Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1937, Page 11

Majority Rule Held Needing Clarifying Constitution Lesson in Unquoted Clause of Macauley. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. ' ITHIN a few days the whole Nation will be asked to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the estab- lishment of the Federal Constitution. Coming in a year of controvel | over the fundamentals of the Con- | stitution, it will be difficult for the | occasion to be kept non-partisan or confined to the reiteration of American patriotism. Many local organizations have been formed at the instance of a specially appointed congressional commission | to do homage to the Constitution, but how to celebrate a constitution— there's the dift cult problem. For the phrases of a constitution are essentiaily lezal § if not technical The benefits de- rived from them ? are abstract and not y to de- scribe briefly in concrete terms of & advantage to the citizen. ‘There is one thing, however, which organizations of citizens can do on Constitution day. It is to educate their fellow citizens, the men women and children of the country, on a single aspect of our system of Government which is more times mis- represented and misstated than any other single fundamental of American constitutionalism. It is to define accurately and truthfully the words “majority rule.” Majority Rule. The Constitution does not leave | the question in doubt. It does not | leave it open to interpretation by the | courts or by a President or by Con- | gress. What is “majority rule” when a constitutional question is up for | consideration? | First of all, the Constitution says | there must be not just 51 per cent of both Houses of Congress in agree- ment on a proposition but it must be 662-3 per cent of both Houses. Also the same proposal must be sub- mitted to the people to be voted on either by the Legislatures or by con- ventions to which the people in an election send delegates. The Constitution does not say that | only 51 per cent of the States consti- tute a majority. On the contrary, the | Constitution specifies 75 per cent or three-fourths of the States | Many uninformed people think that | & 51 percent vote by Congress is “ma- Jority rule” and that because Congress is elected every two years, this is the “will of the people.” But that's a fa; acy which can be disproved by a read- ing and rereading of the Constitution itself. There is a basic difference be- | tween the “legislative will” and “the constitutional will” of the people. Special Process Set Up In the one instance, the Congress passes laws within the limits set by the Constitution itself. In the other instance, Congress and the people join together in voting on specific changes to be made in the limits of the Con. stitution. This charter—the Constitu- tion—is the original contract between the States, which can be changed only in the way specified and not by presi- | dential will or by elections for indi- | vidual candidates. Elections for con- | stitutional changes are not mixed with persons or their ambitions. The con- stitutional change process was espe- | cially set apart to keep it free from personalities and to concentrate it in- stead on principles. The New Dealers, including Presi- | David Lawrence. THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, D What’s Back of It All Roosevelt Instructs Welles to Seek World Anti-War Pacts. BY H. R. BAUKHAGE. RESIDENT ROOSEVELT is about to attempt the most important piece of world diplomacy of his administration—extension to the Old World of a system of understandings modeled on the Buenos Aires treaties for the prevention of war This information comes from highly unquotable persons, Who assert that Sumner Welles, Undersecretary of State, has carried to Europe definite instructions on the subject Welles' present job, according to those who declare their opinion is based on more than speculation, is simply to offer “tentatives,” as they are called in diplomatic language. In other words, he will, in highly confidential conversations, suggest not merely the calling of a war- prevention conference, but offer as a concrete goal the negotiation of covenants, for which the Pan- American agreements would be the model. If Undersecretary Welles receives no encouragement from Europe's statesmen, the little chats will be considered “‘as not having occurred.” If Mr. Roosevell’s suggestions are accepted, he will have achieved the objective which he planly stated at the time he invited the Latin American nations to join in the “good neighbor” parleys in the Argen- tine capital last Winter. At that time the President said concerning the proposed inter-Amer- ican peace instruments that they “would advance the cause of world peac inasmuch as the agreements