared Josiah Stryker, also of Newark, “we will not talk on the question of wheth- er we will have a dictatorship; we will have one.” Robert W. Meyner of Phillipsburg and Simon L. Fisch of Newark spoke against the resolution. Meyner called the Roosevelt proposal constitutional and said historically the Supreme Court was not intended to pass on the constitutionality of measures approved by Congress. Fisch warned against hasty action, pleaded today's session be confined to discussion only. Discussing Republican policies, Ham- ilton suggested his party be the “op- position” party such as exists in the British parliamentary system. “Every free country, for the secure perpetuation of its freedom,” he argued, “needs both a responsible government and an opposition that will be valient and vigorous. No sub- stitute for the Republican party in that role is visible on the horizon of American politics.” Turning to events of last Fall, the Republican chairman said he believed his party was defeated “primarily be- cause of two ingredients in the 1936 salad bowl of American politics—pros- perity and propaganda.’ He quoted former President Hoover as telling him in substance as early as | April, 1934, that: “‘By the Fall of 1936 we shall have a prosperity, and whether it is real or fictitious will be of little political im- portance. The Republican party will be in a position of explaining that prosperity and it will be obliged to re- sort to academic arguments.’” Prosperity Discussed. “This is just what happened,” Ham- ilton said. “The vast majority of the people of this country found that their material situation, either through in creased industrial activity or Govern= ment subsidies, had substantially ime proved.” To these people, Hamilton said, “the fact that great basic issues were in- volved was of no immediate impore tance. ¢ ** “While I would say that prosperity was the most apparent of the reasons for Mr. Roosevelt's re-election, I think that propaganda followed sharply on its heels. For four solid years every known means of publicity was used to sing the praises of the modern apostle of the more abundant life and to damn those who opposed him.” WHEN WEST HAS A SALE—IT’'S A REAL SALE! i Library of Congress. “Master Work” Average Is 50. | The average age of man’s “master | work,” he learned from his extensive During this term there have been | stygies, is about 50. Dividing the 400 cases filed. pet In 393 of these the | jnto itions have been denied and 155 | found the best work of the “workers® in defense of popular rights, at 73, de I'Esprit; and, at 80, ‘Torquemada.’ “workers” and “thinkers,” he “Wordsworth was appointed to the | nominated for the vice presidency of laureateship at 73 and lived to see the United States. his 80th birthday. | “Hugo, at 75, wrote ‘History of a Crime’; at 77, published ‘Le Pape’. at SIDNEY WESTNC “George Buchanan, the stout old Scotchman, wrote his ‘De Jure Regni. of gaining, without a constitutional cases have been disposed of on their | was done at 47. on an average, while 8nd lived four years longer. | emendment, the vast authorities which have been pronounced uncon- stitutional. INDIANAPOLIS STAR. The President’s proposal for a com- | Pprehensive program to reorganize the Judicial branch of Government is too serious to be considered in a spirit of prejudice. It should not be blindly indorsed by thoughtless supporters and is too important to be passed over with partisan denunciation. It should not be rubber stamped. Mem- bers of Congress, in justice to the people who elected them, should take time to weigh carefully all that is involved and what the plan may ,mean to the future of our Nation as a republic having three independ- ent and co-ordinate branches of Gov- ernment. OMAHA WORLD HERALD. President Roosevelt is on the march again. He has given the Congress and all the people solemn occasion for jamming on their thinking caps clear down over their ears. For the question is, not if this or that exist- ing law is desirable, but whether the mental law, established by the people Jor their own protection against ma- Jority oppression and governmental wusurpation, and the court that in- terprets it is to remain an independ- ent and co-ordinate branch of Govern- ment. KANSAS CITY STAR. dent recommends, as the purpose and import behind it, which raises a grave fundamental question of national pol- jcy. Behind the rather ingenious case made for speedier justice—and no one | could quarrel with the advisability of that—lies the obvious intent of the President to