Evening Star Newspaper, May 20, 1937, Page 11

THE EVENING Friends See Roosevelt Erring Court Bill Attitude Since Resignation Criticized. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. F CAPITOL HILL were to have its way, Senator Joe Robinson of Arkansas, the Democratic leader, would be chosen to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States shortly to be created by the Tetirement of Justice Van Devanter. The nomination would meet with instant confirmation—it might not even be referred ., to a committee. ; For several years the Arkansas Benator has cher- 3 ~fshed a desire to round out his publie service with a place on the highest court in the land. When . there was a va- eancy on the bench in the Hoover adm tration, several friends of the Arkansan urged the then President to appoint him, During the last four years that Benator Robinson has served as ma- Jority leader, the impression has been widespread that when the first vacancy occurred on the Supreme Court bench Joe Robinson would get it. Some people have gone so far as to criticize Benator Robinson's devotion to ad- ministration policies even when they have been in conflict with alleged points of view of his own. But whether there is or is not any justification in such comments, the fact remains that, irrespective of party, many a Senator has held the concept of majority leader to be one that requires thick and thin support of an administration program when intrusted to him by the party leader, the President. Supports New Deal Measures. Senator Rob: classed as a cor radical grou record under the present administra- tion will show that he has not only supported the New Deal uniformly, but that he has performed veoman service to get its measures through the Senate. It might be urged against Senator Robinson that he has had no experi- ence on the bench. But neither did Benator Sutherland have any when he appointed to the Supreme Court directly from the Senate. So also did President Clevela select E rd Douglas White of Louisiana direct from the United States Senate. Some lawyers say would pre- fer to have on bench a man wi experience rather than a man who has already been on the bench. Cer- taintly Joe Robinson's experience in Congress, if it only dated from the days he was one of the original pro- gressives in the House who helped President Woodrow Wilson with his program in 1913, is about as compre- hensive as anybody's in public life With the exception of a brief period in 1913, Mr. Robinson has been in Congress ever since 1903. Popular in Senate. It is no exaggeration to say that members of the Senate almost to a man, Repul ns and Democrats alike, would like to see Joe Robinson win Van Devanter's seat. He is 64 years old, which {s about the age at which many other justices have been &ppointed. The controversy over the President's bill to enlarge the Supreme Court is apt to change at any moment now because the first vacancy is expected to lead to ancther. While the many friends of Justice Brandeis would dis- like to see the court deprived of his liberalism, still the situation which he faces is one of great embarrassment. For with Justice Van Devanter, aged 178, retiring, it is going to be difficult for a justice aged 80 to face the Presi- dent’s criticism. For strategic reasons the President, of course, is saying “no compromise.” His supporters in the Senate Judiciary Committee nevertheless tried to vote out a compromise. The President wants the biil voted on by the Senate as early as possible. The House of Representatives, he doubtless assumes, will pass the bill in whatever form the President wishes and then the real compromise would arise in the conference committee. Conference Fight Looms. ‘There is one flaw in this outline of future trends. It is that when a conference committee report comes to the Senate on a bill to enlarge the Bupreme Court, it will be fought just as vigorously as the original bill, Meanwhile Mr. Roosevelt's tactics are not making matters better on Capitol Hill. His treatment of the Supreme Court issue has caused many expressions of regret among his close friends and supporters. There was, for instance, some chagrin over the news in the following item which was sent out yesterday by the United Press: “President Roosevelt feels the res- dgnation of Associate Justice Willis Van Devanter leaves the administra- tion’s program to enlarge the Supreme Court standing with a score of ‘one up and five to go,’ & source close to the White House revealed today. “The political interpretation of Van Devanter’s retirement in the words of golf means that Mr. Roosevelt counted the action as a one-sixth victory in his plan to add six justices to the United States Supreme Court. *‘The President feels, an informed #ource said, ‘that the score is now one up with five to go. If