Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-18
Wagner Bill Veto Produces
Sharp Division of Opinion

statement that the minute the present
job-flnding service is put out Of busi-
ness, the new service can 60 into oper-
ation," the New York Evening Post re-
plies: Eyes, it can-but only legally and
technically. 1t cannot really operate,
as the President shows, until months Of
organization work have been DONE"
X
THE President did not veto the bill
until he had been counseled by the
Attorney General Of the United States
and the Secretary Of Labor, himself a
labor union executive for many years
before entering TIE Federal service" it
Is pointed out by the South Bend Trib-
une, while the Hartford Courant argues
that the last thing labor wants is q
nebulouS scheme of the sort to replace
the present system, which gave 1,300,-
600 persons jobs last year." and that
action of the $3.50 type, such as the
Wagner bill and the maternity aid
-.sure, are indubitable evidence of the
progress Of Federal encroachment in
matters that properly belong to the
States" The Rock Island Argus holds
that Mr.. Hoover seems to have made
out a strong case
If the President has acted wisely in
vetoing the Wagner measure, we never
theleSS hope the matter will be taken
care of in later legislation" advises the
Flint Daily Journal, while the Roanoke
Times sees IS. evidence that the
veto will be made an issue in next
Press asserts that "the Wagner bill may
not be perfect, but so superior is it to
existing methods Of unemployment re-
lief that the millions now joblesS de-
serve that it be further considered:
That 1t cannot be expected that they
will share Mr.. Hoover's complacency
over the Ineffective system that the
Wagner bill is designed to correct"
The ranton Times directs attention
to tn fact that the Wagner bill had
the support Of many influential econ
om1stS End labo- leaders, including that
OF Secretary Doak before he became a
cabinet member" and that Senator
Wagner has given particular attention
to the unemployment situation" The
Cleveland Plain Dealer contends: This
opposition is difficult to understand, be-
cause tn Wagner bills carry out recon-
mendatlons repeatedly made by the
series of conferences sponsored and pre-
sided over in 1921, 1922, 1928 and 1924
by Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of
Commerce in the Harding and Coolidge
cabinets. The Presidents eleventh.
hour objection to a bill supported by
ag- ncies with such widely differing
viewpoints rs the A. F. of L. and the
Taylor Society. by economists such as
Fisher anC Taussig, by able students of
employment as B. c. Seiple of C'cve-
land is not convincing"
Lack of convincing opposition Is en-
phasized also by the Buffalo Evening
News, which makes the comment on
the situation: 1T is unfortunate be-
cause Congress viii not meet again I'M
til next December. In view of the fact
that there will Le almost an even diVi-
sion of strength between Republicans
and Democrats, with insurgency to be
taken into account, the pre- -pect for the
adoption of a Doak plan appears far
from bright The time that must in
tervene before the President can put
the matter to test would be sufficient
to get the Wagner plan well under way
to bring to light its imperfections and
prepare to correct them. AS it is, the
country must depend almost wholly
upon the Federal employment service
In the Department Of Labor, as to whose
Offices in the present situation thu
country Goes not share the confidence
expressed by the President in his veto