accomplish and confirm the New Deal philosophy through en- larging the personnel of the high court. There is nothing sancrosanct 1n the size of the Supreme Court. But 1f this Nation is to lodge in the Federal Government absolute powers over in- dustry and commerce, that question should be decided by the people them- selves. A constitutional amendment should determine it, not the short cut of an increase in the size of the court in the specious guise of expediting Justice. CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER. ‘The orderly, well-established way to @chieve the President’s objective in relation to the Supreme Court is by the adoption of a constitutional emendment. The present Congress has no instructions from home to pass this legislation. So momentous & program calls for the wider con- sideration, the more mature delibera- tion of the amending process. As to the major purpose, however— that of bending the Supreme Court to the will of a popular Executive, backed by a Congress inclined to subserviency —it is of quite another character. This legislation should certainly be d:::;ud-—lt is of quite another char- acter. Soviet Gets Cotton. Uzbekistan, one of the most impor- tant cotton-growing republics of Rus- sia, has delivered 1,246,350 tons of cot- ten to the Soviet government., & X merits. A similar situation exists in the | United States Court of Appeals for | ered, | the District, where there are 119 cases | pending on the docket. When the court adjourned last Sum- mer there were but two cases pending, a record that will be approximately duplicated this year. In the United States District Court, however, there is serious congestion. | On the law side there are more than : 1,000 cases awaiting trial, which means | that the law courts are about 13 | months behind in their work. The same thing is true in the equity di- | vision, also about 13 months behind. | There is reason to believe, however, | that the condgition of the equity docket will be improved during the next few months by disposing of a number of uncontested divorce cases. Should the proposed law in its final ! form contain a provision to force the retirement of judges upon reaching the age of 70, it would affect Chief Justice Martin, 79, and Associate Jus- tice Van Orsdel, 76, of the Court of Appeals. Associate Justice Robb will be 70 next November. 'GANNETT ASSAILS HIGH COURT PLAN “Camouflaged Proposal to Pack” Bench. | By tre Associated Press. | MIAMI BEACH, Fla., February 6.— Frank E. Gannett, publisher of the | Gannett group of 16 newspapers, today | accused President Roosevelt of having “cleverly camouflaged a most amazing | and startling proposal for packing the ; Supreme Court.” | A statement issued at his Winter | | home here said: “It is true that the lower courts are slow and overburdened. We probably do need more judges to expedite liti- gation, but this condition should not be used as a subtle excuse for chang- ing the complexion of our highest court. Increasing the number of judges from 9 to 15 would not make this high tribunal act any more promptly than it does now, but ‘it would give the President control of the judiciary department. “A year ago I predicted that this is exactly what would happen if Roosevelt were re-elected. The Su- preme Court having declared invalid many of the administration’s meas- ures, the President now resorts to a plan of creating a Supreme Court that will be entirely sympathetic with his ideas. * * * “The Supreme Court has been the anchor that has held America safe through many storms. Its absolute independence and integrity must never be in doubt. * * * “Do we want to give this man, or any one man, complete control of these three departments of our government, which have from the beginning of the republic been kept entirely separate and independent? This proposal should give every American grave con- cern, for it is a step toward absolutism and complete dictatorial power.” ) that of the “thinkers” was done at 52, Jurists and naturalists, he discov- have made their greatest achievements later in life than any This is con- | other class of “thinkers.” Their aver- sidered a current docket by the court. | age age for “master work™ was found to be 58. Dr. Dorland said he was prompted to study “the age of the acme of mental activity” by “the tenden -, then visibly increasing in this coun- try, of relegating the older and mid- dle-aged men to the oblivion of an ‘innocuous desuetude’ in order that the supposedly more progressive and aggressive young men might be glven a