Evening star., 1924-05-03
COOLIDGE NOW FACING
REAL TEST AS LEADER
Decisions on s Major Bills May
Have Important Bearing
on Campaign.
HAS LEFT CONGRESS FREE
Will Have Chance in Next 6 Weeks
to Assert Himself.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


President Coolidge's opportunities
for leadership. for assertiveness and
for curbing the multifarious tenden-
cies of Congress in the present session
are coming in bunch-all in the
next six weeks.
Not since the day he succeeded the
late President Harding in office has
there developed such an occasion for
decision on policy. The course of the
whole Coolidge administration. its
character and objectives. will be
charted now and may furnish the
basis for discussion in the coming
presidential campaign.
Five Essential Bills.
For Mr.. Coolidge has before him
these essential things to decide:
First, whether or not to sign the
soldier insurance bill.
Second, whether to use his influence
in the conferences between the two
houses to prevent the publication of
income tax returns and the removal
of other features Of the bill which
are contributing to business uncer-
tainty.
Third, whether he will approve the
Rursum bill passed by both houses
providing for increased pensions for
civil war and Spanish American war
veterans.
Fourth, whether he will sign the
McNary- -Haugen bill providing for
the creation of an agricultural ex-
port corporation and machinery
whereby the price of wheat and other
products shall be arbitrarily raised
to come up to fixed ratio with other
commodities.
Fifth, whether he will sign the i'm
migration bill with clauses in it
giving direct offense to Japan and
tmpairing the good relations which
have existed with that country, espe-
cially since the armament confer
ence and the recent earthquake
Dozens OF Others.
There are dozens of other bills in
volving important principles, but the
foregoing constitute the outstanding
measures Mr.. Coolidge said at the
outset of his administration that he
did not care to indicate in advance
of action by Congress what his policy
toward specific proposals would be-
As consequence Congress has gone
ahead in many instances and 1egislat-
ed without regard to possible action
by tho President.
The President has taken no action
with reference to the making of all
income tax returns public. The Sec
rotary of the Treasury has opposed
this provision. but Mr.. Mellon does
not have the veto power. The Senate
has just gone ahead with the very
provision which House leaders sue
ceeded with difficulty in defeating |
Whether the provision which per-
mits any one to see income tax re-
turns will be retained after confer |
ence between the House and Senate
is doubtful, but already there is so
much left to conference that the ad-
ministration's effort to get good
tax bill has been thwarted.
Publicity of income tax returns in
order 20 prevent corruption Is ap-
proved, but the opportunity for in
dividuals who are not lawmakers to
get trade secrets is the chief objec-
formation would be available to con-
gressional committees under regula-
tions which would safeguard the
misuse of the data by business COM
is no such precaution. Anybody who
wants to walk into the Treasury and
find out what his business opponents
are doing can look at the income tax
returns. They would be as public as
books
The interesting thing about the
whole tax situation is the way the
prediction of Senator Smoot last
autumn has been verified. He was
against tax revision this presidential
year because he felt that politics and
would supersede any scien-
tiffc plan for tax modification.
He said then that combination of
insurgent Republicans. together with
the Democratic minority, would be
enough to defeat the administration
and might result in a tax
bill that would do more harm than
good. But public opinion insisted al
most unanimously that an effort be
publican leadership has been strug-
CLING with insurgency. Many regu-,
lar Republicans have failed to attend
sessions of the Senate at which their
votes were badly needed. The Sem
ate bill in the end will be a hodge
podge, more radical than the House
bill. The supposition that the confer
ence between the two houses will
make satisfactory bill is rapidly
growing less plausible.
Mr.. Coolidge himself has not inter-
fered in what Congress has done. AS
a result he will receive a bill with
many features in it which would
justify a veto. In the desire for an
early adjournment of Congress and
the fear that the President cannot
overcome the radicals who hold the
balance of power, the measure pre-
sented to him very likely will be
signed.