Senator Boral put the crux of the matter as follows—"do modern conditions make it imperative that the Fedetal Government have greater, if not complete, control over most' of the internal affairs of the States." Has not the time come to seek a higher authority for an answer than. President, Congress or Supreme Court '<namely' the people asks Senator "It seems to me that a question has} arisen which only the people have the authority or the right to settle; should there be a redistribution of Dower between the State and the Federal government?"
There is a superficial resemblance between President Roosevelt's efforts to pack the court and the threat of Mr. Asquith to pack the house of Lords if the Parliament Act was not passed restricting "its velo powers. The essential difference is that the Lords were free agents while the Court is an interpreter of a written constitution. Its members cannot in ood conscience interpret that doc-lament, which is the supreme law, ina way pleasing to the executive whatever the threat or entreaty used. to make them.
'According to Senator Borah the conflict between the President and Supreme Court is far more ike that} between James I and Sir Edward Coke, the first Lord Chief Justice England, who "flung the laurels of a Mfetime' in the face of his King when the first Stuart bade the Chief Justice postpone consideration of a matter pending until his Majesty could make known to him the wishes of the Crown."
Another difference between the threat to pack the Lords and the threat to pack the Court is that two elections were fought in 1910 to} sound out public opinion. In the last Presidential election nothing at all was said on the Constitutional issue. Attempts of Republicans to raise the issue were ignored and Democratic spokesmen were urged to keep away from the topic.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.