clear track in the rush to the front.” Jurists Grouped as “Thinkers.” Among the “thinkers” Dr. Dorland grouped, in addition to jurists and “Galileo at 73 made his last tele- scopic discovery—that of the diurnal and monthly librations of the moon. “At 74 Kant wrote his ‘Anthro- pology,’” the ‘Metaphysics of Ethics’ and the ‘Strife of the Faculties, and | Thiers helped to establish the French republic and became President, holding the office for two years. Tintoretto 3 at the same age painted his crowning production, the vast ‘Paradise, a canvas 74 feet by 30. Verdi at 74 produced his masterpiece, ‘Othello,’ | [whlch is thought to be an immense ‘nd\'ance over anything he had yet | written, and in his 80th year wro!e\ ‘Falstaff,’ which was as brilliant as | ‘Othello.” When 85 he wrote his ‘Ave Maria,’ ‘Laudi alla Virgine’ ‘Sta- {bat Mater’ and ‘Te Deum, all| | wonderfully beautiful. 78, Ane’; at 79, ‘Les Quatre Vents Irving was Writing at 76. “Lamartine, at 76, wrote a movel, ‘Fior d'Aliza’ Washington Irving lived to be 76 and wrote his ‘Life of Washington® in his last years. Peru- gino, at 76, painted the walls of the Church of Castello di Fontignano, | and Humboldt postponed until his | 76th year the beginning of the crown- ing task of his life, the preparation of the ‘Kosmos’ which he success- | fully completed in his 90th year. | Biot, at 77, prepared an enlarged edi- tion of his ‘Physical Astronomy,” which he completed at 83, living five years | longer. “Jacob Grimm died at 78, working to his last; and Laplace, dying at the! same age, said with his last breath: | ‘What we know i. nothing; what we | do not know is immense.’ Lamarck | at 78 completed his greatest zoologi- | 14th and G Sts. \_%\-—/ AUTHENTIC SAVINGS IN OUR Semi-Annual Clearance Westyl e Suits SUITS AND OVERCOATS | naturalists, astronomers and math- | ematicians, clergymen, dramatists, his- l “Prince Hohenlohe, at 75, became | cal work, “The Natural History of | & Overcoats Sale or no sale, when you buy anything at West's Fowmesly $35 It is not so much what the Presi- | SERRED CETEOC @ LEGED) | | | torians, novelists, political economists, | poets and statesmen. | The “workers” included actors, ar- tists, chemists, explorers, inventors, | physicians and warriors. Dr. Dorland’s researches revealed that 35 per cent of the “great rnen"l ceased their “mental activity” between | the years of 60 and 70, 22!, per cent | between 70 and 80, 203, per cent be- tween 50 and 60, 10%; per cent be- tween 40 and 50, 6 per cent between | 80 and 90 and 4 per cent between 30 and 40. Seventy-eight and a quarter per cent of the men ‘“closed their life work” between the ages of 50 and 80 | and 85 per cent after the 50th year. “While in the vast majority of cases,” he wrote, “declining physical and mental ability progressed ‘pari passu’ to the cessation of life, there loom amid the general wreck of the bodily and cerebral powers some strik- ing instances of remarkable mental vitality and virility, standing out, like beacon lights of hope, far beyond the period of normal decay. Cites Old Age Achievements. “These mental heroes counter bal- ance the achievements of the young, if not in numbers, truly in productive value and influence upon the culture and welfare of the race. No greater inspiration can be found in all the records of the life work than in a re- view of these achievements of old age. “Thus Bockh, the ‘baby’ member of the group, at 70 published one of the greatest of his works, ‘Zur Geschichte der Mondcyclen der Hellenen. “J. Pierpont Morgan (the elder), ‘the old doctor of Wall street’ and the greatest reorganizer of railroads and industrial corporations the world ever produced, in 1907, when 70 years old, broke the financial panic by raising $40,000,000 in 40 hours, and thereby made his name one to conjure with in every money capital. “At the same age, Weir Mitchel published ‘The Adventures of Fran- cois,” and subsequently wrote ‘The Red City,’ one of his best works. “When 70, Sir-John Tenniel, ‘Punch’ cartoonist, drew his famous ‘Dropping the Pilot." Recalls Vanderbilt’s Feats. “Between the ages of 70 and 83 Commodore Vanderbilt increased the mileage of his road from 120 to 10,000, and added about 100 millions to his fortune. “Grote, in his 71st year, began IN THE with its graceful spinet-like FOUR FEET BY FOUR FEET—A CORNER OF YOUR LIVING ROOM! THAT'S ALL YOU NEED FOR YOUR HamMmonp ELEcTRIC ORGAN bench. Connect a cord to an electrical outlet—and enter a new world of music! 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