Capital Comment
STOUT, JONATHAN
Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT Why Congress Feared The Soldier Vote WASHINGTON, D. C—As this was written, the question of the soldier vote was far from aettle-ment a* ever. Senate-House...
...But Congress as now deployed cannot make up its own mind...
...is within the power of the Congressional leaders at any time...
...I» 1>38," he said, "the total national vote was 35 million...
...And it certainly may be presumed that men with legal education would at least know the Constitution of the United States...
...But for the present crisis and the immediate future it is out of the question...
...Their ideas, their personalities, their importance count too little in the final determination of policy and in the awarding of credit for national achievement...
...This haa added fuel to the fire...
...but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations...
...Member* of the Senate and House would not be shelling the White House if they had the feeling that they had taken their proper parts in dealing with the problems of the great depression and the war...
...If 17% of the population vote this year, the num-¦» «hould total 51 million...
...On the whole, the President has been right sbout the points of conflict...
...Their anger rises largely from a sense of frustration...
...To be effective from any point of view, it should be reorganised, in accordance) with the needs of our era, to conduct the nation'< business more effectively...
...The Congress hss been wrong— but not because most of it* members sre vicious or ignorant or unpatriotic...
...But, in turn, this failure has partly resulted from the fact that Congress had no machinery for adopting any continuing policies or crystallising any official opinion...
...Ah Ediforial— One Trouble With Congress 1*11 K bitter fight between Congress and the President is nothing new...
...It has happened durjng the terms of all sorts of presidents...
...There is nothing essentially wrong with this...
...What's behind this hypocrisy, of course, is the desire of a tory Congress to keep President Roosevelt out of the White House for a fourth term...
...General policies and organizational agencies would have been adopted and devised according to statute...
...During the past year The New Leader has discussed various proposals directed toward the cure of this defect...
...But the failure of Congress to play its proper role is not primarily due to anything which the President has done or failed to do...
...To my personal knowledge »» has accurately predicted the result of every election Mmpiign since 1932...
...The difference is 7 """ion...
...New look at this: Is 1940, a presidential year, 37% of the population "•J** Their number totalled almost 60 million...
...And—especially—there could be constant and official interchange between the legislative and executive branches...
...And surely any one who knows the Constitution mutt have read Article I (right at the •tart of the thing) and must remember that under Section 4 it says in Paragraph 1: "The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed is each Stat* by the Legislature thereof...
...The labors could be subdivided, sub-committees heeded by the ablest members, provision made for the effective use of expert advice...
...Here are some interesting statistics along that line which recently were shown me by one of America's shrewdest Pol'ticsl campaign analysts...
...Measures would take shape as a result of cooperation rather than'of conflict...
...In 1942 it was 28 million...
...Men in this position could not conceivably act—as some have done during these past weeks—to spite the nation's chief executive or to win some slight advantage in the approaching election...
...It is not even because a majority of them are reactionary...
...The hypocrisy lies in the fact that the majority of Congressmen are lawyers or have had legal training...
...It lies in the organisation of Congress itself—or, better, in its lack of organization...
...It could be adopted within a few weeks...
...There would be a unity resulting from common purposes and mutually understood policies...
...The members, many of whom are able and ambitious men, feel that their part in government is inadequate...
...This aspect of the matter is primarily due to a feeling of inferiority in the two chambers...
...A Congress set up in this way could have taken a constructive part in the New Deal legislation and in the organization to meet the impact of war...
...It would require no new constitutional provision...
...There was no adequate motivation for the bitterness of the Congressional tirade against FDR...
...And it is the deep conviction of these men that the soldier vote is going to make the difference between success and failure...
...J» you apply the same ratio to the 1942 vote, it ¦*eUs that the 1944 vote should be about 40 million ¦PM of 51 million...
...Take the numbers "** rated in 1934 and in 193S, compare the ratio •* that of 19S8 and 1940 and aee how consistent *• ratios are...
...What is bad about the present situation is the bitter, irrational, unproductive, dangerous nature of the conflict...
...The various powerful administrative bodies which wield the special wsr powers would be acting with full authority from both the administrative and legislative branches...
...A well organised anti-New Deal body would give us clean-cut issues to fight about Every progressive would welcome a cam-paign on such ssues...
...The number of soldiers under arms in 1942 was ' Bullion...
...And by November, 1944, the number of our soldiers •^Heted to be 11 million...
...Most of these look to a drastic change, a swing over to a ministerial form of government...
...In fact,, our constitutional set-up naturally leads to struggles...
...Jp «ot prepsred to guarantee my friend's statistics I'm prepsred to guarantee that his conclusion*— system arrived at—sre unanimously accepted by every man on Capitol Hill And alto that it if their conviction that aeven out of ovary tan soleien will »ot* for Roosevelt...
...All that we need is an overall steering committee to direct the energies and brains of Congressmen to productive ends...
...Members of Congress would hsve a sense of responsibility...
...The people have • rght to elect reactonaries, and reactionaries hsve a right to act in accordance with whatever ideologies and interests may motivate them...
...It is true that the President, overburdened by wsr problems, has sometimes failed to take adequate account of Congressional opinion and feeling...
...A system of checks and balances implies conflicts and compromise...
...It is in no position to adopt a policy of any sort...
...Senate-House conferees were as far ipart ss ever, and, privately, members of both groups were agreeing that after weeks of effort the attempt to econrile the differences between the two houses of Congress Wis nearing a complete collapse For weeks a tory Congress has been impudently insulting the intelligence of the American people with the moat specious and hypocritical argument: That the passage by Congress of enabling legislation to sake it possible for our soldiers to vote abroad (where Congress sent them) would in some mysterious way be a violation of the Constitution and "States' Rights...
...An adequate alteration, however...
...difference of 11 million...
...It may be that at some time before the year 2000 such a change will be made...
...But there is a consistent ratio between the number ¦*» rote in any presidential year and those who voted **» previous 'off-yea*' election...
Vol. 27 • March 1944 • No. 10
