I Conservatives May Rule Congress Bloc of Two Parties Might Check Any Drrstic Regulation. Today's dispatch by David Law rence, giving a forecast on the probable outcome of the congres sional elections, is based upon the results of a questionnaire sent to well-informed persons in all the congressional districts, and upon observations on the senatorial situ ation made by the writer during his trip through 40 out of the 4S States. RT DAVID LAWRENCE. s^^y ONTROL of both houses of Congress would seem to be I assured to a coalition of eon servatlve Democrat and Re publicans. Counting strictly on party labels, however, there will be a gain for the Republicans of somewhere between Aim DU JCBIO in the House e f Representa tives with a pos sibility that this number may be Increased if the present swing to ward Gov. Lan don materially in creases the total Republican vote In certain States where various congressional dis tricts are doubt «..1 D>nd Lawrence. The present Congress--the seventy-fourth--has 309 Democrats, 100 Republicans, 7 Pro gressives and 3 Farmer-Laborites and IS vacancies. But the Congress to be elected this week, which takes office on Juary 3 next, may see a minimum of 259 Democrats, 150 Republicans, 6 Progressives and 3 Farmer-Laborites. If the 17 doubtful districts go almost evenly to the Republicans and the Democrats, then the totals would be 267 Democrats, 159 Republicans, 6 Progressives and 3 Farmer-Laborites. The significance of the foregoing is that the Democrats seem certain to lose the two-thirds weapon which they have had heretofore in order to suspend the House rules. There are many occasions when a two-thirds vote ran .iam legislation through when demanded by the President. With only 259 votes, the Democrats will fall •hort by 31 of the 290 needed to over rule committees and upset the normal priority that some bills have. Defection of 41 Could Rule. Likewise with only 259 votes in the Democratic majority, the defection by about 41 Democrats of the conserva tive school of thought would give a conservative coalition a majority on vital pieces of legislation. The dimi nution by 41 is not a very large num ber as votes sometime* go on bills in the House. In the Senate, there are some im portant changes coming, too. Thus the present Senate has 69 Democrats. 22 Republicans, 2 Farmer-Laboritas and 1 Progressive. Two seats are vacant--one Republican and one Democrat. The probable eomplextlon of the Senate would appear to be a gain of four or poeslbly six Republicans and, assuming the latter, the line-up would be: Democrats, 64; Republicans, 29; Farmer-Labor, 2; Progressive, 1. To tal. 96. Only a third of the members of the United State* Senate are up for elec tion as usual, but there are four seats In which vacancies occur for unex pired terms so that 36 Senators will be elected. i'arty la be 18 Misieauinf. The party label will not count for *o much, however, In the senatorial elections. Thus If Governor Johnson of Colorado, conservative, is elected on the Democratic ticket, he will replace 6enator Costigan, Democrat, who has been regarded as a radical. Likewise, the possible defeat of Senator Norris In Nebraska would remove a nomnal Republican who has been voting with the Democrats and elect Robert G. Simmons, who would become a mem ber of the regular Republican group in the Senate, though he has Pro gressive leanings. Again it is Important to note that party label divisions do not mean everything. When it comes to the confirmation of a justice of the Su preme Court of the United States, nominated by the President to fill a vacancy, party lines would disap pear. If the nominal Democratic line-up is 64, it can be taken for granted that 25 of that number would refuse to confirm to the Supreme Court a man who. It was believed, would decide cases on a political basis, rather than in conformity with es tablished precedent. The prospect that 25 Democratic Senators will form a group which will insist upon considerable revision of New Deal legislation and will op pose the revival of the N. R. A. has i been talked about privately in this campaign among some of those who ■re going down the line, so to speak, for Mr. Roosevelt this time, but who do not feel that he can expect their support if he deviates from his 1936 campaign promises. Promisea in Speeches Noted. Mr. Roosevelt's statements in his speeches have been contradictory, but the assurances which he gave to busi ness and the conservatives in recent utterance* have been carefully noted by Democratic Senators who intend to hold him to the conservative side and to desert him if he proposes pol icies at variance with the speeches he has made. The average citizen who is voting the straight ticket may think he Is taking the easiest course, but there are many millions who prefer to be as careful as possible about their choice of Representatives and Senators In Congress, and this would indicate much scratching of tickets. After all, the members of Congress are the direct spokesmen of the citiaens, and whatever there is to popular govern ment can be Immediately asserted in the face of possible centralization only if Representatives are held account able'by the people generally. Cheek Fee ter Gains. If the American form of govern ment is truly a system of checks and balances, then the coming election will demonstrate how important it is to use the congressional check to in sure a maintenance of constitutional rights. The drlfe toward Republican ism shown in various congressional districts is an Indication that, in some of the districts, at least, the electorate wants to have an ace In the hole In the event that Mr. Roosevelt is re elected and endeavor* to go beyond the conflnes of constitutional govern ment. Certainly the substantial majorities which Mr. Roosevelt had In the last two Congresses will not be availably to him again. Prom now on the con servative-radical flght In Congress will mean more than It ever has before. The session which begins in January will have to vote on pay roll taxes and the social security act amend ments, as well as on the who^e subject of economy in government.and more equitable taxation. Hence./the mani fest Importance of considering con gressional candidates