three jus- tices resign, the score would be dor- my—ali even if the opponents should win the last three holes.’” The foregoing would seem to indi- eate that persons close to the Presi- dent are reflecting his attitude as one of coercing or driving from the bench the particular six justices who happen to be over the age of 70, and that he will not be satisfied until he accom- plishes this eim, even though the Constitution assures justices of life tenure. David Lawrence. (Copyright, 1987 —_— We Can Repair That Watch! Our watchmakers are men of skill and long training. They know how! Work suaranteed. Use Your Credit CASTELBERG’S 1004 F St. N. W, STAR, WASHINGTON, D. (., THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1937. News Behind the News Anti-Court Bill Moves Laid to Secret Group—Adroit Strategy Seen in Van Devanter’s Timing. BY PAUL MALLON. OME unseen power has outplayed President-Roosevelt in every stage of this Supreme Court struggle from the beginning. It was not done on the radio or in the public prints, but by a very states- manlike handling of events. Names cannot be mentioned at this stage, but it can be said with assurance that a group of men (some within the court and some within Congress’ has bezn working ardently and forcefully to block or knock down every court-packing move. They have not held meetings generally, but have been in communication constantly. They are not interested in politics or even in pro-Roosevelt or anti-Roosevelt considerations. Some of them are prominent n the President’s own party, still friendly with him and desirous of seeing his administration succeed. Originally, they were drawn together by the fact that the popu- lar President controlled a great political and économic authority. He, therefore, seemed likely to win congressional approval for a plan which they thought would change our system of government. They felt so deeply they were willing to risk their official lives in an orderly but tacit venture of opposition. The first evidence of their handiwork was seen behind the Supreme Court rectification of its position on State minimum wage laws. The last was the timing of the Van Devanter resignation. * ok k% Few failed to notice that Justice Van Devanter announced his planned retirement so it would reach the public at just about the same time as the Senate Judiciary Committee defeat of the President’s court bill. Any one who knows statesmanship knows this dulled the edge of whatever blade of public pressure Mr. Roosevelt might choose to swing down upon senatorial heads. It provided an entirely different setting for the recepe tion of the committee actior, It put Mr. Roosevelt definitely in the position of gaining part of his point in an orderly and normal way without ertremist revi- sion of the court as a branch of Government. Similarly the court’s reversal on the State minimum wage law foiled the President’s contention that a “no man’s land” of jurisdiction existed, and forced him to fall back on the less forceful contention that, as he had won by a single vote, he still should try to reorganize the court. Between these events there have been many less significant but sim- ilar moves, such as repeated public proof that the court is up with its business and is handling certioraris efficiently. You may be sure these things did not just happen. Note—Justice Van Devanter has contemplated retirement for a long time and his friends say he selected 9 a.m. Tuesday because he had fin- ished his court business for the term. This is true, but so are the conclu= sions stased above. * ok ¥ K It is popular in choice Capital drawing rooms to credit the op- position group leadership to Chief Justice Hughes, who nearly became President himself one day. This conclusion is merely the arithmetical result of putting his well-known ability in statesmanship together with his management of the court It is quite possible, however, that another member of the court and at least two members of Congress had equally as much or more to do with the defense of the court. One Congressman certainly had more to do with the Van Devanter resignation. Their identities will become known in time. No rail-sitter in the press gallery here is able to recall a Governmental issue handled as cleanly, quietly and eflectively. * % % % Most of the congressional aue thorities were completely taken by surprise. None was able to offer even a good guess as to a suc- cessor, although most of them seemed to realize the six-justice packing bill was as good as dead. they even made such bad guesses as neming Donald Richberg, the N. R. A. nemesis of Gen. Johnson, (Richberg undoubtedly could not be confirmed by the Senate.) Their best guess was Solicitor General Stanley Reed. Best line on it downtown was that the President would pick a Circuit Court judge who is nationally unknown, Names of Senators and Representatives were suggested, but largely in a complimentary way. Senator Wagner, who is considered a good legal authority since his labor bill was upheld, expressed the opinion privately that no legislator who voted for the recent judicial retirement bill would be eligible, Others do not agree, and it might take a decision of the Supreme Court to decide, but wisest lawyers string along with the Wagner viewpoint, Note.