Politico-economic situation 95//
7
BRITISH EMBASSY,
WASHIHGTOH, D.C.,
No.214 E. , ?H l|| iWgit|PB8HS vWgebruaW 16th, 1939.
In paragraph 5 of my despatch No.124 S
of February 2nd last, I bad the honour to r$> ort
upon the antagonism which the President was
provoking in Congress by certain minor appointments.
Since then what should have been an unimportant
incident has been magnified into quite a serious
display of ill-feeling between Mr. Roosevelt and
the Senate.   Mr. Floyd Roberts, a Virginian Judge,
was the comparatfo ely harmless and innocent cause
of the trouble.   The President bad nominated him
for a District Judgeship in Virginia, but the
Senate overwhelmingly rejected this nomination by
72 - 9.   There are occasions when Senators are
inclined to treat each other as fellow members of
a distinguished club, and this was one.   The two
Senators for Virginia, Messrs. Carter Glass and
Barry Byrd, are highly respected not only in their
own State but elsewhere, and they have long shown
great independence towards any New Deal legislation
sponsored by the Administration*   Mr. Glass la over
eighty and does not Intend to stand for reelection,
but Mr. Byrd believes himself marked out for a purge
fcU*       in 1940*     Last summer the two Senators got wind
i
of the fact that the Governor of Virginia, who la a
New Deal Democrat, wanted Mr. Roberts appointed to
the/
The Right Honourable
The Viscount Halifax, K.G.,       TKB:PRHM:JPS:VALH:MS
etc., etc., etc.

the Judgeship.   There is a tradition that patronage
for Federal appointments is a prerogative of Senators
and not of Governors*   The Senators thereupon made
their views clear to the President, who asked them to
suggest to the Attorney General the name or names of
the nominees they favoured*   They sent in two names
and the only reply was the nomination of Mr* Roberts.
The Senators felt that this was a deliberate affront
in view of their having been Invited to submit their
own suggestions*   When* therefore, the question came
to the floor of the Senate on February 5th they
declared that the appointment of Mr* Roberts was
personally obnoxious to them, and almost all their
fellow Senators behaved like good members of the club
and came to their support*   Their action in doing so was
not merely due to admiration of their Virginian
colleagues but because they felt that their own
patronage in their own States might be the next bone
of contention*
2* The above story sounds rather trivial, but
It mas to be taken in conjunction with other irritants
which Mr. Roosevelt has thought fit to apply to Congress
lately*     One of these is the Amlie nomination, which
has not yet come to a vote on the floor of the Senate
but is likely to be rejected*   Another is the bad
grace with which Mr* Roosevelt accepted the Relief
Deficiency Appropriation Bill when it reached him cut
to #725,000,000.   He signed the appropriation bill,
but three days later sent a message to Congress
stressing/

stressing its inadequacy, and pointing out that
since the Joint Resolution requited that reduction
in unemployment on relief during February and March
should not exceed 5$ there would have to bo either
an abrupt reduction of 1,000,000 persons on the
relief rolls from April 1st, or a gradual week by
week reduction from April 1st to the end of June
•
which would make It necessary to cut off from the
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relief rolls by that date one and a half million
persons, or half those at present on those rolls*
For these reasons the President asked Congress to begin
immediate consideration of how to provide additional
funds to be available on and after April 1st, and
he recommended immediate legislation to provide
the necessary balance of $150,000,000 for the Works
Progress Administration, exactly the sum which
Congress had out from the appropriation the week
before.
5* On top of these disputes there was s trong
criticism, particularly In the Senate, of the secrecy
with which the President was shaping his foreign
polioy, as exemplified by the secret sessions of the
Military Affairs Committee en the defence measures
and on the question of selling aircraft to the French
Government, which have been dealt -with In former
despatches.   The cumulative effect of these various
causes of disagreement became so serious that
Administration leaders in the Senate decided to
hold no sessions of that body last week in order to

