Show ja lb I 1 0 R washington many times in these columns I 1 have had occasion to write in praise of great leader senator joe rob passes on inson son of arkansas the democratic leader in the senate his magnificent cen t qualities his capacity as a statesman and the regard with which he was held by republicans and democrats alike were such that further praise from th this is pen would be of little value suffice it to say that in joe robinsons death the nation is the loser because he fought the good fight but senator robinsons sudden death a few days ago has precipitated a political condition of gravest importance although none of us who knew him nor those with whom he was associated in an official capacity could have foreseen his sudden death I 1 think it is proper to say that the passing of joe robinson may have more far reaching influence upon his count rys history than an all of his long and distinguished career in public life that is to say fate possibly has turned in this instance to the role it sometimes plays the role of master strategist the question may be asked why does the death of one man become so BO important the answer is simple joe robinson was the field marshal for the roosevelt administration particularly he was the field marshal in the greatest legislative battle to reach the floors of congress since the days of slavery and this coin coincided with the daring adventure of an epochal administration president roosevelt leaned upon senator robinson to put through the senate a bill that would permit the chief executive to appoint additional justices of his own choosing to membership in the supreme court of the united states he leaned upon the arkansas senator for many other things as well but it seems to be the consensus of opinion that mr Roosevel ts administration may well stand or fall by the success or failure of his program to reorganize the judiciary of the united states it seems further that if the president fails to obtain congressional approval for this plan which would give the president domination over the court system of the country he will have lost control of the legislative branch of the government for the remainder of his term few F ew presidents have been able to carry on successfully without the cooper co oper aaion of the legislative branch it is too early of course to say whether the death of senator robinson means defeat for the court packing program nevertheless most of df the astute political observers in in washington indeed many of the presidents own party in the senate believe that the passing of the democratic leader was a fatal blow to the presidents power in in congress this results from the fact that joe robinson was able to mold together many groups and ell cliques ques an and d hold them b by y the sheer power of his lovable lovae le personality in a cohesive bes ive workable unit the country never will know how well and faithfully joe robinson ought fought for the president and his policies I 1 have said in these columns heretofore and I 1 repeat that I 1 do not believe senator robinson favored all of the new deal poncie policies cie in his heart he was progressive but he had sound ideas he stood by the president and the new deal with courage and capacity but on many occasions I 1 ha have v e reason to believe he fought for those hose t principles because he believed he should either fight as a member of his party or retire further he knew that it if he would retire retire he would not have the opportunity nor the influence to persuade the radical wing of the new dealers to propose reasonable policies in other words the late democratic leader was attempting to be a leader in fact as well as in name and many are the indications where he was able to pull the theorists and the radical new dealers back from the brink of political destruction in view of the facts I 1 have reported and the observations I 1 have made above it be r on o n court kill bill comes perfectly doomed plain that t the h e president is in a position where he can lose the present court battle with ease in fact there are many observers who believe the court legislation will have to be abandoned and that congress will be quickly overwhelmed by that annual desire of representatives and senators to conclude their work and adjourn letus let us review the situation as regards the court legislation the president got off to a very bad start when the original bill to add six new justices to the supreme court was P resented presented the original reasons he gave for demanding the new power he sought were shattered within a few days after the draft 1 of sa s1 the biu bill reached sed the cap capitol he was forced to abandon them mr roosevelt then c me came for ward with a second set of reason reasons namely that the supreme court at present constituted as could not nota alai would not hold some of his J socia soc a legislation constitutional that set sot of reasons was knoch knocked into into a cocked hat when wethe ae supreme P court upheld the washington state minimum wage law the wagner labor rela S eions act and the social secure security taxes then came the resignation naf of justice van devanter ti j US tee j van devanter was one ot of the me men whom mr roosevelt had in mind as unwilling and unlikely to see so cial legislation through the sam glasses as mr ro roosevelt cosevelt saw the th situation in the country the van devanter resignation gave the president an opportunity to appoint a new member to the court it also gave the senate an OP tul anity to burst forth with expressions of its own ideas concern concerning ing the type of man who should succeed justice van devanter and the senators were not backward in promoting the name of the democratic leader senator robinson but mr roosevelt thus thu far has failed to fill the vacancy and this failure has been interpret presidents ed d by the opposition among the presidents own party as an unwillingness to select anyone but a radical for the highest court in any event those opposed to the court bill contend that the presidents delay constitutes only another reason why he should accept the inevitable defeat of the court revision program when it became apparent that the original bill for six new justices could not be passed because the democratic dominated senate judiciary committee reported the bin with a scathing denunciation the late senator robinson astutely offered a substitute bill in the nature of a compromise this substitute bore the authorship of senators logan of kentucky and hatch of new mexico even the substitute which provided for one additional judge a year until the supreme court numbered eleven members has received the same bitter criticism that characterized the first measure many members of the senate say they will fight it as long as they would have fought the original because it will give the chief executive control of the supreme court just as the earlier one would have done president roosevelt vetoed a little known and little attle discussed bill the other day it was star route known as 11 ll R bill vetoed an act to provide for the renewal of star route contracts at four year intervals the title of course will mean little to most ot of those who read these lines but this was a bill intended to do justice to those underprivileged classes about which mr roosevelt has often spoken in his fireside chats over the radio the men who would have benefited by this piece of legislation were the star route carriers of the mans mails the service that dates back to the stagecoach days of america and the service from which originated the postal departments famous phrase the mails must go through the star sta r route is the only means by which a good many thousand persons are able to receive mails on anything like a modem basis because this service reaches the out of the way inland towns where railroads are not yet and possibly never will be in operation I 1 watched this legislation go through the house without without dissenting vote I 1 saw senator mckellar democrat of tennessee attack the bill in vicious language and then I 1 1 it a vote jote of 01 saw the senate pass by nearly two to one in addition I 1 kr know ow that the rep of these little known earners carriers biers little known except to those e whom they directly serve to had tried tri for a number of years obtain in a basis of pay that WU will let 1 them n live 1 they finally were able to convince con postmaster general that unless they were paid parley farley ey would that number the more m money go broke roke in carrying out their con 1 would be amazingly lars large tracts s this th that haven have not the slightest doubt group p ought to be paid more money their the for the he work they do because becaas e is present nt basis of compensation it if they t shamefully hame fully low so low that union were members of a labor they would all go on strike in the w no change has be been en made the basis of compensation or in se this method od of contracting for in a 1845 J ice since ince it was organized 90 except pt in minor ways three thle is a ang long of a century or more action long time the presidents pres den tra ef in vetoing boing this legislation d his is very ry diar difficult cult to under stan inc incon ansis I 1 action on is ma made de the more because Z tent ninny many persons believe gove ra to the ine fc coatto the additional cost to 0 mau ment would be I 1 insufficient the in t tain the sm smallest ablest uni unit of chic w I 1 h 0 the dred I 1 new nev deal agencies president lent has created create i d a 0 western Newt paP |