which might be reached would ‘‘supplement and reinforce the League of Nations and other existing or future peace agencies in seeking to prevent war.” * K ok ¥ Sumner Welles, chosen as the advance man, played a prominent part in the Buenos Aires conference and has been the interpreter of the treaties at various public gatherings. In an address last October, outlining American foreign policy in rela- tion to the prevention of war, he quoted Secretary Hull to the effect that “the outstanding question before the world today is peace.” He then added: “It is in the furtherance of that great end that the thoughts and eflorts of the administration have been exerted night and day during the past vears.” Semi-official statements made it clear that the administration’s hope was to lay the groundwork in the Western Hemisphere for a system of under- standings which could be extended, with other covenants, at later confer- ences to include the nations of the rest of the world. Now the Pan-American ‘treaties can be offered as an accomplished fact and suggested as a specific goal of such meetings. In other words, in- stead of saying to the world, “Let’s do something,” the United States is now saying, “Let's get together and do this.” * K X % When the story of President Roosevelt's battle over Supreme Court re- organization is written, it will be a strange tale. Perhaps the strangest chapter will tell of the part that Felix Frank- furter, widely chronicled as the legal foster-father of most New Deal measures, did not play in the story. As a matter of fact, this erudite idealist of Harvard never saw the draft of the court bill and the message which accompanied it until they were in print. This, in spite of the fact—if we may believe the report of one of his nearest friends—that, of all the Frankfurtian members of the New Deal, Tommy Corcoran, alleged author of the bill, was his fairest of fair- haired bo: ‘What will surprise and shock many ardent and thick-and-thin followers of this ill-fated piece of legislation is that Felix Prankfurter not only opposed the bill, but, if pressed, would have testified against it at the hearings of the Judiciary Committee. In fact, he was invited to testify, but, at the request of a close friend who knew how embarrassing it might be, the invitation was not pressed. If he had come, he would have said (according to those who insist they know), among other things: “Break down the barriers which have protected the independ- ence of the Supreme Court, and the way will lie broad and open for the first-man-who-would-be-dictator, whatever his name may prove to be.” Prof. Frankfurter never said those words. But some of his friends assert they were his sentiments, though they were expressed by Prof Erwin N. Griswold, who testified for some 25 pages before the Judiciary Committee. * K % % While it couldn't even be whispered in the solemn conclaves of the men who direct America’s foreign affairs, as a matter of fact there is a powerful personage who sits in on all of these gatherings when our relations with Japan are discussed. He is king cotton. The representatives of his realm in Dixie have their full share of members on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs When Representative McReynolds upholds the policy of his fellow Tennesseean, Secretary of State Hull, which =o far has kept the trade lanes to the Orient open, or when Senator Connally of Texas echoes his sentiments, king cotton nods approval Since 1931, Japan, and not Great Britain, as heretofore, has become America’s best cotton customer. Germany, Japan's good friend, is number two consumer. Both countries have been heavy buyers of “Linters,” the fuzzy substance shaved off the cotton seeds in the manufacture of oil These are essentials in the making of high explosives. Any break in our trade relations with these two countries would cut down the cotton export market nearly 40 per cent (Copyright. 1 by North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) dent Roosevelt, have been by public speeches and statements endeavoring MONDAY , necessarily The Star’s. HE opinions o] the writers on this page are therr own not Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contredictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Concern Us in i BY DOROTHY THOMPSON. AST week American shipping was warned by the Navy De- partment of piracy in the Mediterranean. The ships be cautious. At the same time, Rus- sia in two notes bluntly accused Italy of being the owner of the pirate sub- | marines. Italy indignantly denied the | accusation. Now the same kind of | international organization is being formed to police the Mediterranean as has been so notoriously, so pre- posterously ineffective in enforcing non-intervention in Spain. * ok ok % were 25 attacks on