OCR Text |
Show Constructive GOP Congress Depends on Party Harmony By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, 1616 Eye Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. Now that the senate hag settled Its first problem naming of the committee chairmen chair-men the next big question is whether the Re- .' t ' 1 ' J t - 3 i publicans are going go-ing to be able t develop a leadership leader-ship able to ride herd and establish estab-lish the party discipline dis-cipline necessary for iron-handed control. The Republican Re-publican majority major-ity is very slim and there are a number of rest-1 rest-1 ive members who will be as Influence of western and southern states which had already, by means of state primaries or other subterfuge, subter-fuge, managed to take the choice of senators out of the hands of the state legislatures. The Republicans benefited by the failure of the Democrats to maintain main-tain a West-South alliance, but they now sufTer in turn from other sectional sec-tional and Ideological cleavages. I heard one man remark the other day that two recent speeches, one by Senator Morse, Republican of Oregon, and the other by Senator Byrd, Democrat of Virginia, each expressed views much more in line with the opposite party's than with their own organizations. There are many other similar anomalies in the 80th congress, as there were in the last session. The belief that the extreme conservatives con-servatives will be in the saddle ready to ride rough-shod over any liberal move is not generally supported. sup-ported. True history has shown that the American people can stand just so much reform at a time. But on the other hand they have seldom been willing to sacrifice past social gains. Consequently, when the Republicans Re-publicans have been swept into office of-fice after periods like the Wilson "New Freedom," they have been very chary of repealing laws which were passed, in answer to a de- ' mand for new privileges for the many. Nation Clings To Old Reforms Harold Laski, the British left-wing labor leader, would have us believe that there is a "return to reaction" In America. He says in a recent article under that title that "in abandoning aban-doning the Roosevelt heritage Mr. Truman made the shaping of the postwar economic policy of Amer- 1 ica . the concern of business and not of congress." Mr. Truman would be the first to deny mat he I deserted the New Deal heritage 1 whether he was personally inclined I.' .'V 'Y'l .tflJI'S '. I.1 'WW v:-:-:-:-?-r:-r:-:v:?vw& i f A 1 1 Batikhage hard t0 get into the corral, come roll-call time, as the "sons of the wild jackasses" used to be. It Isn't the lack ef a leader so much as a surplus of them that worries Republican politl-coh politl-coh that and the danger that the leaders may start leading In different directions. Another factor not calculated to further unity is the flock of presidential presi-dential bees crawling all over the Inside of the capitol dome. In his December poll, Gallup listed four senators as possibilities in the following fol-lowing order: Vandenberg, 9 per cent; Bricker 8 per cent; Taft, 2 per cent, and Saltonstall, 1 per cent. These are small figures compared to the poll's 62 per cent granted Governor Dewey of New York, or Minnesota's ex-Governor Stassen's 17 per cent, the two leading Gal- lup's Inst. But that doesn't mean the candidates think that way about It. Nobedy is placing bets yet. As the veteran Republican National Committeeman Clarence Budding-ton Budding-ton Kelland said: "I don't think you are going to see the mntter jell at all until Ohio decides whether it is backing Tai't or Bricker. When that decision is made, the lineup line-up will come fast." Gallup predicted that Eisenhower's Eisenhow-er's star would rise higher and thus : whip the hopeful senators to added I zeal. j v Lapel buttons labeled "Draft ) Ike" are already out. Under whose i banner Eisenhower would be draft- .- ' ed it is' not stated, but ,it is gen- ernl'y conceded his personal leanings lean-ings would be mere Republican than Democratic. Neither Vandenberg nor Salton-stall's Salton-stall's friends have begun to fight, and at this writing neither one has even indicated publicly he is in the running. More distressing to the men who have to make the upper house members mem-bers hew to the Republican line is the old problem of the so-called progressive element. Some people are predicting that there may be more harmony in the next session among the minority, so widely V split last time, than among the ma- jority with its swollen ranks. Some 1 Republican are worrying lest they I be divided to the etent that their 1 power will be considerably reduced. Senator Works I For His State Many people fail to realize the many factors which contribute to individualism in the senate. In the first place, each senator is, and so considers himself, an ambassador from a state it is his business to serve that state to the best of his ability and his ability can be greaU ly supplemented by the prestige he acquires. Indeed, prestige, if acquired ac-quired by nothing but seniority can go a long way toward making up for lack of ability. But it is not mere personal ambition which drives a senator to work for individnal premi-nence premi-nence it is a part of his job to strengthen the sovereignty of the sovereign state he represents. repre-sents. Another thing which often forces a senator to walk alone or as part of 3 small group Is sectionalism not a hidebound attitude either, but We demand that he truly represent the interests of his community, even if vhose interests conflict with those of other parts of the country. The ancient antagonism of West-versus-East has never quite died. It was only a little over three decades ago that the 17th amendment was passed which authorized the popular popu-lar election of senators. This was accomplished largely through the Senators Bricker (left), Taft: Hold Presidential Key to support all of its tenets or not. And I can see the hackles of congress con-gress rise, even on the leftish side, I at the suggestion that "the initiative initia-tive was returning to the hands" of National Manufacturers' association. associ-ation. Mr. Truman was removed by the election from a number of restraints and pressures from groups which favored courses he personally disliked but he has not been party to any move to sacrifice past "social gains," and I cannot see congress allowing al-lowing the few reactionaries in either party or in the house or senate to set back the clock. As the Beards point ut in their "Basic History of the United ! States," the Republicans despite j their landslide victory over Wilson j in 1920 did not or could not, "stamp ; out the spirit of progressive or radical radi-cal insurgency, old in American tradition and yet ever new in its application to changing conditions." condi-tions." Harding's "normalcy" and Cool-idge's Cool-idge's conservatism temporarily did end our internationalism. But their 1 next choice was Herbert Hoover, I who had been speaking with contin- I ual concern over conditions affecting affect-ing the less privileged. In 1923, for example, he had called en the insurance in-surance cempanies te study unemployment unem-ployment insurance; he had endorsed en-dorsed an amendment abolishing child labor; he had frightened the reactionaries te death when he proposed pro-posed the inheritance tax to "redistribute "redis-tribute overswollen fortunes." Going further back into history, we note that after three successive victories, the Republicans, even when they had majorities in both houses, did not repeal so-called "reform" measures passed up to 1900. When they returned to power in 1921, although attempts were made te do so, such measures meas-ures as the income and inheritance taxes were not abolished, er reduced to an empty gesture. Yesterday's radical is tomerrew's conservative. |