Unanswerable Words

Senators answered the roll call, then scurried out. These scurriers did not want to hear what was to come. But in the galleries, where the people and the newsmen sat, there were few empty seats. The galleries wanted to hear Nebraska's venerable George Norris, the Senate's conscience, the liberal who has earned his halo.

The question before the Senate was whether or not to approve President Roosevelt's nomination of Federal Judge Thomas F. Meaney, henchman of New Jersey's strident Boss Frank Hague (TIME, May 18). Only there was no question. In the Senatorial gentlemen's club, there was no chance of blocking the appointment, and old George Norris knew it. Nevertheless Norris rose to speak his mind: to indict political machines such as Hague's and political deals like the Meaney affair.

Condemnation and Shame. Said George Norris: "The confirmation or rejection of the nomination of Mr. Meaney is a national question. It is not a local question; it is not a question affecting New Jersey alone, but it is a question affecting the entire United States. The question involved is whether the Hague machine, which is one of the most disreputable, demagogic political machines that ever existed, shall extend its power beyond New Jersey and take in the Federal Government.

"I say to you that if the Senate confirms this nomination, its action will be received with condemnation and shame.

"Of all the departments of the Government, especially in a free country, the highest, and the one we ought most to revere, is the judiciary. The most important thing to preserve our liberties and rights as citizens is to keep on the bench judges who have ideas of right and wrong, who have the courage to enforce them, and who will not be interfered with by the mandate of any boss on earth.

"Machine men do not do their contemptible work openly. They do it in the dark. They are shrewd. If they control Senators or Representatives or members of the legislature they are not continually pulling the strings; because it would too soon be known that such men were tools. However, they do pull the strings when they need to have their tools work for them; and the whole country knows it. Everyone knows it. Those who believe the country does not know it will be enlightened, I hope, before long, and will realize that boss control, especially of the judiciary of the United States, is a dangerous business, and one that will not be tolerated by the people of the country."

Swan Song? For three hours George Norris spoke to the empty seats and the crowded galleries. At the end he sank back in his chair, a tired man who had more to say but not the strength to say it. At 81, George Norris did not have many three-hour speeches left in his system. Perhaps this was George Norris' swan song. His term expires this year and he has told his friends that 40 years in Congress are enough.

No one even bothered to answer the voice of ancient virtue. Up rose New Jersey's ruddy, Hague-dealing Senator William Smathers, who needs Hague's support in order to get re-elected this autumn. Said Smathers smoothly: "In the interest of bringing on a speedy vote, I shall deny myself the pleasure of the two-hour speech I have here." The vote to confirm Meaney was 39-10-20.

Senator Norris had lost many times before, only to win in the end: on eliminating Congress' "lameduck" session, on Government operation of Muscle Shoals, on giving Nebraska a unicameral legislature. His words, which no one answered because no one could, brought up anew the old, old issue of political bossism, and the paradox of an Administration dedicated to world wide democracy but dependent in many places on deals with local political dictators.

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