For the past two years, the nation has been ruled by a bi-partisan coalition in which the President and Congress have combined to conduct the essentials of government. Despite the lack of a clear public mandate for either branch, a Republican excutive and a Democratic legislature have nonetheless been able to hammer out effective compromises. Much of Eisenhower's record of positive achievements has been due to a Democratic Congress, which has supported him on the Bricker Amendment, foreign aid, and reciprocal trade. In contrast, many Republicans still vote against the concepts of foreign aid and of the United Nations. They have also defeated increased federal aid for vitally needed schoolrooms. Accordingly, whatever happens in the Presidential election 13 days from now--and the pollsters findings are not overly encouraging from our point of view--the return of a Democratic Congress is a necessity.

Next week, 35 Senators and the entire House will be involved in Congressional elections. To call for a Democrat over a Republican in every contest would be the epitome of partisanship, but, logically, our desire to see progressive policies enacted requires that we give one party an endorsement for organizing Congress, Many of the Democratic candidates--like Wayne Morse in Oregon and Joseph S. Clark in Pennsylvania--are demonstrably superior in ability to their Republican opponents. But in contests where the lines are less clear, we feel that a Democrat is necessarily a better risk as a national lawmaker.

The Republican party, despite the President's efforts to make it a forward-looking political force, has continued to cling to a philosophy of the past. The inner power structure of the party, particularly in its close identification with the Vice President, remains dominated by the Old Guard. The leaders of the Republican party are William Knowland and Joseph Martin, men whose fondness for the Eisenhower program seems to spring more from practicality than from clear approval. Jacob Javits, Paul Hoffman, Arthur Larsen, and even the President are not the effective policy makers who determine the record of an Administration or a Congress. The powers in a Republican Congress have been and would be Velde in the Committee on Un-American Activities, Tabor in budget-cutting, and our old friends Reese, Bricker, Malone, Welker, Short, Jenner and McCarthy.

Admittedly, the Democratic party is not all liberal and not all responsible. Indeed, the prospect of having Senator Eastland continue as chairman of a powerful committee is not pleasing. Nor is Democratic farm policy altogether constructive. But the indisputable fact remains that more committees are led more responsibly by Democrats than by Republicans. Whether Stevenson or Eisenhower is the next President, a bold foreign policy and a creative domestic policy can only emerge from a Democratic Congress.