Evening star., 1933-03-16
The Political Mill
By G. Could Lincoln.

Within that brief space Of time 1t has
put through an emergency banking act,
giving the President Of the United
States practically dictatorial powers to
preserve the financial institutions for
the benefit Of the people. The House
and Senate have both passed the Presi-
dents economy bill. It Il about to be-
come . law. as soon indeed, a. the
House shall have agreed to the amend
ments made by the Senate-not vital
In any way to the purposes Of the
bill. II the banking bills prompt pas
sage Is surprising, the passage Of the
economy bill ct al u most amazing
For. briahtng aside the demands Of the
veterans organisations, the House and
Senate have given Mr.. Roosevelt broad
powers to prune the compensation and
pension rolls. It has been indicated
that he will trim $400, 900 900 from the
billion-dollar annual expenditure OF
the Government for veterans. In addi-
ton the House has passed the 80 per
cent beer bill, and II the predictions
Of the leaders In the Senate are true,
that measure will be passed by the
Senate before adjournmnt today. Truly
an astounding record.
y + 4
In the Light Of such accomplishment
President Roosevelt may hope fol
speedy action on farm relief and un-
employment relief bills. The country
has been fed up for Q long time with
congressional delays. It Is quite true
that the last Congress and the Congress
before that put through measures fol
reconstruction and relief advocated by
former President Hoover. But they die
1t grudgingly, after months Of wrAn-
Cling for the most part. What the
country demands today Is action not
debate. It Is getting it on Capitol Hill
At that, however, President Roosevelt
is likely to get the lions share Of the
credit for what Is done.
II the Congress has any doubt that
1t has the approval Of the country in
expediting the work Of legislation-ex-
izations which opposed the economy bill
ali it has to do is to listen to the
chorus Of praise that Is pouring into
Washington.
The President has practically TOLD
the farmers organizations that II they
CdIl QeClQc upCil WliaG olloulo OC OOile
to aid the farmers 1t will be done. But
1t looks as though the farmers unable
to decide among themselves. will have
to push the problem back to the Chie1
Executive. II reports be correct, the
domestic allotment plan, which many
Of the farm leaders favored few short
months ago and which seemingly the
Pr6ident himself was inclined to favor
Is to be laid on the shelf along with tht
equalization fee" Of the old McNary.
Haugen bill and the "debenture plan
over which Senator Borah broke with
the Hoover administration In its early
days. A plan to have the Government
lease the so-called marginal lands, *
Is to limit production Of wheat and
other crops Of which there have beer
exportable surpluSes, Is sticking It
head up.
It is figured that the Government
maght for two or three dollars lease ar
acre Of wheat land, which ordinarily
would be planted, and let it lie un-
planted this year. Enough such acres
would cut crops sufnciently, it Is said
to bring prices up. particularly II some
agreements for limiting planting can be
entered into with foreign nations. Like
the other plans, the marginal lands
plan Is merely device to cope with the
problem Of overproduction and an efior,
to limit production to the amount re-
quired to meet demands. Admittedly, II
would be merely an experiment, And
admittedly, II 1t does not work, 1t will
be cast aside. But 1t seems to be les:
costly proposal-to the Government AND
the people-than the other plans sug-
gested.
With the Congress acting speedily
and favorably on proposals OF the
Roosevelt administration, 1t looks a.
recess the National Legislature and
might return in q more talkative mood
After all, what the country has beer
demanding ever since the election, i!
the presence Of the new Congress II
Washington and quick action on thu
Democ1atic program. 1t has beer
anxious to get out Of the doldrums. intt
| which the country seemed to have
drifted. largely because no one believed
that the legislative machinery woult
| function promptly or at all. This may
be entirely unjust to the Congress, bu
| that was the attitude Of the ordinary
man and woman toward the old Con
gress.
Republican leadership in the Hous
dent Roosevelt's emergency legislation
It could not have made great headwa.
against the banking bill and tn
economy bill. probably, If 1t had desire,
to do 80, but 1t could have delaye,
action, q foolish attitude when tn
country was demanding action and {
great crisis was present. Whether tn
Republican leaders will 60 forward $
willingly with the Presidents farm bn
and the unemployment relief bill whe,
those measures come up for consid
| Grafton remains to be seen. Their
have been indications that the Re
publicans would oppose new bond issues
believing that the country is sufh
GENTLY in debt now With the hug
Democratic majorities and with tn
clear evidence that President Roosevelt
dominates the situation, it does no
appear likely they will be able to defea
these further proposals Of the Chic
Executive.
When President Roosevelt sent Il
the Senate yesterday afternoon tn,
nominations of three retired naval of
ficers to be members OF the Shippin,
Board he created quite stir. No
because he had picked three retire'
naval of1cers-one Of whom Is Rea
Admiral Hutch I. Cone, who has beel
q member of the board for q numbe
Of years and was merely reappointed-
but because he included In the lis
Capt. Gatewood S. Lincoln Of Cali
fornia. Neither Senator McAdoo no
Senator Hiram johnson, IT appeared
had ever heard of Capt. Lincoll
| before, or II they had they ha,
no immediate recollection. Here wa
the first major appointment from Cali
fornia sent down by President Roosevelt
and neither Of his ardent supporter
in the campaign, Democrat or Repub
lican, consulted about the matter.
It was something Of c shock. Tn
first question that arose in senatoria
minds was: Would this be a preceden
for other California appointments. I
so, 1t looked as though there nigh
be Q tight made over the confirmatio,
Of these Shipping Board appointment
AT least one of them Howevar