British ships in the Mediterranean. Greek and Rus- sian ships were sunk. Turkey was aroused by a " strange subma- rine bobbing up in the Darda- nelles. A tanker flying the flag of Panama was | sent to the bot- |tom. A great | many ships own- | ed in the United States are regis- tered in Panama and fly her flag. All of this is = going on While Derethy Thompson. nowhere in the world are there two nations formally at war. Certainly the United States is at peace with the world. Yet the Navy Department sends out & warn- ing the like of which has not been circulated since the early days of the Republic, when Commodore Decatur | | was sent to the coast of Africa to| destroy the pirates of Tunis and Tripoli, who were preying upon! American shipping. * % k% Open Bid to Banditry? | If Piracy Concerns Us Elsewhere, Why Does It Not | carrying our commerce were urged to | During July and August alone there | Mediterranean? great nation in the world. The Rus- | sians have caused considerable inter- national annoyance by stating bluntly | what they believe to be the origin | | of the pirate ships. Indignant charges | are made that the Russian is not a| | decent form of government. But from the standpoint of international law | there is only one pertinent question: | Whether the Russian accusations are | true. * Kk ok The dilemma which is presented to American isolationists is an acute one. | They advocate that America withdraw whenever, under whatever circum- | stances, trouble breaks out between nations. Do they now go a step fur- | ther and say that if pirates, sea-gang- | sters, whom no nation acknowledges, | set out to hold up passersby on the highways of the world, we shall with- draw from all those highways? Do they honestly think that such with- drawal will be, in the long run, in the | interests of peace? Would it be in the interests of domestic peace if, when bandits appeared in a certain | section of town, all of the business men of that section were advised by the police to close their shops and move away? Do our friends of peace | honestly advise that international | highways, the property of all human- ity, should be abandoned if bandits are abroad? Is that not an open in- vitation to banditry? At what point | does the issue become a matter of principle? At no point? Does it con- cern us if submarines hold up er shipping just off Nantucket? Or if they sail into the Hudson River? Or if they infest the Panama Canal? And if it concerns us there, why does it not concern us in the Mediterranean And if piracy can be winked at in| the sezs, why not in the air? * ok K % | “Nothing can bring you peace,”| said Emerson, “but the triumph of principle.” A world without law is a | American vessels must be left in considerable confusion as to what to | do. They are advised to observe | caution. What does that mean? What cautionary measures can un- armed vessels take against subma- rines? Shall they run at night with- | out lights, as they did during the | last war? Shall they proceed on}y‘ in the wake of destroyers” And if | 50, whose destroyers? Or shall they | | seek complete safety by the simple | device of staying out of the Medi- | terranean altogether? As long as our ships remain in the Mediterranean they run the risk of being torpedoed, | and they have been advised of this | by no less an authority than the Navy Department. If tomorrow pirate sub- marines bob up in the Atlantic, or in | the Caribbean, will the same warn- | | ing be made? And will the United | | States, in this event, permit its vessels | to proceed at their own risk and with- | out protection against pirate subma- | rines whose ownership no nation in the world acknowledges? * x % X% ! By the established law of nations | for centuries, piracy, which is a crime | not against any particular state, but against all mankind, may be punished by wiping out the pirate wherever he is encountered on the high seas. The seas are the world highways and the property of no nation, but of hu- manity. Yet so hopeless is the an- archy of the world that great sea- | going nations find it necessary to call | a conference and involve themselves | in the most delicate diplomatic nego- | tiations over the question of destroy- | ing pirates who, by the common con- | sent of international lJaw for centuries, are enemies of all, and may be de- siroyed at sight. More than that, it seems certain that the destroyers that have been instance, may good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are de- stroyed.” Yet President Roosevelt, in his ad- dress on March 4th, last, said that the amending process was too cumber- some. that three-fourths of the States was too big a majority to require for utional change and he proposed i that the Supreme Court be ged with justices who would in- to cultivate