Evening Star Newspaper, August 13, 1937, Page 9

Black Choice For Court Decried Slap in Face Against Judiciary Bill Foes, Writer Says. RY DAVID LAWRENCE. RESIDENT ROOSEVELT has | fulfilled the expectations of his bitterest opponents and has | disappointed a large number of his friends and supporters by nom- inating to be Supreme Court justice a | man who is neither judicially minded nor impartial, but who satisfies every requirement which the President pub- licly announced last March when he | frankly said he would at the first op- | portunity “pack the court” with men who held his political views on the constitution. Mr. Roosevelt could not have made | A worse appointment from some | standpoints if he had named John L. Lewis and, in- deed. in some re- spects Mr. Lewis would have been & much better appointment be- cause he knows : more about the ¥ economic opera- tions of America from a practical standpoint than @ does the man | chosen by the : President, and he is free from any charge of sup- port by the Ku Klux Klan elements There will be a fight confirmation of Senator Black. It will begin, undoubtedly, on a broad question of whether the appointment itself is constitutional, but it will ultimately revive almost every aspect of the recent accusations of political motive made against the President when the bill to enlarge the Supreme | Court was before the Senate. The eligibility dispute rests on this clause of the constitution which says “No Senator or Representative shall, | [during the time for which he was | elected, be appointed to any civil | office under authority of the U States which shall have been cre or the emoluments whereof shal; been increased during such time * * * Effect of Provision, Under the above provision, Mr Black would not be eligible to accept appointment as associa ce of the Supreme Court because the ‘“civil office” to which he has been nomin- ated by President Roosevelt is & posi- tion created as a resuit of an act of Congress passed on March 1, 1937 It is well known that previously no fssurance could be given to members of the Supreme Court that when they retired they could continue to receive their then existing salaries. i Congress endeavored to provide the sssurance by insisting & justice could [“retire” instead of resigning. It will be noted that in Justice Van.Devan- ter’s letter last May, as well as in President Roosevelt’s acknowledz- ment, the word ‘resign” was never used This Tew David Lawrence, against the held the ted ever withdrew correspondent has that a vacancy has exi; since Justice Van Devanter from the bench. and that a vacancy jdoes exist now, but th: e character f the vacancy is one that has been urrounded with special congres- ional action, and therefore the va- ancy has been “created” during the resent session of Congress. Inasmuch as Senator Black was jre-elected in 1932 and his present erm does not expire until January, 1939, he comes within the provision f the Constitution which forbids the appointment of any Senator or Rep- resentative to any civil office “which hall have been created or the emolu- ments whereof shall have been in- reased” during the time for which he Senator was elected It will be argued by Senator Black's upporters that the same objection hould have been raised against Sen- tor Robinson. This correspondent n May 19. in a dispatch to the news- [papers, raised such a question and wrote: “The Constitution forbids the ap- ointment of any member of the [House or Senate to any office which as been created during the term erved by such member. Is the va- | ancy now created by Mr. Van De- anter's withdrawal a different kind | f vacancy from that which could xist before March 1, 1937 (when the petirement law was passed), and if | this not disqualify Senators [Robinson of Arkansas and Wagner 0f New York or any of the other mem- bers of the present Congress who re- eive the appointment in place of Mr. | Van Devanter?” Remedy to Problem. But the constitutional question vould have vielded an easy remedy it Senat. Robinson had been ap- inted, because there would have been put through both houses with- ut discussion a clause repealing the pct of March 1, 1937, and it is prob- lN SUMMER, especially, you want to be on your guard against ice cream made of cheap, "inferior ingredients. There's . by a written Pledge of What’s Back of It All Western Group, Led by Senator Pope, Plans to Put T. V. A. in Phosphate Business. BY H. R. BAUKHAGE. V. A. is about to step out in front again, and not as a time, either. At least this is ir the cards il an exceedingly