| Show s HEARD HEARDa a 6 and nd t tN tl e NATIONAL N CAPITAL p Carter Field Washington House House members member ar are e almost comparable with condemned d murderers who have been granted new trials as a result of the decision de cllon clelon of the house leaders to wait until the senate Lct acta before forcing a vote in the lower house on President Pres Prea ident Roosevelt's proposal to enlarge enlarge en large the Supreme court Privately mo most t members of both house and senate say there has not been such a dangerous vote in years yearn If It they vote yote with the President dent they have outraged an indeterminate inde mode terminate nt number mbar of persons In fn Including dudin a good many very vocal lawyers back In their districts and states stales They may have provided some porno likely In the next primaries with Just jut the Issue he needed If they vote against the President it may mal be Just as 81 bad or worse I IThe The President Is II liable to win out as II he always alway has haa before before save save on a afew afew few tew things of ot wholly incomparable political potentiality If It he does doe and they were against him there may mal be reprisals reprisals and and also that likely competitor back home will have a I ready made issue Stand issue Stand Standby by the President Much of ot this nay still atm be true six Ix weeks week or two months month hence or whenever the senate disposes of the question But Out in six weeks week or two I months month public opinion may have Jelled The house member will have been hearing not Just from ready I letter writers but from his trusted lieutenants lieutenant and friends friend back home from people he can enn depend on to tell him the truth Meanwhile h he will t have haye been reading eagerly some lome of ot 1 l o s 's d th the e stories printed in the home town home town I newspapers Not so 10 mud muck the edl edi J se h He lie can find and nd out what the r editors think any time What he t r will read with most interest are thet the t 4 of little Where accounts account gatherings fathering w the e Issue Is II debated He lie will note rd with Interest that John 01 J r Jones Jone whom he knows know all nil about I. I c spoke poke vigorously for the Presidents President's side but that thai Sam Smith about whom the congressman Is equally S' S r. r r I well Informed took the other side Bar la Is a Opposed lit lie will see ee that the local bar association voted heavily against the President and Ind that tho local labor unions union voted unanimously forthe for forthe forthe the President Then it will be u up p to him to have a little shoe gumshoe work dune Did all the boys boy at that labor union meeting really feel teel that 5 way or did they do the usual o ot ol f following the leader The congressman congressman congress man will have a fairly accurate a appraisal ap of ot that very shortly lie He will know whether this group or Ff that in addition to voicing their sentiments really feel strongly Y enough about It 1 to carl carry the grudge until next election day Which i ithe is the only point in the case ho he real really Y cares carel about t CI Now Mow senators have always alway ha had d the opportunity before voting to d deU do doall all eU this digging if It they were of ot th thear the e ear ur to the ground variety as os distinguished dl dis from the tho forthright boys boy s who leap into every light fight at the beginning beginning be ginning sure lure ot of Jf big newspaper r headlines Always In the past a vote voLe of ot this sort lort Is II rushed in th the e house and hen the senate enato fights s It out The unfair mart art to member of th the house in the past palt has often been beer n that by th time lame the measure came cam e back from the senate it was nothIng nothing noth ing in whatever like what the house hous e 5 5 members had vot voted d fort fori Yet tr try y to explain that tha t to a I sore ore constituent ent anti I I This time the house members ca can n sit lit back and wait walt till tl all the ma ma- and compromising t tover is I. s over till the public debate debatt has haa run rut n its It course Maybe until the pu pub public lie lic has hu Ie tired of ol It And nd I it If I Ithe the senate never voted at all all plenty of ol house members would b be e mighty pleased Wheelers Wheeler's Plan h Best Dest opinion is that the proposal 1 of Senator Burton Durton K K Wheeler o of f Montana that a two-thirds two majority Y of both house houe and senate ente could coin d override a Supreme court opinion n holding a law unconstitutional would prove a much longer loneer ste step p toward a real dictatorship dictatorship som some sometime e time In the future that future that the so so- so w called Supreme court packing proposal proposal pro pro- poul of ot President Roosevelt Incidentally It would be far more mor e effective could effective could it 1 be attained t immediately im Im- m mediately than mediately-than than the appointment of ot six additional Justices For exa exam m pIe It Is II conceivable that such uch a an n additional power were It 1 vest vested in Ira congress might b be used to p put tit over a new NR which was d declared de dared Blared by a unaa unanimous 1 vote of th th- present high court It Is I. not no conceivable that the a ap ap- a of six additional Justices justice a would do that even that even U It every everyone one ot of t the six lla pew new ones onn promised to decide de do aide cide questions coming before th the e court precisely as the President de dt sired aired The decision lon of the enlarged enlarge d ff y v would obviously be nine t to six against a revived KRA rmA RA but lut looking ahead to possible situ situ- u ten twenty wenty and thirty years year e. e I f v t hence the Wheeler proposal ot ol f course courso is far fsr more liberal to liberal to us use e s r Ui word the I. I U II m at as now to being we used d 1 tj t 1 1 1 c 1 4 than politIcally the Roosevelt pro