Montana labor news., 1934-02-15
WASHINGTON Scene
(By HARVEY o'CoNNoR.)

AO1lNb lOiN-NII with ma
chine-like precision, Pres. R~oosevelt's
program is being shot through Con-
gress and back to the White House
for final approval. Guarantee of
principal as we'll as interest for cou-
p%on-clippers on $4,000, 000, 900 worth
of farm and home loan bonds is being
approved. Naval and army appro-
priations bills whose totals go far
above the billion mark are passing in
smart review through appropriate
committees. The 60c dollar measure,
which met the most determined oppo-
sition, went through the Senate UNI
scathed.
No doubt about it, Pres. Roosevelt
is armed with more power than any
other western potentate, and he is
using it. The lower House of Con-
gress has frankly abandoned any pre-
tense to independence and merely
understands the White House pro-
Iposals. The Senate insists on being
more leisurely, but the result is the
same.
*#&
Back of the Presidents tremendous
popularity stands the U. S. treasury.
So long as there is money in that
treasury and so long as Roosevelt is
willing to shovel its contents into
banks, corporations and relief pro-
grams, he will remain Americas No.
l man.
###
1t has been observed however that
Roosevelt has a bear by the tail. He
can't let go. That bear is PWA,
FERA-the three organiza-
tons which are making work for mil
lions. The mere announcement that
CWA is to be ended May l has caused
more protests to flow into Washing
ton than all the other actions Of the
Administration combined.
###
Roosevelt has acknowledged what
Hoover ignored, that the government
is in some measure obligated to see
that starvation is kept within bounds
Abandonment of CWA on the theory
that somehow workers families dom
have to eat in the good old summer.
time is going to feed the disillusion.
ment that started last fall before
PWA was in full swing or CWA haC
started.
###
More hopeful new dealers hav,
their eyes fixed on 1926 as normal
and their efforts are dedicated to re
storing farm prices, purchasing
power or whatever it may be to tn,
level of the good old days. More so
Der economists are saying that 1880
SO is normal from now on and tn,
sooner the country readjusts it
thinking in those terms the better.
%&#
That standard means a standing
army of 10000, 600 unemployed an,
the expenditure of at least $4,000, 900,
600 a year on relief, abetted by CWA
unemployment insurance and othe
measures. But the Roosevelt budget
for the next few years, based on tn
assumption that somehow by 1886 in
dustrial production will reach SO pc.
cent of 1926, omit any provision 70
relief on a grand scale.
*#%
Where can the two billions AM
more to prevent starvation conn
from? Income tax figures for 1913;
give the answer. In that blue year
the prosperous part of this countr!
reported net income of SIS, 900, 00O, 0OO
That includes all those getting NOR,
than $4,000 a year.
#@#
The person with a $4,000 incom,
however will need to pay only $42:
in income tax under the revision pend
ing in Congress. The chap with $25,
900 a year will pay but S2,438. TIL,
millionaire with 100000 is to pa,
but only $29,778. Actually the pro
posed taxes are lower than the exist
ing schedules. The British an,
French levies are much higher. Here
the comparison:
$10,OO0-U. S., 4. 8 per. cent-Brit