National Affairs: Self-Preservation

Self -Preservation

Now that Frank L. Smith of Illinois and William S. Vare of Pennsylvania have been elected to the Senate, it remains for upright Senators to find a way to oust them. Morally and, politically the case against them is good. Their primary slush was enough to make onetime (1919-22) Senator Truman H. Newberry look like a deacon. Their taint gaveDemocrats and Insurgents an issue, embarrassed even the most regular Republicans. A substantial majority of the next Senate will find it politically wise to unseat them. But Mr. Smith and Mr. Vare have raised the question as to whether the Senate can expel them, because of corruption in the primaries, after they have been approved by a majority of the voters of their own states.

Last week Senator William E. Borah, mighty Republican from Idaho, was quick to answer them, to announce that he would fight to oust them. He, no mean constitutional lawyer, believed the Senate has the right to oust Messrs. Smith and Vare, a right which he likened to the right of self-preservation.