Pat & Herman

Utah's Senator Arthur Watkins was having a hectic time last week trying to pry loose the Emergency Migration bill to admit 240,000 aliens, including many Iron Curtain refugees. Opposing Watkins' bill are crafty old Pat McCarran, a Democrat who suspects that most aliens are undesirable, and Idaho's Herman Welker, a member of the Republican Party's stalagmite branch.

The bill has substantial support, including President Eisenhower's urgent requests that it be passed as a key move in U.S. foreign policy. When refugees from Iron Curtain tyranny are excluded from the U.S., European neutralists are encouraged to say that one side of the cold war is as bad as the other.

Beclouded Aim. When the bill first came before Watkins' immigration subcommittee two months ago, McCarran promptly demanded a ten-day delay of the hearings while he took his wife to the Mayo Clinic. Watkins was willing. Then McCarran wandered on to Los Angeles, began holding hearings on another subject, and blandly asked Watkins for three more weeks' delay. He was refused, and the immigration hearings began--over the roaring protests of Idaho's Welker. Then, three weeks ago, at a meeting of the parent Judiciary Committee, Pat made his slickest move--a resolution calling for further delay, in the hope that the bill would not reach the floor at this session. McCarran beclouded the real aim of his motion so well that it carried, 6-4. (Among the six was that coonskinned humanitarian and internationalist Estes Kefauver.)

Moments later, the confused Senators realized what they had done and called for reconsideration. But it was too late--Pat and Herman had left the room and the committee had to recess for lack of a quorum. Last week the Judiciary Committee finally reversed itself, and voted to consider the bill.

At the explosive meeting, some Senators were close to fisticuffs. "Sit down and shut up!" North Dakota's Bill Langer shouted when McCarran, with obstruction in his Wedgwood eyes, started to talk. When Illinois' Everett Dirksen voted with the majority, Herman Welker was bitter. "The Senator from Illinois need never call on me to speak for his campaign committee," he snarled. "This is politics and nothing but politics. It is intended to elect Saltonstall, Ferguson and Hendrickson . . .* When I say where I stand, I stand up." Then Welker stood up. Then he sat down. Dirksen smiled faintly.

Supreme Test. Pat & Herman next tried a new tactic--stretching out the hearings indefinitely with a parade of witnesses. Through the week, Watkins' Job-like patience finally outlasted Pat & Herman. This week the bill comes before the Judiciary Committee in what will be the supreme test of McCarran's strength and influence in the committee he bossed for so long. The bill will probably squeeze through, but on the Senate floor Watkins still faces a violent battle before the gates can open for the 240,000 aliens.

*In Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey, which the three Senators represent, immigration is a sensitive issue among large foreign-born groups.

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