Evening star., 1933-01-05
The Political Mill
BY C.. Could Lincoln.

called domestic allotment plan with
variations-is up for consideration in
the House today. Three Republican
members of the House Agricultural
Committee voted for the bin In COM
mittee, among them former Chairman
Haugen Of Iowa, whose name was at
tached to the old equalization fee
plan OF farm relief Presumably the
bill will receive support from Western
Republicans IN the House. and its sup
porters insist that 1t will pass when the
vote comes. That the bill can become
law at the present session of the Con-
gress seems entirely improbable. In the
flrst place, the measure will have hard
row to plough in the Senate, where a
vote might easily be prevented, and in
The second, it seems entirely unlikely
that President Hoover whose record
against haf-baked panaceas in the past
has been 100 per cent, is expected to
veto the bill if it be sent to him.
n X ~
The Democratic farm bill Is a strange
affair to come from the Democratic
party. However, many of the Demo-
Gratis favored the equalization fee and
more recently the 'debenture plan of
aiding the farmers. But the domestic
allotment plan. as worked out by the
Democrats In the committee with some
aid from the Republican members, is
more fantastic than its predecessors.
Its virtue, If it has one, lies in the fact
that it is intended TO curtail production
Of the four crops mentioned In the bill,
including wheat and cotton, by offering
bounty to those farmers who agree to
curtail their crops by 20 per cent dur
ing the year. This bounty comes from
the whole people. AS the New York
Times says editorially: ut will clarity
matters to recognize at the outset that
the scheme proposes to tax the whole
public for the direct benefit of part
of it."
1t is perhaps not to be expected that
the Democrats of the East, where IN
dustrial workers are plentiful and the
farmers less plentiful, will throw up
their hats over the new farm bill. In
deed, some of the Democrats from the
Eastern States, If they vote for the
measure, will do so only by holding the
nose.
That President Hoover has considered
the domestic allotment plan unsound
and unavoidable is no secret. There is
nothing to indicate that he has
changed his mind, certainly with re-
gard to this new version of the plan.
II he should have the bill sent to him
for approval and should veto the meas
ure, there would be little chance that
it could pass over the veto by the neces-
sary two-thirds vote in both houses.
For months it has been rumored that
the PreSident-elect, Franklin D. Roose-
velt, looked with favor on the domestic
allotment plan. Well, tonight he has
the chance, If he wishes, to put his seal
Of approval on what his Democrats in
the House have now brought forward in
the way of an agricultural bill. At a
conference with a dozen Democratic
congressional leaders In New York to-
night Mr. Roosevelt is expected to &c
into the program for the present con-
yressional session, and to give the Demo-
Gratis an inkling of what he believes
should be done to balance the budget
He has not included in his list OF
visitors tonight the men most interestea
in the new farm bill, it is true, but un.
less he is willing to keep the country
still longer in the dark about his ideas
OF farm relief legislation, he may be
expected to let the leaders know what
he has in mind with regard to it. II
the plan contained in the farm bill does
not work satisfactorily, it viii cost the
american people staggering amount
OF money, its operation will be costly
from governmental standpoint, and
the economy for which the Democrats
along with the Republicans, have been
clamorlng will receive another setback
\
The Democratic leaders Of the Senate
| and House who this afternoon viii
| journey to New York to confer with the
President-elect at his invitation have
sought to iron out their own ideas re-
| garding the legislative situation in the
present Congress and the Legislative
program before meeting Mr.. Roosevelt
While they have withheld the details
Of their conference and it has been sale
they reached no definite conclusions
| there is one belief that Is seemingly
firmly in the minds of most, If not al
OF them. That is special session oi
| the newly elected Congress will be
necessary; that 1t cannot be avoided
no matter what the Democratic ad-
ministration may wish. If Mr.. Roose-
velt is equally convinced of that fact
and believes that no really important
legislation can be put through at the
lame duck" session of Congress, he
may conceivably withhold his own pro-
gram of legislation until he has the new
Congress on his hands in Washington
or at least until he makes his in
inaugural address. The hope, however
Of some of the Democratic leaders at
least, IS that the President-elect will
make his mind clear to them on i'm
| portant issues which are pressing for
consideration without further delay.
Mr.. Roosevelt has been represented as
anxious to have legislation put through
the old Congress to balance the budget
| That means cuts in governmental ex-
penditures and increases in taxation, In
the opinion Of the legislators. If he
maintains his attitude against the en-
actment of a manufacturers excise OF
sales tax, the Democrats are wondering
just where he will get the money needed
to balance the budget. 1t has been sug-
gested that tax be levied against In
terstate business of the big corpora
tions, chains, etc. That would appear
to be Just a sales tax with another
name. Anything, however, to avoid the
name "sales tax" is seemingly the de-
sire of many of the political leaders,
especially the Democrats. The fact that
Canada has adopted sales tax which
has met with success and has not riled
the people to an uprising means moth
ing to them. They have been told that
a sales tax would ruin them with the
rank and file of the people, and they
believe it. That's enough.
n x y y
1t may be that the President-elect at
his conference with the Democratic
leaders will seek to keep the discussion
merely on the budget ques-
tion. However, there are among the
guests who will go to the Roosevelt
home tonight several who are anxious
to know what the President-elect has
in mind regarding the farm bill, what
he thinks about cutting down the aid
extended now to veterans of the wars,
and what he proposes to do to aid the
railroads. Mr.. Roosevelt has said in
N0rly hot hn d