Congress Goes Home The members of a Congress which has
made history in the United States as no one of its 72 predecessors did went their several ways from Washington on Tuesday, having in fifteen months passed legislation which will leave the social and industrial structure of the country permanently changed. The predominance of the Presi- dent, unchallenged in the first six months after his inauguration, was asserted in the face of some opposition later, his desires in the matter of international debts in particular having to be subordinated to the prejudices of Senators and Congressmen. For six months now— except in the unlikely event of a special session having to be called—the President will govern without Congress, and before debates begin again in the Capitol elections for the whole of the House and one-third of the Senate will have been held.- That, of course, will be the real test for the President. Astonishing -as Mr. Roosevelt's achievements have been, a President regularly counts on a fairly free hand in his first two years, with the odds in the Congressional elections at the end of that period in his favour, and his real struggle coming when he stands for re-election after four years. But Mr. Franklin Roosevelt's first spell of office has been so cataclysmic that ordinary standards lapse. In all the circumstances the popular support he still commands, if certain un- official straw votes are a just criterion, is remarkable.
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