the idea that elections such as were held for Congress in 1934 or for the presidency in 1936 gave a “mandate” to do as the New Deal pleased about constitutional change. | The favorite New Deal argument to- day is that the Supreme Court “usurps” power in refusing to hold valid various laws passed by Congress. Never nowadays is the Court criticised by the New Deal for stretching the powers of Congress in upholding the New Deal acts. The Supreme Court | terpret the Constitution and make was established by the Constitution | Constitutional changes without per- itself and the framers bestowed on .t | Mitting the people to pass on these “the judicial power,” in 1789 in | particular questions in the way pre- interpreting thz Congress | scribed by the Constitution. passed a law which recognized the Few Presidents have ever had a Supreme Court’s right to pass on the | two-thirds majority of their own polit- wvalidity of all treaties, all acts of Con- | ical party in both Houses of Congress gress and all State laws if they con- | as has Mr. Roosevelt, so the oppor- flicted with each other Foe Of Usurpers ‘When the Supreme Court refuses to accept as constitutional a particular act of Congress the court is not usurp- ing power at all but defending the people against a usurpation by Con- gress. Every time an act of Congress is tunity to change in the legal way has and as for States, he won by 46 to 2 last year, sd if this means, as the New Dealers claim, that the people think the same on Constitutional questions as Mr, Roosevelt does, it should not be diffi- cult to get 36 out of the 48 States to accept his proposals be the instrument of one place he stopped just short of & | a,4 of those upon whose orders they very interesting and instructive sen-|caii For it may turn out that these tence. Here is what Mr. Roosevelt | gbmarines are the property of & gove quoted Macauley as writing | ernment with whom the owners of “Your Constitution is all sail and 10 | the gestroyers are at peace, and in anchor Either some Ceasar OT | that event if the identity of the pirates Nipoleon will seize the reins of GOV- | were officially known, that peace | ernment with a strong hand, or your’m,gm be disrupted. What kind of Republic will be . . . laid waste bylpe“e is this? barbarians in the twentieth century the | Not long ago the President made a | speech quoting a letter that Lord | Macauley wrote in 1857, prophesying | trouble some day for America on | constitutional problems. Mr. Roose- velt quoted a part of the letter but in sent out, and may be sent out, after the submarines will be instructed by their governments to be careful not to ascertain their nationality and to remain officially ignorant of the citi- | zenship of the men who man them The implications of what is hap- as the Roman Empire was in the fifth.” | pening cannot be dodged, While na- But Mr. Roosevelt put a period after | tions talk of avoiding war, war is go- the word “fifth,” where there is | ing on, in ways which have been out actually a semicolon, and he omitted | of use for generations Given the what followed which was this: | temper of peaceful nations, aggres- “With this difference, that the Huns | sors can prey upon and break up the and Vandals who ravaged the Roman | commerce of any nation or group of Empire came from without, and your | nations—without what is officially | Huns and Vandals will have engen- | called war. All that the masters of | dered within your country by your own | the freebooters need to do is to dis- instituti 4 | claim responsibility, as all nations do There’s.a whole lesson for Constitu- | in the case of spies. There is not the day in the omitted sentence. slightest doubt that the identity of declared invalid, it is the same thing as if the Supreme Court had said: “We | refuse to subtract from the rights of | the people. If the people wan up rights guaranteed them by the Con- stitution and wish to delegate those rights either to the Congress or to the State governments as an additional power of government, let the people say so in the manner provided in the Constitution itself.” | This is true liberalism—to let the | people rule and to let the people de- cide by referendum vote. It is not true liberalism but toryism and fascism to let Congress usurp the-fundamental charter rights of the people. George Washington foresaw the possibility After eight years in the presidency, when he wrote his famous farewell address and renounced a third term he said: If in the opinion of the people, tt distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any par- ticular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the | Constitution designates “But let there be no change by usurpation: for though this, in o ~ Alaska—Australia Or Any Other Spot on the Globe | g WE sHiP