—High on Mr. Roosevelt's list of circuit judges are Judge Joseph Hufcheson of Houston, Tex.; Judge Sam Bratton of New Mexico and Judge Denman of San Francisco. The personal motive behind the Van Devanter retirement was that he always wanted to be a farmer instead of a lawyer. He began preparing for retirement when he bought a Maryland farm two or three years ago and started working it. In his youth his Indiana father declined to permit him to take up farming and put him into law, Just two days before his announcement he took Justice Roberts out to the farm and showed Roberts what an efficient farmer a Supreme Court Jjustice could be. (Copyright, 1937.) With one of these ma- chines you'll really en- joy your washing and ironing—they’re demon- strators at this price but real values. Also bargains n new Standard make washers and {roners $1 a Week Pays| ———\ 1239 G St. Cor. 13th The Colonel discovered that the brass ring wins a cup of Wilkins _C_ofg | (March 6, THE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions ma; Tves and directly opposed to T themsel be contradictory among e Star’s. Van Devanter Retirement Justice’s Action Another Evidence of His Clear Reasoning, Observer Says. BY MARK SULLIVAN. ONSIDER, first, Mr. Justice Van Devanter’s retirement, as well as the possible retirement of other justices, as if it were an ordinary, normal event, an event wholly dissociated from President Roosevelt's court plan, or any other extraneous con- sideration. % For many years, from 1869 on, there was a law providing if a Supreme Court Justice (or any other Federal Jjudge) was more than 70 and had served 10 years, ;- he could resign and receive full pay for life. Un- der this law the § late Justice Oliver ‘Wendell Holmes resigned in 1932 and for a time re- ceived full pay, which was $20,000 a year. But in 1933 Congress passed the emergency “economy act” which provided that no pension should be more than $10,000 a year. This incident was notice to Federal judges who wished to resign that they would do 50 at some disadvantage and some risk. Mark Sullivan, Three Held Ready to Resign. While this condition existed, from about 1933 until last March, there were five justices of the Supreme Court who were over 70 and otherwise qualified for resignation and pension. It was generally understood that two or three of them were disposed to re- sign. To meet this condition there was introduced in Congress two years ago 1935) a measure s0 Writ- ten that a retired justice would be guaranteed full pay for life—Congress could make no future change. This measure became a law last March. The purpose was to facilitate the re- tirement of such justices as wished to do so. From the time of the intro- duction of the measure two years be- fore, it was anticipated as likely that iwo or three justices would take ad- vantage of it, among them Mr. Van Devanter—his 78 years of life and 26 years on the supreme bench gave him justification. Roosevelt Court Proposal. But meantime President Roosevelt had begun, in May, 1935, immediately after the court's unanimous decision against N. R. A, an attitude that amounted to attack on the court. This attitude came to a climax February 5 last when Mr. Roosevelt made his sensational proposal that he be given power to name six new justices—for the purpose, not declared but clearly implied, of getting a court that would approve his measures, SOME WOMEN LONG FOR LOVELY SKINS ~ Here’s the world’s finest beauty treat- ment for the girl or woman who wants to retain, or regain, a lovely skin from head to foot. Drink three glasses of milk each day. The rich, natural calcium of this milk will do more for the health of your skin than the most expensive cos- metics you can buy. Ask the skin special- ist who prescribes calcium in the diet to This introduced a new factor bearing on the course of such justices as had contemplated resigning. In the view of many persons, resignation became no longer a matter to be determined by personal considerations solely. Public considerations were now in- volved. But just what were those public con- siderations, and in which direction would they pull? This question has provided infinite argument, infinite hair-splitting. One school of thought sald that the court was now under attack and that therefore retirement would be retirement under fire. The very abuse to which the justices