BEFORE THE BATTLE

President Coolidge, nothing daunted by the Warren affair of last spring, is preparing for another brush with the Senate. Through the White House spokesman he has just announced his intention not to withdraw the appointment of Judge McCamant to the Federal Circuit Court, which the Senatorial Judiciary Committee has recently rejected.

The present bone of contention. Judge McCamant has done two memorable things in his life. The first was to nominate Calvin Coolidge for vice-president, and the second to characterize Theodore Roosevelt as un-American in the presence of a senatorial committee. This interesting opinion was drawn from him by Hiram Johnson, who has never liked the Judge since the latter violated his pledge to support him at the Cleveland Convention. The California senator chortling with glee at the result of his cross-examination, then glanced significantly at his colleagues. And their subsequent decision proved to Mr. McCamant that his denunciation had indeed been inexpedient.

Inasmuch as the offence which led the Senate to cut off the twenty-fifth president from the ranks of his loyal men, namely his attack on the unlimited power of the Supreme Court, has been a perennial progressive plank, there is little doubt that the appointee's conservatism has alienated the insurgents. It is also quite probable that the Democrats, who are still nursing their wrath at the remarks directed at them by the White House spokesman, will be glad to take advantage of this opportunity to revenge themselves upon the Administration. With prospects of facting the same unholy alliance which has proved a stumbling block for his so many times, it looks as if the occasion which the President has chosen to domonstrate his ability, to make the Senate behave is not a particularly auspicious one.