not on party labels but on their respective philos ophies and attitudes. (Copyright, 1036.) News Behind the News Gamblers Advised to Bet on Roosevelt--Many Fac tors Complicate Election Forecast. BY PAUL MALLON. IP YOUR money Is itching for action, bet on Mr. Roosevelt to win by a strong electoral but a comparatively short popular margin. If it Is not itching, do not scratch it. Wise professional prophets generally are reluctant to make bets, mainly because they are not sure whether the Literary Digest face figures are wrong at last. Other trustworthy signs indicate a different result. But few well-informed people are sufficiently convinced to mortgage the house and lot to raise money for a wager. Also, there are downs of other con fusing faotors which make this the hardest election to dope with certainty in many a year. The odds you hear from Wall Street bear signs at times of hav ing been tampered with. They are at least at the mercy of a very few highly excited individuals on both sides, like the famous watchmaker who is supposed to have sent in $200,000 on Roosevelt. If you try to judge prospects by inner signs at respective head quarters, you will be confused. The Republican candidates are highly eonnaeni, out more man one expert in their entourage expresses only hope. Democratic confidence Is supreme aU down the line as regards the final outcome, of course, but grave doubts exist about at least a dozen specific States. It may surprise you, but Senator George Norris is in a very precarious position, and may not pull through in Nebraska. Roose velt is a 5 to 4 favorite to carry the State, but Norris is only even money and should be less don't waste a nickel on either side In Iowa. Rosevelt has an edge, but it is too thin for o hard-earned penny to rest on another one to avoid is Ohio. A fairly good survey indicates a Landon victory there by less than IS.000, and this conclusion is affirmed by the best judge on the State Late repo, .j indicate doubts about the assurance of a Landon victory in Massachusetts, but he still has the best chance there Pennsyl vania should be considered at least a JO to t bet for Landon Illinois is another hard cle, with Roosevelt having the advantage only because of respect for the Kelly-Nash machine in Chicago. To show you how indecisive these analytes are becoming, the latest on Illinois indicated a 43,000 majority for Roosevelt out of 3,300,000 votes expected to be cast. There have been many mysteries in this campaign, but the deepest Is the White House adventure of three Wall Street brokers. When Mr. Roosevelt bites a broker, that's no news. But when he invites three brokers into a conference a few days before election, you can easily imagine the stir created in both Washington and New York. The President could probably have picked a broker here and there from among the cliff dwellers around Broad and Wall who might be considered more Influential than these three, but the selected trio certainly represented tops in the financial district, or very close to It. They filed into the presidential sanctum, remained more than IS minutes and filed out again. They would not say what the con ference was about. Nor uws any satisfactory reason for the con ference offered later by the President. Both parties tried to pass it off as a social visit, but Wall Street guffawed. As one financial leader explained the situation: "Mr. Roosevelt and brokers do not mix socially these days." Even yet, some authorities suspect there was some smart work at the cross streets, which will eventually come out. They are wrong. What happened was this: The three brokers were at a party recently, expressing their opinion of the President rather freely. A New Deal official, present, told them they were all wrong about Mr. Roosevelt. He suggested they would really like him if they got to know him and asked if they would like to meet him. They gave tha polite answer and. about three days later, along came a White House invitation. In the meeting. Mr. Roosevelt did all the talking, and kept it confined to observations about the weather and Burn relatively small mauers. jsu body said anything of the slightest importance. The New Deal arranger of it was also wrong. For once, the Presi dent's friendly charm failed to work. The three brokers returned to their duties unimpressed.' The Senate campaign investiga tors came out with the results of another brilliant expose the other day, but no one printed it. The committee secretary called in newsmen to tell them the results of the committee's long and hard investigation of charges that the P. W. A. t» mixed up in Pennsylvania politics. He started reading a report made to the committee by its investigator, Louis Glavis. The words had a familiar sound. After the second para graph, the reporters recognised the Glavis report as being exactly what Harry Hopkins had said after an impartial investigation of himself. It was not clear whether Glavis had received his report from Hopkins or Hopkins from Glavis. But inasmuch as both reports were largely denials from local P. W. A. officials, it appeared possible that they repre sented only a duplication of denials. Next the committee handed out a statement showing that a con siderable percentage of W. P. A. supervisors were Republicans. Inquiry developed that Eddie Jones. W. P. A. chief in Pennsylvania, had furnished the only information on which this committee announcement was made. Inasmuch as Jones is the man being charged with creating a political machine out of W. P. A., some reporters suggested that he might be a biased witness in favor of himself. Before that minor question could be answered, another reporter asked how come Jones knew the political affiliations of all his subordinates, if politics was banished from his thoughts. There seemed to be no answer to this one. and the press conference adjourned, and some one suggested that it might have been better if the committee had not said anything at all. The scene solidified the strictly non-partisan impression of newsmen that the Senate campaign investigation is the worst, or at least, the most one-sided, held by a congressional committee since the world entered upon its present so-called age of enlightenment.