Evening star., 1934-06-18
The Political Mill
By G.. Gould Lincoln.

In its effort to bring the present
session Of the Seventy-third Congress
to an end Saturday night. the House
and Senate bit of more than they
could chew. Mainly the failure lies
with the Senate, where the admins
tration's must" program was prac-
tically completed but where propo-
nents of many other bills sought to
push them through at the eleventh
hour. Had the Upper House taken o
recess as soon as the joint resolution,
q substitute for the Wagner labor bill,
was passed Saturday afternoon until
the conference reports on the def
cheney, aid to industry, and housing
bills were ready for action, all might
| have gone according to schedule. But
the chance looked too good to spon-
sors Of the omnibus banking bill, con-
tanning many amendments to the
banking laws; of the railroad labor
bill, which seeks to revise completely
the present railroad labor act: of the
Frazier-Lempke farm mortgage mora
.orium bill and other measures. They
thought that the psychological time
had arrived for them to get action.
How mistaken they were is quite clear
today.
Now that the Congress has been
held over the week end, the only oues-
ton is how soon can it be brought
to an adjournment. President Roose-
welt is anxious that the session close.
He plans to leave Washington We'd
nesday to go to New Haven, where
he is to receive a degree from Yale
University. As matter Of fact, only
two Of the measures regarded as i'm
perative by the leaders are still to be
acted upon finally. One Is the de-
| f1ciency appropriation bill, carrying
approximately $2,400 ,000, 900 for re-
lief. drought relief and public works.
The other is the housing bill, which
had already been sent to conference
by the two houses when the blow up
came Saturday night. The House has
accepted the deficiency bill confer
ence report. AS soon as the Senate
shall have acted upon this report
favorably, the bill will 60 to the Presi-
dent for his approval. Whether the
program can be held to these two
measures and an adjournment then
taken remains to be seen. II the
members of the Senate have cooled
of sufficiently since their f1fteen-hou
session Saturday, the leaders may
be able to prevail upon them to 60
ahead with the original program and
hnWnUnr ie 20 kz
continued demand for the other bills
put forward. the session may run q
week more.
The wind-up OF the session promised
to be tame enough early Saturday,
with the Republicans cooperating
with the Democrats to get the pro-
gram agreed upon out OF the way.
The Senate. however. is a tempera-
| mental outfit, as well as deliberative.
The leaders learned this again to
their cost. Over on the House side
the Republicans worked along. too,
with the Democrats. Representative
Smell OF New York, the G. o. P.
leader. was absent. and Representative
Martin OF Massachusetts,. his assist
ant. was acting for the minority.
Democrats in the House, as well as
in the Senate. thought they saw a
chance of slipping across some of the
bills which were not on the program
agreed to by the leaders Of the two
parties, which brought . kick-back
from the Republicans.
Today the voters go to the polls in
Minnesota to select party candidates
for Governor, Senator and members
OF the House. Gov. Floyd B. Olson.
Farmer-Laborite, has practically no
opposition for denomination. Senator
ShipStead. however, has running
against him Representative Shoe
| maker in the Farmer-Labor primary.
Shipstead has made good as a Senator
here. He is not considered radical
enough by some of the Farmer-Labor-
ties, however. Furthermore, he has
not played the kind of politics that
! some of them like The disgruntled
are giving their support to Shoemaker.
who is something Of rabble raiser.
In view OF the popularity of Shipstead
and his ability to get votes in the
past. 1t would appear certain he would
be elected. However, the Farmer
Labor party has become pretty red"
and its platform is Communistic this
year in the extreme Republicans
and Democrats also are selecting their
nominees for State and congressional
Office. 1t has been suggested that the
| old parties may adopt a fusion"
program later in an effort to squelch
the radical Farmer-Laborites. The
number OF votes cast in the various
primary elections will be scanned
with interest.
Democrats in congressional races
are counting strongly on the personal
popularity of President Roosevelt to
aid them in the November elections.
Administration Democrats. however,
are anxious to have stanch support
ers of the President and his policies
elected, particularly to the Senate.
where some of the Democrats have
recently showed signs of kicking over
the traces-not against Roosevelt, but
against some Of his measures. Out
in Ohio Roosevelt Democrats, feeling
that Gov. George White may not be
able to make the grade in his battle
for the Democratic senatorial NOM
ination against former Gov. Honest
Vic" Donshey and Representative
Truax, have rushed Representative
West into the field as an eleventh.
hour candidate. Donahey has turned
a cold shoulder to some Of the ad-
ministration policies. He used to be
elected Governor in Ohio when the
State was going strongly Republican
for President and for Senator. He
still has a hold on the affections Of
the rural population, which in Ohio
is large and potential In primary
elections. Whoever wins must run
against Senator Simeon D. Fess. Re-
publican. who will be renominated
practically without opposition.
Il
In Maryland some of the Democrats
are so anxious to break the hold that
Gov. Albert C. Ritchie has upon the
Democratic organization that they are