WAR REFERENDUM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22965, 17 February 1938, Page 22

WAR REFERENDUM

PROPOSAL REJECTED UNITED STATES CONGRESS PRESIDENT FORCES DECISION [from our own correspondent] NEW YORK, Jan. 19 History wp,s made at the Capitol when President Roosevelt forced the House of Representatives to reject a proposal by a leading Democrat that the Constitution should be amended to provide for a referendum of the people in the event of the United States declaring war. The proposal had already the support of sufficient members of both parties to ensure its passage. The Administration leader in the House took alarm at the prospect of the Government being defeated and persuaded several Democrats to repudiate their signature on the petition. The Speaker, in the emergency, sent a hurried call to the President for a written opinion, which arrived in time for him to leave the chair and adopt the unusual course of taking sides in the debate. v Mr. Roosevelt's Opinion The President expressed his opinion in the following terms: —" I must frankly state that I consider that the proposed amendment would be impracticable in its application and incompatible with our representative form of government. Our government is conducted by the people through representatives of their own choosing. It was with singular unanimity that the founders of the Republic agreed upon such free and representative form of government ?s the only practical means of government by the people. " Such an amendment to the Constitution as that proposed would cripple any President in his conduct of our foreign relations and it would encourage other nations to believe that they could violate American rights with impunity. I fully realise that the sponsors of this proposal sincerely believe that it would be helpful in keeping the United States out of war. I am convinced it would have the opposite effect." Tense Division With 397 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives voting, the President's wishes were endorsed by a majority of only 21 votes. The division cut sharply across party lines, 111 Democrats voting against the President, together with 64 Republicans. The leader of the Republican Party supported Mr. Roosevelt, who would have been repudiated but for the support he got from 21 Republicans. Of those who had signed the original petition for the amendment, 55 reversed their stand. Supporters of the proposal for a referendum said they would carry the fight to every primary and Congressional election throughout the nation. Some declared that the President's control of Congress was now absolute.