Evening star., 1924-11-04
STORMY CONGRESS
SESSION IMPENDING
Radicals to Renew Drive for
Farm, Rail Rate and Tariff
Relief Measures.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

HtS ~ thS toH<su<Lity III t"tc WI -
series Of four trrittcn after a 1000
mile journey through riTtpaHy e1e1y
one of the Northern and Western
States
What America faces after election
differs materially from what has ap-
peared on the surface during the
campaign. 1t is the wisdom of politi-
cal strategy to suppress. to gloss over.
to subordinate and even to ignore
anything that might affect the for
tunes of the campaign. But there
are certain facts inesca pable which
will rise to perplex the new admins
tration and Congress almost imme-
diately.
First. the demand of the West for
constructive farm legislation will
reach its climax this Winter West
ern Senator's and Representatives
have been telling their constituents
in this campaign that they will do
something at last in the way of farm
rellef. High prices for farm products
have given these members temporari-
ly lease of life but the bloc sys-
tenn in Congress will be intensified
and group voting increased unless by
legislation co-ordinating the ia armers'
own cooperative movement or by an
'Alcit with Government
supervision some scientific method of
handling the surplus Of American
farms is established.
Tariff Revision Looms.
Second, the demand for a down.
ward revision of the tariff is rising
TO proportions at which th. Repub-
means candidly were surprised during
lhe campaign. Some tariff tinkering
VIII undoubtedly be brought about by
coalition of the Democrats and
Western Republicans
Ihlrd, the leadership of the Re-
publican party in the Senate may be
vested more effectively than hereto
1ore in a steering committee owing
TO the ill-health Of Senator Lodge of
massachusetts,, inde ed if 1t does not
mean ms resignation from the posi-
ton of leader altogether. Senator
La Foiiette. on the other hand, will
take more active hand in the lead
ership of the insurgent movement
fourth. Publication of income tax
returns of corporations and individu-
ais viii lead almost immediately to
acnFlty on the part of congressional
committees to obtain from the Presi-
dent. in accordance with the law. all
details of the income tax returns
tht mselves. The cry will be for a
correction of ineQuities. but the rad
ways shifting of the tax burden to
those of larger incomes.
Veto Power in Reserve.
Fifth, the task of President Cool
ldge from now on will be one of keep
ing the brakes on Congress through
the use and threatened use of the
veto power. In the short session of
Congress beginning in December and
continuing to March the admins
tration leaders will be kept busy side
tracking all sorts of proposals from
the radicals. The side-tracking proc
esS VIII IN the main work to the ad-
vantage of the administra ton, be-
cause appropriation bills will have
the right of way, though the usual
effort to delay necessary bills so as to
force an extra session will probably
be made
If the Congress elected this week
IS strongly conservative and gives the
administration a substantial majority
IN the House and a wider margin than
heretofore in the Senate, the radicals
Will try to get everything they pro-
pose passed this session and not wait
for an extra session to be called, in
which they might be at a disadvan-
tage.
Sixth, the fight of the railroad broth
erhoods for the passage of the How
ell Barkley bill legalizing, certain
standards and working rules. which
they consider paramount will be re-
newed, and the friends Of the meas
ure will take their stand behind the
farm Senator'S who want repealed or
amended the famous provision of the
transportation act. which permits the
railroads to earn a certain per cent
on their valuation. Western Sena-
tors interested in securing lower
freights Will make another drive at
the transportation act, and the ad-
ministration leaders will be kept busy
holding the fort against parliament
airy incursions
Business Outlook Fair.
On the whole, the outlook for busi-
ness as it relates to the activities of
Congress can be said to be fair. A
short session of Congress permits of
little mischief as rule. and the Con-
gress elected this week will not meet
until 13 months hence, December,
1925, unless the President is compelled
by circumstances to call an extra
session
Between now and December of this
year will be the reflective period for
Congress. The results of the election
will be carefully analyzed. The third
party movement in 1912 found utter
dtscouragement in examining the cleo
tion returns, for they proved con-
clusively that all that had been ac-
complished was mathematical split
in the Republican vote allowing a
minority to win the election. What
the La Toilette movement, as well as
the Democrats, will find upon mature
study of the returns is that the Demo-
cratic party has been split and that
the third party and Democrats to-
gether just about match the Republi-
can strength. from which the lesson
must be drawn that separate existence
of the Democrats and the La Toilette
groups can only mean the continued
triumph of the Republican conserva-
tives.
When this is fully understood, 1t
will mean a closer coalition than be-
fore between the Democrats and
Western insurgents in the coming ses-
sion or Congress, not necessarily in
the hope of winning the Senator's and
Representatives themselves to one
party standard-for they usually re-
tain their Republican affiliation-but
with the idea of winning the con-
stituents who support those Western
Republicans. The protest movement
developed in this campaign will hardly
be ignored, and the probabilities are
that the Republican conservatives
will divide among themselves as to
the wisdom of meeting their Western
colleagues half way in an effort to
prevent a break-off from Republican
States to the ranks OF the radicals
in the congressional elections of 1926,
the winning of which will mean much
to any Republican legislative pro-
gram, and possibly will affect the
elections of 1928.
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