Evening star., 1933-04-16
ROOSEVELT A 3PERSUADER'
MORE THAN REAL DICTATOR
Lays Out Work for Congress to Do
Rather Than Take Away
Its Functions.

large. This has been done. If the deed
Is good. the method must have merit.
It can be said with complete cer-
tainty that Congress never would have
done this Of itself. If the bill, instead
OF comforting blanket authority on the
President, had specified the various
cuts and economies, and If Congress
had undertaken to pass the bill in that
detailed form, Congress never would
have done it. One group Of veterans
would have descended upon one group
OF Congress; another group Of veterans
upon another group of Congressman:
individual veterans would have laid
down" on the Congressman in whose
districts they live. Individual Govern
ment employees would have done the
same. The aggregate Of that pressure
would have become familiar case Of
og-rolling. One group Of Congressman
would have said, tacitly or openly, in
effect I'VE will vote to save your pet
veterans and employees If you will vote
to save ours" The other groups would
have made the bargain. The economy
bill could never have gone through
Congress except in the way 1t did go
giving blanket authority to the Presi-
dent. To paraphrase Patrick Henry,
and considerably mutilate him, IF that
be dictatorship, let us have more Of it."
Roosevelt and "Organized Minorities."
The number Of groups-"organized
minorities Roosevelt has
defied is impressive, and is testimony
to . quality only to be described as
description Of Mr.. Roosevelt.s achieve
ment. though not OF his manner. He
has done it with q snile-but he has
done it. His manner Is that Of laugh
ingly, but firmly, "stalling OF" the
groups and their lobbyists, rather than
defying them. The atmosphere OF de-
flying does not arise. But defying u
what takes place.
Mr.. Roosevelt has defied the most
powerful organized group in the cleo
torate, the veterans, by cutting, IN the
aggregate, something like third OH
their compensation. He has def1ed the
Government employees by reductions IN
pay which, added to eliminations.
amounts to something like a nth OF
the Government pay roll. The Govern
ment employees are not, as such, q
highly organized group nor are they
politically anything near so powerful as
the veterans; for Government employees,
after living long In Washington, cease
to have much power in congressional
districts. But Mr.. Roosevelt's action
has had effects in quarters where there
IS much political power. The local
Office holders, State. municipal, county
and precinct, are in every State and
congressional district powerful group.
with much potency in determining
nominat tons and elections to Congress
and every other office. The example OF
Mr.. Roosevelt at Washington has
thrown a scare" into local office hold
ers everywhere made 1t easier for States,
cities and counties to achieve corre-
spending reductions in expense OF Gov
eminent.
Merely Changes Name.
There is third group, defiance Of
which by Mr.. Roosevelt has had less
public attention. Legislation and ex-
ecutive action was moving so fast that
not everybody heard the roar" let out
by heads of organized labor when Mr..
Roosevelt fixed a dollar day IS the
sum to be paid to unemployed who
were given work at reforestation. Heads
Of organized labor protested that this
amounted to fixing dollar day as
q reasonable wage.
After much commotion Mr.. Roosevelt
called it not a wage" but cash
allowance"-but he did not change tho
amount nor his program in any respect.
One feels Mr.. Roosevelt or some Of his
advisers may have been aware of that
rule of statecraft ascribed to Talleyrand:
THE business of statesmen is to find
new names for institutions which under
their old names have become odious."
"A dollar day as wages? Never"
said the labor leaders. But dollar
day as cash compensation? Oh. very
we'll" said the labor leaders. Possibly
there was some face-saving In their
retreat, possibly they preferred not to
have q showdown with the President.
In any event the thing worked.
Makes Own Program.
Defiance of organized minorities+let
us not put 1t that way, but rather es-
cape from compulsion by organized mi
norities-iS easier when q President
writes the measure and Congress merely
o. KS it. This generalization can be
made broader. As to each and all of the
measures passed by this Congress it Is
tenable to say that every one Is better
piece of legislation than it would have
been had it gone through the normal
process Of being written wholly within
Congress.
An illustration CT this IS the farm
bill. That bill, as written by the ad-
ministration, listed nine crops as "basic
farm commodities es"-whest, cotton, corn,
tobacco, rice, hogs, cattle, sheep, milk.
When the bill was before the Senate
Committee on Agriculture 50 fine and
able Senator as Byrd of Virginia felt
obliged to try to secure the addition Of
peanuts as q tenth "basic farm COM
modify" The truth is, Of course, that
in the seaboard counties Of Senator
Byrd's State peanuts Is basic" to .
good many farmers.
Senator Wheeler Of Montana tried to
secure the addition Of flax as an elev-
enth basic farm commodity" II the
whole of that farm relief bill had been
written within Congress the same
process would have caused Senators or
Representatives to add half hundred
other crops. Ultimately soy beans would
have become basic farm commodity"
and parsnips and turnips and rhubarb.
(Copyright. 1933)