Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-02
The Presidents Message.

When it was made known recently
that President Hoover would leave the
framing. of farm relief bill to the
congressional committees, Immediately
arose clatter in quarters not friendly
to Mr.. Hoover that "he has no plan for
farm relief" But now it is revealed
that the President, in his message to
Congress when it meets in special ses-
sion April Is, is to go into the farm
problem in great detail. Indeed, hts
discussion of this subject will be COM
plete and will give not only his recon-
mendations, but also the facts and the
reasons for advancing these recommen-
dations. When the message has been
read by the members of Congress and
the country there will not be the slight
est doubt, 1t is said, just where Mr..
lief legislation nor any doubt that he
has a real program for meeting the
problem.
The message of the President will be
read in both the Senate and the House
by the reading clerks of those bodies.
President Hoover will follow the rrac-
tice of so many of his predecessors who
transmitted their messages to Congress
in writing. Former President Coolidge,
except in one instance, his first mes
sage to Congress, sent them by mes
senger to the Capitol to be read there.
The late President Wilson revived the
practice established originally by George
Washington and went before the Con-
gress to read his own messages to 1t,
assembled in joint session in the House
chamber. His successor, the late Pres
ident Harding, followed the custom re-
established by Mr.. Wilson.
The appearance of the President OF
the United States before both houses of
Congress to deliver his messages to
them in person had both its dramatic
and its influential aspect. In the first
place, far more members of both houses
actually listened to the reading of the
messages when delivered by the Presi-
dent. In the second place, there was the
personal touch between the executive
and legislative branches of the Govern
ment, with the, Chief Executive welding
influence by his presence in the halls OF
Congress. Mr.. Hoover, however. has
decreed against this practice of deliv-
ering his messages to Congress in per-
son. His attitude is much the same in
this connection as it was when he let
it be known that he did not intend to
sit down with the members of the con-
gressional committees and write out the
farm bill with them. The executive and
the legislature are to remain in their
own particular spheres in the present
administration. This does not mean,
however, that the President will not ex-
ert himself to obtain the adoption Of
measures which he believes helpful to
the country.
The message Of the President, it is
said, will deal with just two topics, the
farm problem and the tariff problem.
Those are the subjects for which Con-
gress is called into special session. 1t
is upon those that the President wishes
to lay the emphasis, and he can do so by
limiting his address to them most eff
fectively. 1t is quite true that there is
a desire on the part Of the President
and Of the leaders in Congress to deal
with the bill for reapportionment Of the
House, with the repeal or postponemelit
of the so-called national origins clause
Of the immigration act, and with the
transfer of prohibition enforcement
from the Treasury Department to the
Department of Justice. But they are
measures which will be given attention
by Congress at the special session as
occasion permits. The Congress Is COM
ing to deal with the farm problem and
tariff revision, specifically, and it is the
Presidents purpose to keep that fact
constantly in the foreground.