Evening star., 1925-10-25
SENATE TO DECIDE
REAL TAX MEASURE
Bill That Comes From House
Committee Certain to Be
Greatly Changed.
HN ROBERT T. SMALL.

X is safe To predict that the new
tax reduction bill which finally
emergS from the House of Represent
ativeS will contain intact most of the
Mellon proposals which have been set
forth at such length and so widely
commented upon. President Coolidge,
if he choose to use 1t, has sufficient
influence in the new House to force
all of the Mellon propositions into the
measure, and eventually, may do so.
The House, which conveneS the first
Monday in December will be safely
Republican and safely Coolidge, all
the way from Speaker Nicholas
Longworth down.
But the country must not get the
idea that the tax bin which comes
from the House will be anything like
he tax bill which finally becomes the
law of the land The House has the
{ traditional and constitutional right to
! initiate all legislation bearing upon
the revenue OF these United States.
/ The Senate has the traditional.
though not the constitutional, right
10 kick the House revenue bills into
a whole shelf of cooked hats And
the Senate which convenes the first
Monday in December is neither safely
Republican nor safely Coolidge
Republican on Paper.
In fact. it is anything but that. On
paper it is safely Republican-as safe
as old wheat-but a lot of paper Re
publicans in public life today. are a
delusion and a snare, so far as the
rock-ribbed G.. O. =. is concerned
They run as Republicans and vote as
they please. Young Bob La Toilette,
who is to make his debut at noon on
Monday. December Z received the
regular" Republican nomination at
the Wisconsin primaries, and is one
of the Republican ma jority in the
Senate, but Senate Leader Curtis,
and Administration Leader Coolidge
Will expect about as much support
from Mr.. La Toilette as they would
from Pat Harrison of Mississippi--
perhaps not as much. And so 1t goes
With number of the other nominal
Republicans and pernicious trouble
makers.
1t is no dispara cement to the House
and its earnest work to say that the
tax-reduction bill in it's final form will
tie framed in the Senate House views
and Senate views seldom are in COM
plete harmony, even when both are
controlled by the same party Occa-
s1onally strong President has been
able to club them into "a semblance Of
White House seldom has been able to
influence the hard-boiled Senate
Good House Committee.
The House committee on ways and
means, already at work on the new
tax measure, is made up of capable
bralny men. Perhaps 1t would be well
for the country if their consensus of
views should prevail in the new tax
law. But 1t is not to be. The House
committee is doing invaluable work.
1t IS building up a record of public
and business opinion on the various
angles of highly complex and COM
pGcated problem. When it eventually
energies from the ways and means
committee the House measure will be
rushed through the lower chamber in
the shortest possible order and with
out material change. The Republican
majority and the House rules make
this certain. But when all this is said
and done the new law will be but just
started.
The ponderous and powerful Senate
committee on finance will come to bat.
1t will conduct hearings. 1t will sum-
mon Mr.. Mellon and the tax experts
of the Treasury. 1t will put its own
construction on their views and at
tach its own weight to their recon-
mendations. After the public hearings