earnest little @ group of Westerners, under the leadership of Senator Pope of Idaho has its way. While the air is filled with the cotton farmer’s present troubles, this group very quietly and very methodically is starting out to solve what is now generally admitted to be America's greatest agricultural problem—the great phosphate robbery. Y American production of this vital element of the soil fell off more than 500,000 tons in 1936, as against 1930, but the exportation has not. appreciably diminished. The earth's supply is limited. We are sending out of the country nearly a third of what we produce, most of it to Germany and Japan The experts tell us that phos- phorus (provided by phosphate) is *“‘a necessity in animal, human and plant nutrition” They say further that a large proportion of our soil is deficient in this element, causing low yields and low quality of crops and pasture. In the United States, 90 per cent of the deposits lie in the West—in Utah, Wyoming. Idaho and some adjoining States, although the Nation relies almost wholly on the small deposits in Tennessee and Florida for its present supply. Senator Pope and others are alarmed over the present situation, but they are still more worried about the future. The Idahoan says that foreign agents are now in the United States seeking control of the de- posits and processes for manufacturing phosphates. Therefore, he believes three things to be essential: 1. Manufacture and sale to individuals of phosphates by T. V. A. as originally authorized 2. Development by T. V. A. (aiso said to be covered in the original act) of new plants on thre scene of the Western deposits 3. Restricting manufacture to phosphate for home consumption only. K X X people have forgotten that the chief argument for the Govern= use of Muscle Shoals after the war was to obtain nitrates—for military use and fertilizer. Now it is recognized that nitrates, which can be replaced by planting legumes, aren’t as important as phosphates. But the term “fertilizer” in the law creating T. V. A. covers both, Once plants and animals are shipped out of the country. the phos- phatas they have absorbed go with them. The nitrate plant at Wilson Dam has been stancing by while electric furnaces have been manufacturing highly concentrated phosphates. These have been made available to State institutions for the cost of shipment for “demonstration” purposes, none sold to individuals, Some individual fariners have received shipments, however, through the Department of Agriculture in lieu of cash for co-operation in the soil conservation program Senator Pope has arranged for a series of meetings in Idaho, Mon- tana and Utah with T. V. A. engineers this Fall. He has discovered that, under the act, the T. V. A. can put up a “pilot plant” in the West for demonstration, and he wants that done immediately. (Fortunately, most of the deposits are on public lands.) Then he wants to have the authority sell the phosphates direct to the consumer. rdstick this x K kX ‘The statement issued by Presi- dential Secretary Mclntyre early this week, stating that President Roosevelt was repeating “for the thousandth time” that he isn't tak- ing part in any local elections, con- cealed more than it revealed It was emphatic enough in de- claring that there was no political significance in the neighborly visit to Hyde Park of Edward J. Flynn, New York Democratic leader. After stories appeared that the White House was backing Jeremiah T. Mahoney, candidate for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. against Senator Royal S. Copeland, newspaper men were hastily summoned to a special conference at Hyde Park. This interview provided the exclamation marks which the official statement omitted. It turned out that the President had hardly talked with Mr. Flynn, except at the luncheon table. as he had been busy most of the time during the visit to his mother's home. All Mr. Flyrn had said when he was discovered in Poughkeepsie, where the press is stationed when the White House is at Hyde Park, was “It’s all Mahonev.” That wouldn't have meant much if it hadn't been for the fact that it was only then discovered that he had seen Mr. Roosevelt But the circumstantial evidence was so strong that a number of writers playved the story on all the stops It was hinted that. if more “whole cloth” tales were tailored. it might be necessary to return to the ancient written questions and futile, formal press conferences of Hoover days. (Copyright, 1937, by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) BOOMERANG — | able that