Evening star., 1933-04-16
Veteran Cuts the Budget


discussion, whether or not it was tied
up in some actual bill. For example,
CHANGED upon him one day last Win
ter in his drawing room, when I went
to see Mrs. Douglas, contemplating some
huge charts blacked over with graphs.
Certain lines represented the fluctuatiOn
of sterling and others represented COM
modify price levels. He was trying to
see whether he could find any connec-
ton.
In such legislation as the Boulder
Dam bill he showed he had the fight
and tenacity Of bulldog. Arizona ap-
preciated him, too-returned him by
big majority even IN the Hoover year,
returned him again in 80 unopposed.
But that personal quality which had
made him avowedly wet in a State of
dry voters did not show up in WASH
ington until last year.
Pass Economy Buck.
Of appropriattng and no warning from
the White House or Treasury could
wake them out of it. In vain Mr.. Og-
den Mills tramped up and down before
committees, waving his arms and grow
ing purple in the face and shouting his
figures Of Treasury deficits. They didn't
believe him. They didn't believe him
while the rate on Treasury borrowing
began to shiver for a rise and keener-
cared men across the sea began to with
draw their gold balances from the
United States.
All hope of a balanced budget went
gltmmertng. Congress was a mad house
in which men seemed to have lost all
capacity for calm judgment They
threw the sales tax overheard, tore the
economy bill to pieces, voted immediate
payment Of the bonus and allotted mil
lions to the R. F. c.
Douglas was not only member of the
key committee, Appropriations, but also
Of the special Economy Committee. He
had to work on the proposed omnibus
bill. He examined every item in his
charge as If he were peering through
a microscope at bacillus. And that
was thankless, an unpopular task.
The Speaker deserted and. one by one:
every item fell out as members passed
the economy buck from hand to hand
It reached climax when the veter-
ans appropriations came up. Douglas
took the floor with a denunciation OF
extravaganza The House cheered when
he closed. But they put through-as
every one knows-a hundred million
pension bill. Douglas was one of ex-
actly three Democrats who voted Nay"
"WeT Try and See."
The session closed shortly and the
Representatives rushed home to demand
deserved. Douglas was told by his cam
paign manager:
mo use your coming home. You're
licked before you begin. Your bonus
vote has killed you"
We'll try and see," Douglas quietly
answered. So he went in to try to show
a region where, it is said, there is
higher percentage of ex-service men
than in any other district in the coun-
try, that he had served their interests
in following his conscience.
Night A big open air meeting. Flares
shine across the 10-gallon hats and
splotches Of color of thousands. ap-
plauding Justify the speakers who prom
ise what they will do when they are
sent to Washington in Douglas place.
When they have promised everything
they can think of Douglas gets up-and
the cheers turn into catcalls and boos.
The crowd roars-starts to throw
things. Douglas is white with rage. He
shouts:
you've got to listen to me! You
needn't vote for me, but you've got to
hear MEL
His courage-and the Western sense
of fair play-win. At last they listen
And he gives it to them straight.
It wasn't all over that night nor all
done by public meetings. With Mrs
Douglas he drove around in Ford and
had personal talks with every one he
could reach. While he WIS talking with
the men Mrs. Douglas would see the
women.
Tn <hA uonHe ~ hn Cur~onr
Lew" Douglas reelection last Fall
was not merely triumph for him. 1t
was the vindication of an idea. And
the idea had two parts. One Is that
voters may change their preconceived
ideas when they are given more infor-
nation. The other is that it's better in
the long run to be represented in Con-
gress by man Of honesty and the cour-
age of his convictions
Now. what may we expect from the
new budget director? It Is currently
supposed that we have already one
sample in the s4Oo, 900 900 that has been
slashed out of the appropriations for
veterans. Mr.. Douglas has something
of ruthlessness-but ruthlessness is
necessary We seem to be out of the
hands of the family physician and into
the hands of the surgeon. Douglas is
proving to be an excellent operator
nervy, painstaking. careful. scientific.
There have been loud screams from
the patient, but the patient is never,
under any circumstances, permitted to
choose. 1t is unfortunate that no anes-
thesia has yet been invented for this