The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-07-23
Hoover Had Bill Drafted


Hoover Had Bill Drafted
president Hoover had the home
loan bank bill drafted last January,
and he gave it to Watson to intro
duce.
1--WE had few hearings on the
bill, and then dropped it. Watson
and I and every other member of
the committee, except Senator Nor
rison Dem, N. c., agreed that the
bill should not pass.
For six months Watson did
everything he could to prevent &C
ton on the bill. He used to whine
and cry around, whenever anyone
brought up the subject
The administration is raising
he'll with me about this bill, he
would say cant we have meet
ing Of the committee where enough
of you fellows will vote against it
to kill it?'
He was chairman Of the commit
tee, but he never called a meeting.
Then, toward the end of the session,
the building and loan companies
and the real estate boards out in
Indiana began building a fire under
him.
10000 Votes at Stake
"One day about month ago, he
came to us and said: Boys, I've got
to pass this bill. The word is out
in Indiana that 1 am blocking it,
and if it doesn't pass it will cost
me 10000 votes.
Then Watson went to work.
After he had snapped and traded
and got Hoover to crack the whip,
he still didn't have enough votes
to pass the bill.
"The story of how he finally got
the votes is one which the Repub-
cans in Indiana ought to know.
he traded out with Huey Long.
''Huey was set on defeating the
reappointment of Marcel Garsaud
as a member Of the power COM
mission. Garsaud's nomination
was before the interstate COM
merce committee, and the COM
mittee was in session while the
home loan bank bill was being de-
bated on the floor.
Just before the committee got
ready to vote, Watson walked into
the committee room and said, 1
want to vote against Garsaud,' and
turned on his heel and walked out.
Sold Hoover Down River
THAT action by the Republican
leader threw the Republican sena-
tors on the committee into conster-
nation. They didn't know what
to do.
They didn't know but what Pres
ident Hoover had changed his mind
and was going to withdraw Gar
saud's appointment. The result was
that a Democratic senator, favora-
BILE to Gsrsaud, moved that the
nomination be held up until next
November, and the motion carried
without n dissenting vote.
THE Republican senators didn't
find out until later that Jim Watson
had sold Hoover and Garsaud down
the river just to get few more votes
for his bill"
What Couzens said about Wat
sons opposition to the home loan
bank bill for several months Is well
known here. The HooSier senator
paid very little attention to the
measure until about a month be-
fore adjournment.
He agreed privately that the bill
was and should be dead, President
Hoover's wishes to the contrary not
withstanding.
The bill was opposed bitterly by
leading financial experts Of the SEN
ate, including Senator Carter Glass
Dem. Va, and Senator William
f. Borah (Rep, Idaho.
Relief for Bankers
Glass and Borah withdrew their
opposition only at the last when
the senate agreed to the Borah-
Glass amendment setting up the
machinery for a billion dollar in
fation of the national currency.
Borah. Glass and CouzenS argued
that the measure was nothing more
than a relief bill for the mortgage
bankers, that the actual home own
ers of the country never would de-
rive any benefit from it.
1t was only in the final stages of
the debate that Couzens was able to
insert in the bill as an amendment
a provision designed to enable home
owners to apply directly to the home
loan banks for loans on their homes.