EVERYWHERE fi 920 £ ST NW. TRANSFER STORAGE (0 ‘ AM FLA Through Service to CHICAGO DIRECT—NO CHANG THE "PRESIDENT'' . ... s 21-PASSENGER FLAGSHIP CLUB PLANES LUXURIOUS LOUNGE CHAIRS—STEWARDESS To Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago: Planes are air-conditioned before departure and con- tinuonsly air-cooled by Nature all the way Ticket Offic To Cincinnati and Chicago: The PRESIDENT, Lv. To Elkins, Charleston, Cincinnati: Lv. 10:30 am (Copyright, 1937.) these submarines is known to every PS E OF PLANES THE ""SENATOR" The SENATOR, Lv. 8:30 am :35 pm Call your Travel Agent or phone NAtional 0442 313 15th Sireet, N. W. TRLINES inc world at war. (Copyright, 1037, ETHIOPIA COPTIC CHURCHi SEPARATED FROM EGYPT Divorce From Alexandria Hier- New York Tribune, Inc.) ; archy Announced by Italy—Bish- ops Face Cut in Powers. By the Associated Press | ROME, September 13.—The Italian conquerors of Ethiopia announced yes- terday that the Coptic Christian Church of Ethiopia under the new regime has been virtually divorced | from the Coptic patriarchy at Alex- andria, Egypt, which formerly con- trolled it. The announcement by Corrado Zoli, | former governor of Eritrea, said that bishops of key cities of Ethiopia, such This Changing World Italy and Reich Act Drastically to Win Belligerent Rights for Franco. BY CONSTANTINE BROWN. HE Italians and Germans have decided to use explosive methods to bring about recognition of Gen. Franco as a belligerent. Th one of the explanations why there is an undeclaved submarine war- fare in the Mediterranean. * E % X Whether the policing of the Mediterranean Sea lanes is possible with- out Italy's co-operation is questionable. The Tyrrhenian Sea is one of the best hideouts for submarines. So are the many islands strewn from Mal- lorca to the Red Sea, which are in Italy's possession. It is difficult to conceive ¢f Mussolini permitting French and British destroyers to patrol the Adriatic or any Italian waters. He is not in a mood for making concessians. The Russians really got him angry, and all the exchanges of Jove letters with Neville Chamberlain will have no effect on him henceforth. Il Duce, who kept friend Neville's epistles in a per- fumed box, tied with red ribbons, has thrown them now in the waste- paper basket with disgust, * ok ox ok ‘The world has seen many changes of diplomatic methods in the course of centuries. But it has never witnessed diplomatic gang- sterism. Diplomacy and interna- tional politics have never been Since Machiavelli diplomacy has been synonymous with decit. above water. But even Machiavelli had not conceived of the new diplomatic methods adopted by some of the most important world powers. It would have been beyond his conception to have armies representing organized governments, fighting each other with thousands of casualties every day and yet the governments saying: “We are on friendly relations, since there has been no declaration of war.” * oK ok Neither the British nor the French have much faith in what the Soviets can do to help them patrol the Mediterranean Sea lanes. Nor do they rely too much on Turkish and Greek assistance. The Russian destroyers have navigated mighty little in the last few years, and have practically no experience with deep sea bombs and the spot= ting of submarines. The Turks and Greeks have improved their navies considerably. Most of their ships are German-made and some of the Turkish officers have been irained in the British naval academy. But the betting is that they will co-operate only light-heartedly with the French and British Navies. They are too close to Italy and are afraid of later comsequences. Gen. Metaxa, the Greek's Duce, is a minature dictator himself, who has taken a leaf out of Hitler's “Mein Kampf” and is now trying to apply it to his own country. He is known to be a strong Communist hater, and has little, if any, sympathy with the Soviets. B Metaxa, who was one of the henchmen of King Constantine and was educated in a German regiment, remembers what happened to Greece wher it tried to play a lone hand during the World War, and has decided tb side, for the time being, at least, with the British and the French. He does not care to see Athens bombarded again and King George go into exile, like his late father. * K ok X The Azores Islands are likely to become shortly another bone of con- tention between the naval powers., They belong to Portugal, and as long as that country was following the British flag in international affairs she had nothing to fear regarding the possession of those islands. Recently, however, the Portu- guese government has sided with Germany and Italy, because most of the Portuguese are Gen. Franco's sympathizers. Portugal is one of the important places whence arms and ammunitions are being sent into