Justice Van Devanter him- | of political demagoguery into the very precincts of the Supreme Court self would then have sent a formal | letter of resignation and Congress | would have provided retirement pay in another way, as. indeed. was sug- gested recently by Senator Borah This probably will not be done for Senator Black, because his appoint- ment is a slap in the face against the independent Democrats in the Sen- ate and against all those who opposed the President's Supreme Court bill. Senatorial courtesy usually has meant that when a Senator was nomi- nated to an office by the President | he would be confirmed by the Sena- tors as a matter of custom and per- sonal acknowledgment of friendship for the man who has received the honer. But this rule applies when there is no fundamental issue at stake. It is not a personal question. Per- sonally Mr Black is a likable man He is a master of innuendo and is one of the most vituperative speakers on the Democratic side—hardly the type that any other President of the United States would ever have con- sidered was temperamentally suited to carry out the spirit of the oath of office of a Supreme Court justice, which is to administer justice to rich and poor alike, impartially and fairly. Mr. Roosevelt had a number of liberal judges of the Brandeis type from whom to choose, men with ex- perience on circuit courts of appeals. but he chose to do what his defenders have been saying he would never do— use his great office to satisfy a politi- cal grudge and to carry the battle itself INSURANGE CORPORATION MEMBER' FEDERAL DEPOSIT * CI'HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to gtve all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among necessarily The Star’s. themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Will Reason Rule Again? Era of Prejudices and Struggle for All New Ideas Guiding U BY DOROTHY THOMPSON. HE critic who is skeptical of, or in opposition to, many of the tendencies and measures of this third New Deal is called upon to explain himself if hpl would avoid being allied with ideas | and attitudes which are by no means | his own. He may | find himself ap- palled at the company which welcomes him and embarrassed by his admirers. Be- cause he has been opposed to mak- ing the Supreme Court a jury of yes-men for the Executive or of Congress, he will have attributed to him all the ideas of Mr. Justice Suther- Dorothy Thompson, on which the Black-Connery wages | and hours bill is based, he will be called a champion of ruthless and | unregulated sweating of labor, and an opponent of all social and economic reform. If he believes that public and legal protection for trade unions implies legal responsibility on the part of trade unions for fair practices, he will be hailed as & spokesman for Tom Girdler and the dominant soci- ology of Wall Street. Nor can he honestly say that he does not care, or blame the dumbness of the public, or retreat into a fortress | of intellectual arrogance. For the function of the writer is to make him- self understood, and the extent to which he is misunderstood is the extent of his failure If he writes opinion on public affairs, plainly he | writes to influence the course of those affairs. Otherwise he would commit | his opinions to & diary. Intolerance Gains. But his difficulties are great. It is symptomatic of the strains of the society in which we live that things are increasingly represented in black versus white; that differentiation of opinion even on so empirical a thing as method, is suspected of being treason to progress or—on the other hand—an assault upon organized | society. “I cannot recall a time, except dur- ing the war. when debate was more | contentious. acrimonious, or intolerant | The symptom is fairly universal. in all those countries where personal and individual opinion still can find ex- pression, but it is peculiarly glaring in the Unted States. | It testifies to something which seems to me quite as great a cause for con- cern as other, more patent and obvious | evils in our communal life, such as | truth | | | ‘ | poverty and crime. It is the fact that the body of people who share any common standard of intellectual ref- crence is constantly growing smaller It is not only in Russia, Germany and Italy that truth for the sake of is repudiated, that reason is held to be itself a rationalization, that | ends are held as something completely apart from means. The attitude is characteristic of our own thinking. Rule-of-Thumb Ascends. The dominant British philosophy is empiricism, which