Milford chronicle., 1927-02-18

lie was pOWerleSS 10 plan It's Duy4AS'
Money, time and dissatisfaction was
the price paid. At the same time the
merchants had to be content to wait
for business and the most if it came
Saturday afternoon and evening, sell
dom on Monday and never in the
morning. Newspapers and the uni
versal employment and appreciation
of newspaper advertising permits the
public to plan its shopping and has
made business for every weekday.
Se@
: FARM RELIEF NEARS A FINAL
VICTORY
public Ledger, Phila.)
IN ALL the years of its troubled
history, the McNary-Haugen bill was
never quite so near a triumph as it
is now. The Senate has surrender
ed. The House is about ready to
yield. The adverse House majority
of As votes in 1926 has been chang
ed to a probable favorable majority
of 80.
McNary-H -Haugenism has gained
the right of way in the Senate be-
cause of an alliance between the
banker and the farmer, between its
own supporters and those who are
anxious to pass the pepper-McFad-
den Branch Bank Bill. Voting &c to
A. the Senate trampled all opposi-
tion and made farm relief its unfin-
ished business. Back of that vote
numerous deals made, trades COM
pleted and understandings reached.
The farm lobby, the most powerful
ever assembled, swarms over both
fianks of Capitol Hill.
Good old log-rolling tactics have
been used, Vice President Dawes
and Colonel Bookhart, Senator-elect
from Iowa, are credited with much
of the glory. NIcNary- -Haugenism is
floating serenely toward victory on
the deep waters of national politics.
1t is moving far faster than some of
its friends and advocates want it to
move. AS matter of fact, it's pas
sage at this time may ruin at least
one presidential boom and wreck a
half dozen or more promising poll
tical careers.
If passed and signed, the Lowden
issue may be partial if not COM
plete loss. The Corn Belt will, for
the moment, lose it's favorite griev-
ance.
The crumbling of Southern Oppo-
sition to the bill has changed the
whole situation. In 1926 the South
stood out against it. In this ses-
sion the South has been won over.
The new bill provides help for pro-
ducers of cotton, rice hogs, wheat
and corn.
The South has had a bad time
with it's 1926 cotton crop. This has
made many votes for price-control.
Rice has been worth more votes.
Tobacco is about to be added to the
list and this will mean at least a
dozen additional supporters in the
House.
The measure has undergone a
good many changes since it first ap-
peared, but it is still recognizable as
an attempt to control prices by arti-
fetal means. The Treasury will be
tapped for a $25O,OOO,0OO revolving
fund. A Farm Board of twelve men,
bers, one from each Federal Reserve
District, will be set up and control
ling crop surpluses. The mere cost
of maintaining this elaborate device
is expected to be $25O,OOO year.
There are persistent reports that
the President will sign this measure,
described by a House minority re-
port as even more dangerous and
certainly more unconstitutional than
it's predecessors. The White House
has been silent on the present bill.
Not since June, 1926, has the Pres
ident dealt directly with any farm
relief measure. At that time he ap-
proved the Fess bill, providing for a
marketing board and the use of
$1OO,OOO,OOO as working capital for
market associations.
The McNary-Haugen bill, Model
1927, is not the Fess bill. The Pres
ident must move long way from
his position of a year ago, two years
ago and three years ago if he ac-
cepts what Congress is about to Of
fer. If it means anything at all, it
means price-control, and pTice-con-
troll in the last analysis is price
fixing. A brindle fringe Of fancy
phraseology may change IT'S name
but not it's nature.
DO@
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
(From National Editorial Association)
Especial to Chronicle)
Washington, February 16-Recog-
nizing the principle that politics is
the science of exigencies" members
of Congress are doing their best to
salvage pet measures from the pres