were subjected was said to be a reason why they should endure it and stand fast. Effect of Retirements. Much of the argument related to the effect that retiring or not retiring might have on the President’s court measure. Weuld the retirement of two or three justices make enactment of the President’s measure more probable or less probable, more called for or less called for? Would retirement seem to be justification of Mr. Roose- velt's charge, later abandoned, that the justices were too old; or of Mr. Roosevelt's statement, later disproved, that the justices were behind with their work? What effect would retire- ment have on Mr. Roosevelt's tempera- ment? To think through to the bottom of this tangle of opposing and intricate considerations was a job of hard think- ing as onerous as the most complex case that ever came before the court. To Justice Van Devanter, resigning at the age of 78, instead of being the calm. ending of a long career, became a matter complicated by strife and with possible grave public consequences. In the end Mr. Van Devanter seems to have followed the clear sort of reasoning that is characteristic of him. He dismissed the personal considera- tlons, both those pertaining to himself and those pertaining to Mr. Roosevelt. He dismissed all the arguments of passion and expediency. He did the thing he would have done had passion not existed nor expediency clamored. If the court ought not to be warped by the attempt of the President to pack it, neither ought it to be warped by a justice remaining on the bench longer than he otherwise would, merely in order to checkmate the President. Mr. Justice Van Devanter does what tradition and reason calls for. He leaves the court what he found it. If the court is to be made a different thing, that is for Congress and the people to decide. There is one misconception that the people should guard against. Neither resignation nor any other act of a Justice or the court is to be looked on as a surender. The court can neither surrender nor attack. That is not its function, (Copyright, 1937 nourish your skin and clear up blemishes. Doctors say every adult should drink milk every day for health. And many medical authorities trace a close connection between milk and the soft, lustrous hair, the pearl-like teeth, that every woman desires. Begin this finest and most We, the People Coronation a Good Show, With the Archbishop Taking the Leading Part. BY JAY FRANKLIN, T WAS a fine show. Those who heard it over the radio could not fail to be atirred by the color, pageantry, dignity and music of the ritual of empire as they crowned George VI King in Westminster Abbey. Whether the rites and robes, the crowns and coronets are regarded as the acting out of a make-believe fairy tale or as sacrament of the British F.mpire, they combined tc make a magnificent picture, impressive alike to the gossips of Mayfair and the kinky-heeded savagas of the Soudan, To hear it over the radio gave one the impression that the Arch- bishop of Canterbury was crowning himself by proxy. In the Abbey, it may have been different. On the air it recalled the days when the Yale foot ball team seemed to con- sist entirely of little Albie Booth— he carried the ball on every play, made every tackle, ran back . every kick and tossed every suc- - cessful pass. ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury seemed to be so ubiquitous in the broadcast that it was long before one could determine whether the Arch- bishop of York had been allowed in the Abbey at all. ‘This touch of malice may be due to the fact that many of us feel that the British clergy was used by Stanley Baldwin to pound Edward VIII from his throne, and that we resent anything which reminds us of the victory of Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, over a singularly attractive and public-spirited monarch. The spectacle, 100, of the British powers, who pride themselves on their sportsmanship, continuing to hound the man they banished and taking apparent pleasure in kicking a man when he is down, is not a pretty one. It was incredibly childish of the Italian press to refuse to print any news about the coronation. It was also childish of the British govern- ment to reprimand the London newspapers for printing news about the Duke of Windsor and his bride-to-be. And all this rubbish about not wanting any member of his family to attend the wedding and putting the black spot on titled Englishmen who accept invitations—all this seems mean-spirited and malicious and very stupid. After the coronation was over, I heard a record of Edward VIIT's fare- well broadcast to the British Empire. It is still an extraordinarily brave, moving, human document—a one-man show which can bear comparison Wwith the whole coronation. He had to speak so as to save the face of every- body, to