demands a constant | check upon theory by reality. But in | theory and experience, only to | economic advisers to | economy, . S. Now. America empiricism degenerated into pragmatism which is a rejection of theory altogether and the philosophy of rule-of-thumb not to be confused with realism. It dominates much of our university life and unconsciously influences prevailing attitudes. It has found almost perfect expression in the New Deal, and in Mr. Roosevelt's earlier speeches in which he said that his program was to try various reme- dies out of the medicine closet, and reject those which didn’t work. That is how we launched a relief program which was counter to both find that you have great difficulty later in rejecting or changing any thing upon which several million people have come to depend But it is nonsensical to indict the New Deal for this. One needs only to | recall the complete contempt for ra- tional processes of the Hoover epoch It had its Cassandras who howled up | | the wind, warning of coming collapse. | | land; because he doubts the premises 8 g Dy Only when the collapse was upon us | | did any one listen to them. Then they | had their day in Washington, and did a good job, for they were the inventors | of the idea of the elastic budget, the advocates of government spending in | a deflationary period, the heretics who challenged the theory that a household budget was synonymous in its laws with that of & nation. Some of them came out of Wall Street, and were great banking houses. To Limbo as Royalists. ‘Two or three of them did the most constructive and radical thinking in the Nation in 1933. But where are ! they now? In Limbo, described as Economic Royalists and Reactionaries because they do not think that what was good for 1933 is necessarily good for 1937. | The men of theory, reason and ex- | perience of the first and short-lived | New Deal have given way to the men of “ideas” of the present New Deal and in place of a really imaginative and scientific program aimed at mitigating business cycl heading off and de- flecting unemployment, and providing for an expanding economy by means of long-range rational policy and largely automatic government controls, we have a crowd of idealistic internes carefully diagnosing pimples and writ- ing up elaborate prescriptions for them I cannot see to save my life what the question of balancing or unbalancing the budget has to do with liberalism or conservatism. It is a technical question to be judged by rational and realistic tests of probable social results What Every One Wants, Presumably everybody wants to live in a solvent, stable and expanding and a dignified. safe and creative society. doing good work for fair remuneration. And most people want to avoid a catastrophic revolu- | tion. Whatever measures can secure us these will be the right measures, and the business of the social critic is to judge with whatever capacities he possesses whether or not measures proposed are taking us in that direc- tion. He may prove to have guessed rightly or wrongly, but certainly the | humanitarian impulses of the authors of legislation will not be his criterion. | But I am aware that fewer and fewer people believe there is such a thing as disinterested and objective thinking. The pevchologists and neo- GOLDEN RULE CoNruclus, the illustrious Chinese sage, born 550 B. C., was the author of the Golden Rule. “"What you do not when done to yourself, do not do to others.” like His immortal words have laid the foun- Friendships we have for: MORRIS PLAN one ice cream guaranteed B8AVINGS Purity. It's BREYERS A * CHECKING dations for lasting friendships throughout the Ages. med, through years of helpful service, prove that we are truly a friendly bank. The Ciank for the fhdividual! 1408 H STREET, N. W. * LOANS NING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1 This Changing World Danger of Chinese or Japanese Forces Invading For- eign Settlement Worries Powers. . BY CONSTANTINE BROWN. HE Sino-Japanese conflict finally has become a world problem. It has developed s> many potentialities which might involve other countries that foreign offices which heretofore have considered it an affair of no consequence to the peace of the other nations, now are worrying about just such danger. * K ¥ The Shanghai conflict in particular is likely to develop into some- thing dangerous. There are many foreigners that inter- national But what s more serious, armed forces of the western powers also are here. Besides he 4th Regi- ment of American Marines, there are British, Italian and French troops. These military units have been mobilized to protect the in- Jx‘ ternational settlements and the e = French concession. 