Evening star., 1932-12-26
The Political Mill
By C.. Gould Lincoln.

dtlOll 6lNCo tIlC 1AlPlCooAOA VAA0O OAlS
Democratic House is going to tackle
again the question of balancing the
Governments budget. President Hoo
yer and his Secretary of the Treasury,
Ogden Mills, have both recommended
to the Congress that general manufac-
turers' excise tax be written into law,
doing away with many of the present
nuisance" taxes, and providing for
more equitable taxation upon the vari-
Gus industries OF the country. The
House Ways and Means Committee at
a bill providing for such a tax, at 2i4
per cent. But the Democrats of the
House did not stand up when it came
time to be counted and the sales" tax
as it was dubbed was thrown into the
discard Whether the Democrats will
undertake in the committee to father
such tax again remains to be seen.
The plan will have the support of Rep
resentative Hawley Of oregon, former
chairman of the committee when the
Republicans ruled the roost, and other
Republican members.
X X
So much has been said and written
| about the beer bill, now passed by the
House, as revenue producer, that
comparatively little attention has been
given to other forms of taxation during
the few weeks that Congress has been
IN session. The beer bill may be a
revenue producer-its supporters claim
1t will bring into the Treasury some
thlng between S200,000000 and $780,
600 900 year-but it still is a long way
from becoming law. 1t is so far
from becoming law that those who
must see to the credit of the Govern
inent are much concerned and are
thinking more and more Of the need
OF passing a new revenue bill that can
become law before March 4. The
creolt OF the Government IS still good
| very good, indeed. But unless the Gov
erhmeht budget be balanced, there will
come time when the credit of the
Government will be not SO good.
Inc beer bill was quickly put through
! the House In the Senate, when Sena-
| TOR Hiram Bingham of Connecticut, who
mas Deen looked upon as the big beer
man OF the g. o. P, undertook to get
the House bill up for consideration i'm
meolately. the Democrats of the Upper
House SHE'D away from the proposal.
The bill had been referred to the
Judiciary Committee to pass upon its
constltutionality-in other words. to de-
eide. II it could. whether 80 per cent
peer, as provided in the House bill. is
intoxicating or not. great deal has
been said as TO the power of beer of
- per cent alcoholic content by weight.
Many men have argued before the
House Ways and Means Committee as
to whether the beer is Intoxicating in
lact, and there has been a great offer
nce OF opinion. Why not be practical?
why not have some 80 per cent beer
manufactured and try it on the dog?
/ There would doubtless be plenty of
volunteers for such an experiment
After all, no one will know positively
whether the beer intoXicates or not
/ until some one drinks it.
The prospects for beer legislation in
lne Senate DO not appear overnight.
The unwiliingness of the Democratic
leaders there to go through with the
Blngham proposal to get the bill up
! night away would indicate that a lot Of
tne Democrats are not so sure that the
bill Is constitutional after all. Senator
Bingham said during the debate of his
proposal to take up the beer bill forth
with that every Senator knew whether
he would or would not support the
measure when it comes TO vote. II
seems that number Of them are not
anxious to go on record in the matter
! however, without little more consid-
! Grafton.
* X X
| After the beer bill emerges from the
Judiciary Committee it Will have to go
] 10 the Senate Finance Committee. 10 be
dealt with on the revenue -prOGu cling
side. When the bill is before the COM
mlttee it will be possible. If it is de-
sired By majority, to hitch some other
/ tax features on to the bill in the hope
of making it possible to get through
| legislation that will actually balance
/ the budget. In some quarters 1t has
/ been suggested that it would be a good
| chance of writing into law a general
| manufacturers tax. on the theory that
such an amendment might bring pres
iGential approval to the beer bill. So
far. however. the supporters of manu-
facturers' excise tax have hung back
and are not ready either to complicate
the passage of the beer bill or to risk
failure for the manufacturers tax.
! There is more than one way of bal
/ ancmg the Governments budget 1t
/ may be done by increasing taxation or
by reducing Government expenditures,
or by a combination Of both. Still an
other method, temporary in character,
i would be a Government bond issue
| The President-elect. Franklin D. Roose-
| welt. Is considering. according to re-
ports, all these various means Of ar
irving at a balanced budget. He
wishes, it is said, to have Congress give
| the Chief Executive a wide, blanket
power to cut expenditures, believing
that the President could be more effec-
tive in making reductions in Govern
ment expenditures than could a Con-
greSS, pulled and hauled this way and
that by all kinds Of interests and thou
sands OF constituents. Probably he is
right. But Congress is not inclined to
turn over the purse strings to the
Executive. 1t is one of the powers
which it has been most jealous of.
x y
Gov. Roosevelt, it is said. believes
that 1t may be possible to effect a saw
ing of 100000. 900 a year through lop-
ping OIL payments now made to vet
eranS OF various wars. and particularly
the World War, which are not entirely
justified 1t sounds somewhat like the
program of the Economy League, in
which Admiral Byrd, U. S. N. retired,
has a prominent part. If the Demo-
cratic President-elect undertakes to
carry out such a program, and does it
by his own hand, after having been au-
thorlzed by the Congress to do so, there
] olC AAS1y W pc pOllllCdl ItNeI UtIdtlOllS.
The Republicans will not be slow to
rush to the aid of the veterans, in all
probability. They will seek to make
political capital with the former service
men. just as the Democrats sought TO
do during the recent presidential cam
paign.
Gov. Roosevelt has been pictured as
hoping for some kind of a blanket au-
thority to deal with Government costs
at the present session of the old Con-
gress. Although the Democrats have a
majority in the present House. it is a
slim one. They have no majority in
the Senate, except when they have
with them the Republican insurgents
from the West. 1t does not look, under
the circumstances. as though Roosevelt
could expect much along this line from
the old Congress, although with the
great Democratic ma joritieS in the new