protect the woman of his choice, and to leave the British monarchy intact. He succeeded and thereby showed himself a finer statesman than the politicians who tried to muzzle him and who have since tried to blacken his memory. They say that John Masefield, poet laureate of England, wrote Edward's farewell. I did not believe this rumor until on coronation night I heard John Masefield deliver his message to America and his coronation ode to the new King and Queen. Caged birds do not sing well and Mase- field’s performance was insulting for a poet laureate. The coronation ode was trite doggerel, amounting to a rhymed version of the Church of England's prayer for the royal family. It was far more insulting from the man who wrote “Reynard the Fox” and “The Everlasting Mercy” than if he had tried to be insulting. And his message to America sounded like a chamber of commerce talk—thanks for the telephone, the electric light, the automobile, the motion picture, the ice-box, the vacuum cleaner and—oh yes-—democracy. Masefield's heart did not seem to be in it. And that, I suspect, is true of more Englishmen than the politicians would like to believe. It is not that they want to recall the Duke of Windsor to the throne. It is not that they hold any resentment against George VI and Elizabeth. It is not that they desire to see the crown dragged into party politics. Jt is, I think, that they are bored with Stanley Baldwin, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, with Montagu Norman, with Beaver- brook and Rothmere, with Winston Churchill and Ramsay MacDonald. Edward VIII suggested action, he suggested change, he suggested doing something about some of England’s great problems, clearing the slums, relieving the stranded communities of miners, breaking through British conventions even to the point of abdicating in order to marry the woman of his choice. It was for this reason, perhaps, that the little group of men who rule England suppressed him, so ruthlessly and swiftly—that he was becoming the symbol of British desires to change their institutions and to get rid of the old pre-war bunch who are still in the saddle of a mighty post-war empire, (Copyright, 1937.) CHESTNUT FARMS- CHEVY CHASE ‘% JOIN THE SEALTEST SUNDAY NIGMT 26th STREET AT PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE RADIO PARTY, 9 to 10 (EST), WRC-NBC A - il An American You Should Know Edward Bruce Bringing Art Influence Into U. S. Buildings. BY DELIA PYNCHON. HE Government is engaged in a tug-of-influence for the future of American art. Currently in the doldrums, it is due for its place in the sun of approval. The Civil Works Administration en- couraged art in 1933. When finis was written on that adventure, the » Secretary of the Treasury, organ- ized in 1934 a section of paint- ing and sculp= ture. Edward Bruce was ap- pointed chief. Of generous phy = sique, with a sense of humor perpetually will- ing, Bruce has an awareness of beauty, a percep- tion of needs, an understanding of values that bodes well for contemporary art. Functioning under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, Bruce's immediate superior is Admiral Peoples, head of procures ment. Emerging from this department Edward Bruce, are all Federal building projects, all Government supplies (20,000 different commodities). In the midst of this great Federal warehouss, Bruce, and his miniature American *Quartier Latin” flourish in a riot of color, Treasury controls about 7,000 Federal buildings. Art is part and parcel of the finished product. One per cent of the cost of these buildings is now allocated to introduce suitable art, by local competitions. Practiced Law Eight Years. Bruce, himself, is no alien to ar His interest in painting began a boy in Dover Plains, N. Y., place, in 1879. A graduate of Columbia, with both B. A. and LL. D degree: Bruce practiced law in New York for eight years, business for 12 in the Philippines, representing utility com- panies, railroads, sugar plantations. In 1920 he returned to art, gave up his business, went to Italy to paint seri- ously. Coming to Washington to live Bruce was commissioned in 1933 to develop the Public Works of Arts Project Bruce believed that young artists, who have been almost without a country, certainly without hope, st opportunity for employ have proved themselves their hire, and are full of elation that new national opportunities have pre- sented themselves.” Not a Relief Project. In no way, Bruce stresses, is this a relief project. The purpose is to pro- cure the best of contemporary art Artists receive a suitable price. Almost 3,000 artists have submitted designs, 313 have specific commissions, 66 projects are completed, talled in Federal buildings. economical of beauty treatments tomor- row. 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