Evening star., 1934-09-30

tory was particularly Favored by MrS.
Roosevelt.
When the post ONCE appropriation
came before the House, Democratic
Representative Louis Ludlow Of the
Indianapolis district, offered an
amendment to the effect that mo part
of the appropriations carried by this
bill shall be used to finance the pro-
posed Government furniture factory
in West Virginia In part Mr.. Lud-
low put his opposition on grounds OF
principle: IT will resist with all my
power this paternalistic adventure,
this destructive incursion Of Govern
ment competition into the realm OF
private industry. The proposal to
put the Government into competition
with private business violates the
fundamentals Of American philosophy
and sets precedent that will hound
and plague this country for years to
come. know that a vast majority
of the members Of the House do not
want this thing done"
Factory Plan Defeated.
Mr.. Ludlow's amendment was
agreed to without a roll call-the
project of a Government owned fac
tory was defeated. 1t should be said
that neither the President nor the
spokesmen of the administration in
the House made any fight. What
would have happened had the ad-
ministration insisted, no one can say.
The overwhelming majority Of the
Democrats in Congress, by their habit
Of mind, believe as thoroughly in the
traditional American philosophy as
they believe in the American flag
Given q clear understanding on their
part that any one measure, or the
New Deal as whole, runs counter to
the familiar American tradition-in
such circumstance the Democrats
will vote for the old American way.
This is especially true of the Demo-
Gratis of the South. Their disposition
to be suspicious Of the New Deal and
to get back to the familiar path, has
been increased by the cotton control
bill and what followed it. The cotton
control bill passed by the last Con-
gress was the farthest step In the
direction OF collectivism, Of regimen
tation and compulsion that has been
taken SO far. 1t required that every
farmer raising cotton should be given
a quota by the administration at
Washington, fixing the number Of
bales the individual farmer could
raise without penalty. If. either In
spirit Of defiance Of the law or by
the unexpected beneficence of ma
ture, any one farmer should raise
more than his quota, he was penalized
by putting prohibitive, punitive tax
OF S p cents on each pound. To make
sure the law should work, violation
of any regulation made in connec-
ton with the law by the Secretary
Of Agriculture, is crime punishable
by fine or Imprisonment or both. For
example, for farmer to attempt to
sell bale of cotton not bearing an
official tag from the Federal Govern
ment at Washington is a crime.
Law Has Become OdiOu&.
This law was enacted last April.
Every Southern Democrat in the
House, except one, voted for it. In
operation, however, the law has be-
come odious to large numbers of
oouIIlcTn ldTneIS. Inc OBJECT OF IL.
the reason upon which it was based,
was to reduce the total quantity of
cotton raised. When the operations
Of nature, in the shape of q drought.
wrought reduction Of its own, the
law came to seem odious. During the
last two weeks the very men who spoke
loudest for the bill when it was before
Congress have been in Washington
attempting to avert or ameliorate its
operations. If this law were proposed
in the next Congress, I feel very sure
that large majority of the Democrats
In Congress, whether from the South
or elsewhere. would reject it.
Democratic distrust Of the New Deal
Is very strong. Beginning with some
OF their leaders, many of them have
come to realize or suspect that the
New Deal means something alien TO
American ways. And in no part Of
the country is distrust of alien phi
losophies greater than in the Demo-
cratic strongholds of the South.
(Copyrisht. 1934)