Up Senate, Down Court

Years hence college students will be pondering the story of how a Publisher and a Priest bested a President and of how the Senate, after a long lapse, reasserted its might & majesty as a potent legislative body with a mind of its own. What they will be studying happened last week.

Last month President Roosevelt sent to the Senate a brief, earnest request that that body consent to U. S. adherence to the World Court. "The movement to make international justice practicable and serviceable," wrote he, "is not subject to partisan considerations. ... At this period in international relationships, when every act is of moment to the future of world peace, the U. S. has an opportunity to throw its weight into the scale of peace."

To the Senate since 1923 had gone seven similar messages from Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Only once had the Senate responded favorably. That was in 1926 when it tacked on a string of reservations which took Elder Statesman Elihu Root years to get accepted by the other powers. But after 13 years the World Court was probably the deadest political issue in the land. That deadness was precisely what gave World Court advocates hope of getting the U. S. in the Court this time. Senators Hiram Johnson of California, William Edgar Borah of Idaho and a handful of other bitter-enders, the ragged remnant of 1919, would orate against it, but nose-counters figured that well over the requisite two-thirds of the Senate would complaisantly go along with the President. In fact, approval of the World Court seemed so imminent as to impair the Administration's strategy of using this old subject as an oratorical bone for the Senate to chew on until more important matters could be prepared for its consideration.

Long a Court devotee, Mrs. Roosevelt confidently undertook a campaign in its behalf. "It looks to me," said she to a women's Conference on the Cause & Cure of War in Washington last fortnight, "as though we were about to take another step toward doing away with war." Positive of a Court victory in the Senate, Pundit Frank Kent gallantly accorded "some of the credit ... to Mrs. Roosevelt."

For two weeks the Senate fulfilled expectations by the listlessness of its debate. Because Chairman Key Pittman of the Foreign Relations Committee was too lukewarm to do a job that rightfully belonged to him, Majority Floor Leader Joseph T. Robinson had to take over Ad- ministration sponsorship of the World Court resolution. This proved an initial handicap because Senator Robinson, though a loud and earnest debater, is no expert on foreign affairs. Meanwhile the case against the Court was presented by Senate veterans who had learned their parts by heart in the debate of 1926. But the Administration entered the final weekend of the fight with confidence unimpaired.

15 Old Men. At no time in the fight was the Court itself a major issue. Except to its enemies, the World Court (U. S. nickname for the Permanent Court of International Justice) is simply an international body of 15 old judges (including onetime U. S. Secretary of State Frank Billings Kellogg) who sit infrequently at The Hague and draw $18,000 a year each. In the twelve and a half years of its existence the Court has decided 23 cases and rendered 25 "advisory opinions." Neither its friends nor enemies claim that it has yet changed the course of world history.

Solidest blow aimed at the Court itself in this year's battle was Senator Borah's charge that politics rather than law determines its judgments. For proof he pointed to its 1931 verdict against a German-Austrian customs treaty, when the judges divided according to the diplomatic and commercial interests of their native lands. But Senator Johnson voiced the popular argument when he cried: "We are dealing today with one simple proposition--shall we go into foreign politics ? . . . Once we are in, it does not make any difference whether we are in a little way or whether we are in a long way, or whether we have gone into one appendage of the League or whether we have gone into the League--once we are in, we are in. ... And when we are in, then, of course, all the internationalists of this land will tell of the necessity that exists for us to perform our moral obligations and, if necessary, become a part of the intrigue, the controversies, the broils and . . . ultimately the wars on the other side of the ocean."

