The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-01-08

Washington,--The expected has happened and the spokesmen of the administration forces are belaborinS the democrats because they have not fall over themselves with an immediate approval of Hoovers tax plan and other meas
 ures he has suggested.
 In other words, whenever the democrats have views different
 from those of the president, Or even
 when they take time to examine the
 presidents proposals, they are to be charged with trafiicking in the
 distress of the country and playing
 politics with the issues that vitally
 concern the welfare of the Amcri-
 can people.
 of course 1t made no difference
 what the Hoover plan turned out
 to be, his spokesmen in congress and elsewhere were bound to as- sume that the plan was the last word in economic wisdom and
 broad statesmanship and that op- position to 1t was purely selfish and political.
 The most familiar arraignmcnt of what is now the majority party in the house of representative is that the democratic party has no tax program of it's own. It Is per- haps q sufficient reply to that ac- cusation that the republican party had no tax policy either until Sec retary Mellon's measure was day. Inevitably there must be diff dumped down on them the other ferences in the views of men com ing from different sect<ons of the United States with different indus tries, problems and associations. The democrats have had no time yet to sift these out and agree on a detailed measure. The democrats did not even know, as Senator Har- rison of Mississippi pointed out the l other day, until just before the | converting of congress that they l were going to have the majority !, that enabled them to organize the l house of representatives When that | circumstance eventuated the dem- f ocrats proceeded to effect their or ganization in the speediest and most harmonious fashion. In the senate. on the other hand though the re- publican proponderance was never | in doubt the G. o. r. delegations have not even yet been able to of- feet their organization and arc still quarreling and pickering over | the selection of their president pro | tenn. The contrasting situation Is pretty fair index of the relative harmony within the two parties.
 Obviously the democrats could | not know wheeler the presidents program was satisfactory or unsat- isfactory until 1t had come to them. Hardly two month shas elapsed | since White House announcement | indicated that the president did not | believe that 1t was wise or eXpe- dient to suggest tax increases in | view of the poverty of the taXpay- CTS consequent on the business de- pression. Now along comes the plan with presidential endorsement | showing that there has been n somersault in his views. and be- cause the democrats want to con slider them in detail and determine ! whether each provision Is just and fair to all of the people or whether certain interests are being favored at the expense of the ordinary citi- zen, the cry goes up that they | have no plan other than to fight | the president of the United States.
 Perhaps there is no issue before | congress of equal importance with the form and method and rates of the new taxation. It may be that 1t is necessary for the country to go back to a wartime basis to raise the requisite revenue, but it does not follow that because the president has suddenly been con vInced of the wisdom of this that his Is the only correct solution or the problem.
 The democrats call attention 10 his confidential assertions that ms farm relief bill would strhighten out agriculture and that lt repre- scented the neme of congressional achievement. Experience showed that all it amounted 10 was the wasting of n couple hundred mli- lion dollars without any apparent benefit to the farmer They also call attention i0 the presidents fre- quent pr0clanaiiODs In various stages of inc panic that it amount. cd t0 little more thnD m iDdustflnI furry that had no effect on inc aoundneas Of American business and that recovery and resumption of national prosperity iDy Just around inc corner. If be was wrong in theso important matters congress has no sense of security that he is rlsht about the taxes, The InnnIiy Of questions AS i0 ille distribution Of taxes hh bei hrnn hiRh lnpOmNR and low Incomes, ih" value or UnHlGi flul0ilhnehh Di so