Spain. The Azores used to be an interesting place for tourists. Recently they sprang into the limelight, when the trans-Atlantic air service became a reality and the Lisbon-New York air lane was to use Funchal as one of its important bases. Since the beginning of the Mediterranean crisis, the Azores are fAguring largely on the maps of the Italian and British naval staffs. They can become key bases to intercept the maritime lines pro- ceeding to and from the Panama Canal and South America. Should the present conflict in the Mediterranean become an actual world conflagration, the chances are that the Portuguese will lose these islands to Great Britain. as Addis Ababa and Aksum, will be named either by the Coptic Church of Ethiopia and confirmed by the Ital- | ian government, or named directly by the government. It is ‘also possible that the right to crown the Empercr of Ethiopia will be taken away from Coptic bishops of Addis Ababa and Aksum and given to the Roman apostolic delegate to Addis | Ababa. AS LOW AS (. —The Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway & Motor Coach Employes of America, an A. F. of L. union, opens its international convention here today. | of the association, will preside. SR e ON MONTHLY BUDGET PLAN with small down payment Call, Phone or Write; Esso Marketers Oil Heating Division Standard Oil Company of New Jersey 261 Constitution Ave. N.W. Washington, D. C. Tel. NA. 9032—After 5 P.M. Call NA. 1359 Annapolis Utilities, Incorporated 126 West St., Annapolis, Md., Annapohs 123 A. F. L. Unit in Convention. SAN FRANCISCO, September Windsor in Bucharest. | BUCHAREST, September 13 (#).— The Duke and Duchess of Windsor came here yesterday by auto, planning to end their tour of Hungary a day hence and return to Austria. It was understood they planned later to visit Paris, perhaps to spend the Winter there. 13 ‘W. D. Mahon of Detroit, president oNo/L wkd A—11 Headline Folk and What They Do Biggers, Jobless Cen- Wel- comes Criticism. sus Director, BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. LATED to organize and manage the unemployment census, John David Biggers, Toledo giass | company president, invites criti- | cism of the plan. “The more stones thrown, the better,” he says Various persons ! oblige. Newspa- pers and individ- uals who have their own ideas about this long overdue count of f” the jobless are | - heaving anything ; handy—a chunk ' of slag or a dead cat, if there's nothing elsé within reach. It is the refreshing democratic antis thesis of totali- tarian doings overseas. Fancy Goering, nanded a job by Hitler, asking all comers to take a kick at it! Biggers, handsome, soft-spoken, suave multi-millionaire industrialist, has a background of Chamber of Com= merce research and statistical study which, while not officially 1oted, doubtless counts as a special quali- fication for the census job. Just in passing, he is a Republican member of the Business Advisory Council. For many years he has been active in non-partisan movements for civic bet« terment in Toledo. Meeting the challenge of the news- paper men, he is engagingly frank in admitting that this census thing is all pretty nebulous, but insists that “it can be done.” Spearhead of the challenge is that it is to be a vol- untary census. News stories reveal a skeptical undertone. Biggers is a native of St. wvouis. Educated at George Washington Uni- versity and the University of Michi- 2an, he began his business career as advertising manager for Larned, Car- ter & Co. of Detroit. The was as- sistant secretary of the Detroit Chamber of Commerce and later sec- retary of the Toledo Chamber of Commerce. From 1914 to 1926 he climbed the rigging of the Owens Bottle Co. from assistant treasurer to vice president. Since 1930 he has been president of the Libby-Owens. Ford Glass Co., maker of virtually all the automobile glass in the country. He is an officer and director of sev- eral other corporations. The new hired man on the farm, ordered to take a chicken census, had to give it up. “That one over in the corner there won't stand still long enough to be counted,” he said. Just at this season Mr. Biggers has a comparable problem of seasonal and migratory labor. But he says they'll work out somehow. And, living in a glass house, he says, “Come on with your stones. (Copyright, 1937.) Biggers, Mrs. Kong Will Speak. Mrs. Kong, wife of the minister of the Chinese Christian Church, will speak tomorrow at the meeting of Circle No. 3 of the Church of ti. Pilgrims, The meeting will be at 2:1, p.m. EASY HOUSANDS of owners are enthu- siastic over their Essoburners, many say it actually cuts fuel costs over heating methods they previously used. This great, modern oil burner is designed to be a fuel saver. 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