Publisher. By ardor and consistency Publisher William Randolph Hearst has proved his right to the title of No. 1 U. S. isolationist. He has maintained his single-minded foreign policy unbroken since the days when he sacrificed prestige, profits and popularity to oppose U. S. entry in the War even after that entry was an accomplished fact. When President Roosevelt's message revived the World Court issue old (71) Publisher Hearst, on his lordly ranch at San Simeon, Calif., tossed his long, horsey head and charged. Hearst editorial columns throughout the land shrilled and thundered with the threat of war. No attack on the Court was too preposterous to be splashed across the front pages of Hearstpapers. Minnesota's blind, bitter Senator Thomas D. Schall contributed a signed statement that "there are 37,000 foreign agents in the U. S. now working for passage of the so-called World Court." California's Hiram Johnson was led to predict that the questions of Oriental immigration into the U. S. and Oriental tenure of U. S. land might some day be submitted to the Court for a decision. Calling the voice of the No. 1 Irreconcilable of 1919 from the grave, Hearstpapers got Grandson Henry Cabot Lodge to announce : "Another attempt is now under way to make us the whipping boy of Europe by joining the League Court. . . ." All this outcry sold newspapers and presumably whipped Hearstreaders into a mild frenzy of fear and protest. With that any ordinary publisher would have been content. But William Randolph Hearst is also a Power and a Patriot. So while his newspapers foamed noisily, the private Washington lobby which he has long maintained to fight for U. S. isolation and lesser Hearst, causes went quietly into action.

No. 1 Hearst lobbyist is John A. Kennedy, who went from Iowa to get a job on Hearst's Washington Herald, work up to his Universal Service. Plausible and pontifical, he is equally adept at slapping Congressmen on the back or awing them with suave dinners at the Metropolitan Club. Nominally a newshawk, he resigned temporarily from the Congressional Press Galleries in 1932 to swing around the country coaxing antiWorld Court commitments from Congressional candidates, lately resigned again to head the latest Hearst offensive against the Court.

Other member of the permanent Hearst lobby is James T. Williams Jr., chief editorial writer for Hearstpapers. In the time of Roosevelt I he was a frequent White House visitor, as suitor to Daughter Alice. Now diffident and middleaged, he is rarely seen in the Press Galleries, usually meets his official friends over the dinner table in his mother's Anchorage apartment. His specialty is army & navy.

As the World Court battle progressed this lobby circulated with increasing vigor among its Senatorial friends and acquaintances. Three times a day Lobbyist Kennedy telephoned "Hacienda 13 F 11" at San Simeon to report progress, to receive instructions from his chief. Meantime the Hearstlings were aided by a great Voice booming from Detroit across the length & breadth of the land.

Priest. Rivaled in demagogic genius only by Germany's Hitler is Detroit's Father Charles E. Coughlin. Two Sundays ago the radiorating priest climaxed his battle against the World Court. In the course of his regular afternoon broadcast he appealed thus to uncounted millions: "Today, whether you can afford it or not, telegraph your Senator in Washington this simple, vital message: Vote 'no' on the World Court with or without reservations."

Father Coughlin concluded his address by reciting as a prayer the 82nd Psalm, with interpolations. Excerpts: "Oh God . . . thy enemies have made a noise. . . . They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people. . . . They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation, and let the name of Israel (America) be remembered no more. For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a covenant (League of Nations) against thee."

That night loudspeakers throughout the land boomed with the clashing words of World Court debaters. In Manhattan, Funnyman Will Rogers devoted his Good . Gulf Gasoline broadcast to a rambling, pointless harangue against the Court which was printed in next day's Hearst- papers. In Washington, Mrs. Roosevelt asked: "Is it really the spirit of our country, men and women, young and old, that they are afraid to join the World Court? I cannot believe it. ... I beg of you to let your representatives in Congress know at once." But above them all, for the second time that day, sounded the great voice from the Shrine of the Little Flower: "If you want to keep peace in America, keep clear of the League Court. I beg you in the name of the God of Peace and Justice to wire your Senator in Washington this simple, vital message. . . ."

Even as Father Coughlin spoke the telegrams were flooding into Washington. Messengers carted them by wheelbarrow loads to the Senate Office Building. Pennsylvania's Davis and Guffey were enjoined to vote against the Court by the Squirrel Hill Station, Pa. Sunday School. As the flood mounted Western Union was forced to hire 35 extra clerks, Postal Telegraph 15.

Next morning the Administration woke to the fact that it had a man-sized fight on its hands. Over to the Senate for anxious conferences hurried that frosty internationalist, Secretary of State Hull. Summoned to the White House on the following morning were four doubtful Senators: Ohio's Donahey, Rhode Island's Gerry, Massachusetts' Walsh, New Mexico's Cutting.

36-to-52 By the time the Senate convened at noon that day hundreds of visitors had been turned away from its jam-packed galleries. Hearstling Kennedy had a good seat in the Vice President's row. Installed in the Press Gallery were visiting Hearst executives, whence they were free to descend to the lobby, interview Senators--for news purposes only.