1/ by any chance the military situation requires either Japanese or Chinese battalions 1o go through these foreign settlements in order to turn the enemy's flanks, they will not hesitate to do so and the fat will be in the fire x ki The Japanese Navy once more is bearing the brunt of battle. although in 1932 it made so many mistakes it had to be rescued by the army. This time blue jackets again are in charge of the operations, pending arrival of infantry from Japan. The admiral in command says the mistakes made five vears ago taught the navy a lesson and wil not be repeated. This may be true but it also is true that this time the Chinese have brought into line some of their best troops and ample modern war equipment, x x X X Some of the American destrovers which in 1920 were stationed in the Near East and called U. S. S. “taxis,” have become “drive yourself" ships. In the Near East they were called taxis because while patrolling the Black Sea, they used to be hailed by any stranded American who hap- pened to be on business or for pleasure in the Black Sea ports . The nickname of “drive yourself” has been given them since it has been proposed to lease some of them to the Brazilian government. * % % X % Although the combat value of the vessels which have been chosen to train the Brazilian naval personne! is Inconsequential. there is no doubt these 1918 “Sears, Roebuck” destroyers will be among the best units in the South Atlantic Out of 153 destroyers the six best have been chosen The Argentinians are the loudest to protest against this innovation in international affairs—the leasing of warships—because they believe it will threaten their naval su- premacy In the old days princes used to “rent” soldiers to nations which needed them. Thus, the British rented Hessian troops for service in America and the French kings hired Swiss and Scotch soldiers for service in France. But the rent- ing of warships is something en- tirely new. * x The motive which prompted the State Department to comply with the request of the Rio de Janeiro government Wwas, besides the necessity of strengthening the naval defenses of Brazl. one of gratitude During the Spanish-American War the Brazilian government agreed to sell this Government two cruisers it had just brought from Europe These units helped Admiral Dewey defeat the Spanish fleet. Therefore when we had a chance to repay the Brazilians for a kind deed, the State Department acted without hesitation o o ok Of course. this leasing business might other powers might not like For instance. the French would be able to lease some of their sub- marines to the Yugoslavs: the Germans could lease some of their units to the Spaniards—the Italians have done it already, but have not admitted it. The British could lease quite a number of units to the Chinese or the Siamese and so forth. There is a strong possibility that within the next year or so, the nations which have no navies. because of the expense of building and upkeep. should be well provided with over-age ships which while of little value in a homogenous battle force. are serviceable as raiders. A flotilla of over-age destroyers flving the flag of a nation with- out a sizable navy, such as Finland for example. might force naval staffs to detach important units from the combat force to protect shipping All this means. that more modern units will have to be built, in metropolis. * x set a precedent which the Marxians have seen to that. They have | stream of history.” If this be true, the told us that the operations of our There minds are purely rationalizations of our basic economic prejudices and social and psychological conditioning. so that we have no objective or valid tests of anything. We are merely leaves tossed on the stream of in- evitable social forces, and that wisdom therefore consists merely in being a good guesser and drifting “with the ! social critic has no function. is room only for the agitator, This column, some may have guessed, does not share this conception of man and his mind. On the contrary, it still believes that reason and realism are the only possible solvents for the social struggle. (Copyrizht, 1937.) Headline Folk and What They Do Greyhound’s Owner Is Little Known Philanthropist. BY MUEL F. PARTON, HIS writer. going to Goshen for the Hambletonian and getting wet with the rest of the crowd, observed a ballyhoo about | Greyhound which almost drowned out the thunderstorm. The “wonder | horse,” sensation of harness racing | this year, seems to be stealing the show. At Goshen, you can pat the horses and feed them sugar, and every- body seemed to he on terms of warm intimacy with the great Greyhound. But not with its owner. This set off a train of thought in this corre- spondent’s mind about Sunday visits vears ago to St. Charles, on the Fox | River, 38 miles west of Chicagn. Ed- ward J. Baker, owner of Greyhound, |15 known to evervbody in his home |town as Ed Baker. He is a small, quiet, self-effacing man who has a better time with a lot of monev than | anybody you can think of offhand. | He would be dreadfully embarrassed | if he got one-tenth of the publicity | Greyhound gets. | No rich man who had not gro |up around a half-mile track and a {xrmn with a dingy old hotel with | prints of Maud S. and Dan Patch in | the Jobby could possibly think of the friendly little benefactions by which | Mr. Baker has made St. Charles the | “Cinderella cit Maybe the firemen need new uniforms. He waves his hand and there they are. the map= piest and brightest rigs any ever wore. It's the same when the town band needs new instruments, When the Methodist Church was trv- Ing to branch out and lacked fungs Mr. Baker murmured, “H a nrkr pipe organ on me,” which it did He doesn't go in much for organized and institutionalized philanthrophy, but he is generous in this field, too. when 1t suits the occasion. He spent £300.000 building a community home as a memorial to his son, who died of injuries in a foot ball game. And Just to brighfen up Main street, he staked the town to a new $300000 bank He was a brother John W. (Betcha Mi and Mrs. L Notr la niece. inh £40.000.000 of Gates fortune. He had been in St. Charles industries, making bi- cycie parts and accessories and stoves, as I remember. He con business interest, and as passed indulged his hobby of horse breeding and racing and became a formidable contender around the grand In 1932 he had virtually with- drawn from the track, but Greyhound started him off again There is a dicker on for a match race this Summer between Greyhound and the famous Muscletone, owned by Giovanni Maiani of Milan, Italy, that ought to be an exciting event, as trotting horses are 100 per cent Amer=~ ican and it will be interesting to sea how the Italians have caught the trick, firemen n-law of the late er’s the interested Grace Gray DeLong Life Reader Adviser Consultations; $1 Hours: 11 AM. to 9 P. Telephone: MEt. 5234 CHIC_MESSAGE COUNCIL h A PSY! 1100 Twelfth St. N OPEN ALL DAY SATURDAY 'til 6 P.M.! ODD LOTS from I[nzentory Must Go! Selling All Accumulated Odd Lot Inventory...on sale only while (Z) $25 NATIONALLY KNOWN 511.95 Longs 138. (4) $29.75 TOPCOATS __ Regular 1 34, 1'38; Shorts 1/40 from quantities last! : 817.95 B —— e — ACETATE SUITS Regular 1/39, 1/40. (5) $12.75 COTTON GABARDINE SUITS e ) s6 95 Regular 3 36; Shorts 138; Longs i 6.95 19.95 319.95 (2) $12.75 WHITE COTTON SUITS $ Regular 1/36; Shorts 1 38. (4) $40 KUPPENHEIMER SUITS $ Regular 1/36, 1/38, 1/39, 1/40. (4) $45.00 KUPPENHEIMER SUITS . . - Regular 1/36, 1/37, 2/38. (6) 2 AND 3 PC. $35 TROPI- CAL WORSTEDS Regular 3 37, 2 38; Shorts 1 35. $1.95 SHIRTS Including high grade woven madras and fine quality broadcloth! 315.95 FURNISHING Specials $1.65 SHIRTS White broadcloth. collar attached. Sizes 13'; to 171, neckband and s 1.19 31.59 (6 for $7.00) Reg- ular collar, button-downs and tabs (68) $29.75 WOOL SUITS Regular 2/36. 2 47, 6/38, 539, 8/40, 8/42, 2/44; Shorts 2/36. 337, 4 38, 2/40; Longs 3/38, 4/40, 2/42; Btouts 2/38, 5/40, 5/42, 3/44. 319.95 British stripes, checks, pin stripes and candy stripes. (3 for $4.50) $2.50 WHITE BROADCLOTH “AND FANCY MADRAS HIRTS (42) $2500 TO $35 TROPICAL S WORSTED SUITS Regular 1/36, 3/37, 638, 3/39, 1,40, 7/42; Shorts 1/35, 3/37, 2/38, 1/39, 1/40; Longs 1/38, 1/39, 2/40, 1/42, 1/44; Stouts 1/38, 1/39, 2/40, 1/42, 1/44, 1/46. sizes. 319.95 MEN'S 50c Choice of lisle, rayon. or silk! Va- riety of patterns. including clocks, stripes and checks. (33) PAIRS SPORT TROUSERS Collar-attached styles! Smart va- riety of patterns and colors. $ 1;.79 39c All (3 for $5.25) HOSE _ (6 for $2.25) Were $7.50 and $10.00___ (14) $12.50 AND $15.00 SPORT COATS _ _ __ Regular 2/35, 2/36, 3/37, 2/38, 2/39, 1/40, 2/42. ° 36.95 (6) $35.00 FULL DRESS SUITS Regular 1/36, 2/37, 1/39; Shorts o g 5189 GROSNER of 1 $1.00 NECKTIES __ _ _ Every tie handmade. Wool lined! Resilient construction! bow ties, too. (6 for $3.75) $3.50 GROS-LITE FELT HATS 3 different shapes! shades. Plenty of 69c 32.45 14 different