Evening star., 1934-09-23
BY JOHN SNURE.

Y yAST expansion of Federal
" power will be brought about
" in the new Congress to be
' elected in November and to
meet early in January.
The stage is being set gradually
but surely for such expansion. This
is becoming more apparent every day,
although the program Of legislation
which the President will put up to
Congress will not be outlined def
nitely and in detail for some weeks
to come.
Although the enlargement of Fed
eral authority authorized in the
Seventy third Congress, in the extra
session and in the regular session, is
unexampled, that enlargement is
only the beginning. 1t is clear that
President Franklin D. is seeking en-
largement in several directions.
Bureaus Seek Power.
The most influential advisers of
the President are crowding for en-
largement by one route and another.
ernment and in its departments,
commissions, boards, bureaus and
agencies that, once established, they
invariably reach out for more power,
more personnel and more money to
spend.
The outcry against the building up
of great Federal bureaucracy in re
cent days has been especially strong,
partly because the congressional
campaign is getting fully under way
and partly because Constitution day
brought out emphatically the views
of prominent adherents of the old
constitutional order. Many alarms
over the breaking down of the Con-
stitution and the building up of bu-
reaucracy, while democracy dies in
the Nation, have been sounded by
leading Democrats as we'll as Repub-
licans. More such warnings will be
heard through the campaign and
again in the session of Congress con-
vening January 3.
Moreover, the signs and symptoms
OF wide division Of sentiment in the
Democratic party and of growing ap-
prehension over the leftward trend of
the administration are becoming more
evident.
Upset Held Unlikely.
There seems now no doubt that
President Roosevelt, after the elec-
ton, will have House and Senate
which, despite no little insurgency and
factionalism in his own party, he will
dominate. All indications are that
a majority of each House will be al
most completely under his thumb.
The prospects are that legislative
processes will run along about the
same lines as in the recent session.
Bills will be prepared by administra-
ton officials and experts. The Presi-
dent then will call in the leaders Of
the two Houses and they will be con-
suited, or, more accurately, made ac-
Quainted with what is expected of
them. Then they will go out to get
majority in each house to do what
the administration desires.
IT this is the set-up it Is certain
that when the new Congress meets,
the New Deal will be broadened in
important directions before the first
regular session is concluded. That
will mean the augmentation of Fed
eral power and the enlargement of
the army Of Government officials and
employees. 1t also will mean increase
OF Government expenditures and
make the problem of finding income
to meet outlay and Of balancing the
budget more difficult than ever. It
Will spell increase of the public debt
and point inexorably to higher taxa
ton.
Oil Legislation Forecast.
Though it is not yet possible to
map the program to be put before
Congress next Winter, the general
direction toward which administra-
ton thought turns is well understood.
In the last few days, a subcommittee
OF the House has been conducting
hearings on the oil situation, and
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the In
terror. has urged Federal oil control
legislation. He insists that State laws
for the conservation of the oil supply
have more or less broken down and
that Federal control is needed.
The proposition of Federal control
OF Oil was brought up by Secretary
1ckes in the last Congress. It was
blocked by strong opposition. In the
coming session, it evidently will have
more strength. 1t is hardly needful
to add that If the legislation sought
goes through, it will mean a large ad-
dition to Federal power and a sub
stantial subtraction from State au-
thority.
Social Legislation Foreseen.
President Roosevelt's program for
social legislation, which he has served
notice he will urge. would entail great
enlargement of Federal authority.
That program, 1t appears probable,
will have the support of majorities of
the two houses, however much con-
servative Democrats and conservative
Republicans may protest against some
phases of it.
Unemployment insurance and old
age pensions, it now seems plain, will
have the backing of majorities of the
House and Senate, and so will the
river development program of the
Executive, with its far-reaching pos
sibilities as to control of power, ex-
pansion Of inland waterway trans