Evening star., 1932-06-24
MILLS HITS ACTION
ON REVENUE BILL
Measure Representing Hard
Work "Torn to TatterS" He
r Tells Harvard Alumni.
h the Associated Press.

h the Associated Press.
. CAMBRIDGE, Mass, June "a
ogden L. Mills. Secretary of the Treas
ury. and Samuel Seabury of New York,
both recipients Of honorary degrees at
Harvard University. last night addressed
the Harvard Alumni Assoclatlon-tne
former to assan the action on the last
revenue bill. and the latter the poll
ticians of New York.
Mills described the action on the last
revenue bill as 'dastardly perform
ance."
"A great measure" he said, should
not be a patchwork of unrelated items,
but a coherent whole. That implies
study. planning and workmanship, and
vet the work of weeks, or unanimous
report of the Ways and Means Com
mittee supported by both parties, was
torn to tatters in the course OF lew
hours"
Pressure From Outside.
''What had happened? Under out
side pressure. party ties and organlza-
tions had given way. Men voted as
individuals careless of their response
bilities to their party and to their party
leaders and responding only to their
own views and to their own individual
prospects as they viewed them.
"A smooth-running and effective
legislative organization had dissolved
instantaneously into 435 individual units.
There was greater safety IN abandcnlng
the party than in supporting 1t. IL was
& dastardly performance, and yet, re-
psat. a dramatic elimination OF a
i1rocess long since under way in this
country"
The Secretary cited the history OF the
revenue bill as an example of condi-
tions in the country today He SAID
altogether unreasonable stress was
placed net only on continuity OF service
but en- continuous victory at the polls.
- These conditions" he con-
tinued, did not always prevail IN
American public life. They have come
about largely through the disintegratlon
of parties and party organizations. Be
cause cf the organizations connections
with the party we have, in the course OF
the last 20 years, so reduced the soli-
darity and the importance of parties as
effective instrumentalities in the carry
Ing ont of nolicies that they no
longer can perform their functions"
Remedy in Hands of All.
"The remedy" he concluded. was
not to seek: it lies in the hands CT all
the citizens of the country
Judge Seabury, who recently filed
charges with Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt
against Mayor James j. Walker after
he had investigated the lattsr's admin
istration, said:
"A political despotism, controlled oy
political organizations, has been the
means by which millions OF dollars have
been wrung from the people OF New
York"
Seabury compared conditions IN New
York City today with those of Florence
during the rule of the Medici, when
''dazzied by the glow Of its art and Ut
erature. the people allowed their poll
tics to reach the lowest state"
Municipal government In the United
states has long been recognized as tbs
weakest spot in our system, ne SAID
Under 1t we have popular government
only ir form. The ignorant, tnt
poor and the helpless have been ruth
iessly and remorselessly preyed upon
Even the processes of the inferior. court!
of Justice have been prostituted to the
most sordid ends
Referring to the findings Of his In
vestigation in New York City. Seabur!
said The corruption in the New Yorl
City government has been clearly re-
vealed-the question is, what is goint
TO be done about it? I hope that th'
facts which have been disclosed vii
result in constructive changes whicf
will make the return OF these condl'
tions more difficult"