give time for Senators1 tempers to cool. In this
way a debate on foreign policy has been postponed
and It is possible that a serious clash may have been
avoided; the fact that Mr* Roosevelt is off to-day
for a cruise in the Caribbean will give further
time for reflection.    All exempt the most ardent
left wing supporters of the President are alarmed
at the prospect of a severe split in the Democratic
Party which would let in the Republicans in 1940.
The President's most intimate advisers are still the
Hopkins, Corcoran group who do not inspire confidence
among the moderates in Congress.   These latter are
distressed to find the President so obstinate- and
insensitive to the present mood of the legislature.
Their feeling is reflected in the following quotation
from a leading article in the "New York World Telegram"
(Scripps Howard) of February 8th:-
"     If Mr* Roosevelt wants to destroy his
own prestige, wreck his party, leave his
administration's truly great achievements
wide open to their enemies and let the
world conclude that America's President Is
not her spokesman on affairs domestic or
foreign, that is what his present course
seems most likely to accomplish*
*     But if he wishes to avoid these dangers
and disasters, then we think he has need
to make a change as simple and wise as it
would be right.
"    Let 1dm cease to treat Congress as an
inferior/
5-
inforior servant, to be shocked, coerced
or frightened into obedience*   Let bin
recognize ungrudgingly the rights and
responsibilities of Congress as an equal
and co-ordinate branch of government.
Let him appeal sincerely to Congress1: for
counsel and cooperation.   We believe it
is not yet too late for such an appeal
to win response."
A acre unfriendly criticism in the "Chicago Tribune"
foresees that the President say he provoking a quarrel
with Congress as a curtain raiser for a new party of
revolution*   It sees him aiming at a third term with
the support of a kind of left bloc*   Mr* Arthur Erock
in the "New York Times" states that the Fresident
has all along made concessions to his radical followers,
to the Congress of Industrial Organisations* to the
inflationists, to the silver bloc, to the domestic sugar
group, to the doctrinal social economic reformers*
The moderates, particularly in view of certain results
last November, cannot see why it is not their turn for
concussions* To this section of his party, however, Mr*
Roosevelt has steadily turned the cold shoulder and
demanded acquiescence*     In Mr. Krook's view the
responsibility for the lack of unity in the Democratic
Party lias sot with Congress but with the White House*
4* However irritated Congress, may have been by
the Presidents secretive methods, there seems to be
no doubt that the defence measures will go through
without/
without difficulty.   On February 15th the House
passed and sent up to the Senate the Hay Bill
to increase the Army Air Corps to 5500 serviceable
aeroplanes.   The Bill, which authorised also other
measures recommended in the President* s defence
message involving expenditure of about $376,000,000,
was approved by S67 votes to IS*   Numerous speakers
harped upon the dangers of the international
situation with its ultimate threat to the security
of the United States.   Mr. Pace of Georgia went so
far as to declare:"We are safe so long as England
and France stand, and we are in immediate danger
when they fall9.     As regards the sale of aeroplanes
to £Vance, it looks as if the whole matter will
blow over, because reports from the constituencies
show that the public wish the French (and by
implication ourselves) to have the aeroplanes,and
is not deeply concerned about the legalities of
the case*   The Administration leaders do not,
however, yet feel that the time has come to embark
upon the crucial question of neutrality*   There are
several private Bills waiting in pigeon holes,
including one by Senator Thomas of the Foreign
Relations Committee which would allow the President
to define an aggressor and thereafter sell him
arras on a cash and carry basis.   The opposite point
of view is being represented in Father Coughlin's
broadcast in which he call*-for a stricter definition
of neutrality because France and England are not
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in his opinion true democracies-   So far the
President and bis adviser* have been careful not
to give any very definite indications of their
intentions in the natter.        Cordell Hull is,
however, reported to have written'to the
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
suggesting that the discussion of a bill proposing
the prohibition of scrap iron to China and Japan
be postponed "until such time as Congress may
find it convenient to consider our neutrality
policy in all its aspects".     The Secretary of
State is also said by the "Hew Yolfc Mmesn to
have indicated in this letter that "the revision
of the Neutrality Act would not be distasteful
to the Administration, although leaving the
initiative entirely to Congress"•
&• Following upon the Supreme Court1s
decision regarding the Tennessee Valley Authority
referred to in ay despatch No.124 E, an arrange-
ment has been announced between the Authority and
the Commonwealth and Southern Corporation, whose
Chairman, Mr. Wendell Wilikie, has for a long time
been negotiating for the sale of his Company's
assets.   The Tennessee Valley Authority have
agreed to pay 78£ million dollars for the rival
electric power properties owned by a subsidiary
of Mr. Willkie's corporation*   The Tennessee
Valley Authority had originally only offered
§55 million, and the present price is said to be
only slightly less than Mr. Willkie1 s original
demand,/
demand, so that Wall Street is agreeably surprised
and It is   being said that public confidence will
be greatly increased by the knowledge that in the
future the Administration will be ready to pay fair
prices for its purchases of utilities.   A way may now
be opening to renewed expenditure by utility
companies which would greatly help towards economic
recovery,
6* Another Justice of the Supreme Court has
resigned and presented the President with the chance
of making his fourth nomination to the Court. The
resigning Justice is Mr. Louis Brandeis, and it is
universally acknowledged that he has been a very
great liberal judge*   He is 82 years old and has been
on the bench for 23 years*   His appointment at the
time raised an outcry because he was a Jew and a
radical, but he has never allowed his liberal views
to outweigh the impartiality of his judgments and
he has proved himself to be one of the greatest
and most respected jurists in the history of this
country.
7* 1 am sending copies of this despatch to the
High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Canada,
the Department of Overseas Trade, and the Prime Minister
of Australia care of the Dominions Office.
I have the honour to be,
with the highest respect.
My Lord,
Tour Lordship's most obedient
humble servant,
(SOD) T«A»L»N*U0,
H.M. Char go"   d«Affaire s.