On & on dragged a wrangle between Louisiana's Long and Kentucky's Logan. The "Kingfish" was all over the floor, red-faced, arms waving, shouting, whispering. Cried he: "I am not the only man in the United States who does not understand what this thing is all about. . . . We are being rushed pell-mell to get into this World Court so that Senor Ab Jap or some other something from Japan can pass upon our controversies."

Roared Minnesota's Schall: "To hell with Europe and the rest of those nations!"

A buzz of excitement stirred in the galleries as Senator Robinson, presumably fresh from communication with the White House, stalked into the chamber. Taking the floor for his final plea, Leader Robinson declared: "There has been unfair, unjust, unreasonable propaganda carried on during the course of this debate, carried on by agencies outside the Senate. Appeals have gone from end to end of the country to citizens to send telegrams to Senators to take a stand of opposition on this issue. More than 40,000 telegrams have been sent here in response to such requests, every one of them prompted by inflammatory statements in public addresses that are not based on facts."

Up bobbed Louisiana's Long: "Mr. President, I was only going to ask the Senator about what propaganda he referred to. Did he refer to his own speech of last night?"

Replied Senator Robinson: "I doubt whether either my speech or the speeches of the Senator from Louisiana have had very much influence or effect on public opinion in the United States. I have in mind an address made by Father Coughlin. . . ."

"I am wondering," broke in Minnesota's Schall. "if the address by Mrs. Roosevelt did not offset that of Father Coughlin."

Snapped Senator Robinson: "I am not going to yield to the Senator from Minnesota to make one of his characteristic attacks on Mrs. Roosevelt."

From the floor rose cries of "Vote! Vote!" In the galleries necks craned as the roll-call began. A few still doubtful Senators checked each vote with care. Halfway down the list it became apparent that the tide was running against the Court. The doubtful Senators swung with it. Final vote was 36 against the resolution, 52 for it--seven votes short of the required two-thirds majority. Twenty Democrats had deserted the President to vote "Nay." Of the Senate insurgents and of the four Senators summoned to the White House that morning only Republican Cutting voted for the Court.

The galleries cheered. Jubilant Hearstlings tumbled over each other in their rush to telephone San Simeon. No less than 15 Senators telephoned congratulations to Detroit. Local telegraph offices announced that since Father Coughlin's first speech two days before they had handled over 60,000 telegrams beyond their ordinary quota.

Half an hour after adjournment the Senate floor was empty except for some charwomen standing hesitantly around the walls and a lone Senator bent over his desk with head in arms. Lifting his head with a start, Leader Robinson glanced at the waiting charwomen, gathered up a bundle of papers, trudged wearily out.

President No such discouraged figure did newsmen see when they filed into President Roosevelt's office next morning. Dressed for his birthday in a new grey homespun suit, a white rose and his best smile, the President was ready for them.

"What about the World Court?" one promptly asked.

The President's smile broadened. "I am sending," said he, "a note to Senator Robinson thanking him for the very able and very honorable fight he conducted with others for the World Court."

On its face the Senate vote was a smashing rebuff to President Roosevelt, the second major Congressional defeat of his Administration. But had the President really been heart & soul behind the Court? The wisest answer seemed to be: No. A Court plank had been in his party's platform. It offered an easy means of bolstering his weak foreign record. As much as anything else, defeat had been due to careless White House strategy. Because the President was not ready with his Senate program, opposition to the World Court had had two full weeks to marshal its forces.

To the defeat of the Court various interested parties reacted publicly as follows:

Senator Johnson: "Delighted!"

Senator Borah: "The most important Senate action since the World War. . . . Thank God."*

Newton D. Baker: "We must continue the campaign of education. . . ."

Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, octogenarian president of Chautauqua Women's Clubs: "While disappointed, I am not discouraged. . . ."

Father Coughlin: "Our thanks are due to Almighty God. . . ." Publisher Hearst preened himself on a legislative victory and a great journalistic stunt by taking a full page in Hearst-papers to print the names and faces of all 36 Senators who voted down the Court.

*Two days after he had finished his fight to keep other nations from meddling in U. S. affairs, Senator Borah introduced in the Senate a resolution for a U. S. investigation of religious persecution in Mexico.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.