proposaL pout After Alter a I given period of time o obviously ob- ob according to the language of 01 the Presidents President's bpi bill as II sent t to congress congre the high bleb court would COT co silt of 15 IS members ra There la Is no doubt about this Senator Joseph Joaeph T T. Robinson to the contrary notwithstanding standing Out hut a forward looking President who may occupy the White House lIou some lome time after liter the court reaches reache the si size Ilze of at 15 members will wID be just justas as helpless no matter what hold he may on congress as President dent Roosevelt f Mats fels els himself to b bIn be beIn In his hll struggle to obtain for the federal federal fed fed- eral government the power to regulate regulate regu late wages hours houri and working conditions con In fn Industry Matter of Age Every no nc of the Justices might conceivably be eighty years ean old nut But If It their construction of the Constitution Con were that of Justices Louis D. D Brandeis and Benjamin N N. Cardozo Car Car- In the NnA case it would make no difference If nil all of ol them were under forty And there would be nothing short of Increasing the number of Justices to 31 with 10 16 new Justices justice pledged to o any particular reform desired atthe at atthe atthe the moment which the President or congress could do about It IL Assuming Assum Assum- Ing ng of course that no constitutional amendments amendment broad enough to cover the he cases cues Involved had been passed In n the meantime Whereas Where should that situation arise and should Senator Wheelers Wheeler's plan Instead of the Roosevelt plan have lave been adopted all nU the President dent would have to do would be to I get ct a law through congress with a two two thIrds birds majority In both houses houes overriding the high courts courtl All of which is la rather amusing because of Senator Wheelers Wheeler's contant con conS stunt tant statements that the Roosevelt plan Ian vests too much power in the hands hand of ol a President in view of ot the possibility x that there may be another anther an other ther Harding In the White While House some ome time The Wheeler plan would simplify the task of any would would-be dictatorial President who had suf auf clent popular following and cal al sagacity M o control congress But Dut It would ko ke a good many years ears to 10 ratify such uch a constitutional amendment as 81 Senator Wheeler has proposed reposed And President Roosevelt knows know this perfectly well welt The ho Silver Issue hsue No campaign pledges or convention conven conven- tion on planks are arc going cuing to be violated on n the silver dIver Issue In fact tact there theres Is s almost u a conspiracy of silence in fleet effect now Just as there was noth noth- Ing ng but hush hush during the campaIgn last summer and tall fall as aso asto asto to o the white metal Secretary of ot the Treasury Henry Jr thinks something ought to be onne aone The government Is is still buying prodigious quantities of silver In accordance with the sal ill ver vcr law which law which directs the Treasury Treas ury to keep on buying silver sliver until It either reaches reache a price of an on ounce or a ratio of one to three with the gold held by the government govern ment Actually the ratio Is still about ono one to due five five due to the ilia fact that the government has been obliged to take over so eo much gold laId poured into this countr by foreigners either cither for safety lafety or other reasons Whereas the world price of silver is fa still slightly lIghtly under 4 45 cents cent as compared with about abou 44 U cents when the silver sliver buying program began Secretary discloses that the Treasury has hal invested 1 l in silver since the ilia passage pas sage age of the silver sliver act and that the average price paid Is about GO 60 cents Which means that the net loss to the government on It Its I silver allver opera to date dale has been 27 n It loss loos Incurred without getting anywhere any where In the direction of either o of the ilia two specified ed objectives A considerable traction fraction of this 1 loss lass 11 of course courle has haa been In the purchase purchase purchase pur pur- chase of n newly mined sliver silver from domestic producers For a longtime longtime long time now the government has been paying domestic producers about 7 18 8 cents relit an ounce It will be recalled that this paid United States State s miners and mining companies ra ran n along IS as a sort lort of sliding scale cale during thy the p period immediately following fol tot lowing passage of the ilia act when who n purchases purchase by United States Stales government government gov were push pushing in the world price up and up disrupting fiscal I affairs In China and Inspiring enthusiasts en and speculators to believe that the 12 19 objective would really b be attained Expected Profit In fact there Is I. little reason to doubt that President Roosevelt and Secretary entertained the same Idea and figured that when this price should be attained there would be a huge prowl profit on the silver Just u as a there was on the gold All AU the silver sUver commandeered at the time silver was wu nationalized was at 50 cents an ounce The world price then soared to 0 the 70 with buying He lie curtailed his buying just a little and rumors got cot abroad that the move mo to put the world price up had collapsed whereupon the Inevitable table happened the happened the price DID col lapse But Dut now doubts that the Treasury should go eo on subsidizing ing domestic silver stiver production so 10 liberally Just how much it should be bo reduced from 78 cents roughly he does doe not recommend lie III would like to hear from ear the silver senators sen Their answer will wI be very simple Naturally they will wI light fight to the death against ANY NY reduction inthe in inthe the subsidy Any ny other course Coune would b be b. unbelievable O C D a BeU U S 3 nl |
