Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-02-21
THE CWA APPROPRIATIONS

An additional appropriation for $950,000,000, part of
which is to keep the CWA going from February 10 until
the middle of May, has just been passed by the House OF
REPRESENTATIVES. There is significance in the fact that
the appropriation was passed with but one dissenting
vote. When first proposed it was planned to keep the
w functioning only until the middle of February. BY
that time it was believed that the recovery of private in
dustrv would absorb the jobless millions In the country.
Some time ago it became evident that this would not be
the case. Now considerable doubt IS being expressed IN
Congress whether private industry plus public works will
be able to solve the problem by the middle of May. AL
ready agitation has started for the continuance of the
CWA on through the summer, and until 1888.
Representative Terrell, Democrat of Texas, the lone
congressman who voted against the appropriation, de-
clared that the CWA relief program was unconstitutional
and that the sooner the government terminated the pro
position the better for the country. Continuing he
added:
II think it is going to start civil war and revolution
when we do stop it (the CWA anyway. 1t means a per-
petual bond issue, a never ending drain on the resources
Of the government to pay even the interest. The govern
ment is competing with private business on every side
and it is an unS0und policy Nh. Terrell continued that
he was exercising his constitutional right to vote as he
pleased and he intimated that some of those supporting
the appropriation amendment were being driven to do so
by the 'crack of the whip"
Be that as it may, it is an mdeniable fact that all con-
gressmen, excepting only Mr.. Terrell, voted for the
amendment. Yet it is intimated that the whip had to be
cracked, not to put the appropriation through, but to
keep Congress from providing an even larger a%ppropria-
ton than the one which went through. But the bill now
o. - ~ 0N $500 ANAN up SANShAAS
more difficult. The Senate may, if it 50 desires, make
the appropriation even larger, and if it does so, there
seems to be little reason to doubt that the House will a-
quiesce in the decision.
At any rate a great many people are now beginning to
wonder whether the administration in its promotion of
the CWA has not Unanswered itself into the position of
the big game hunter who found that he had a bear by the
tail. 1t is always easier to put a fellow on the payroll
than to remove him. Of course, if jobs can be provided
in private industry, by a general pickup in business, the
problem will solve itself. But suppose, when the middle
CT May rolls around, the jobs in private industry are not
forthcoming. If the CWA is to be continued indefinitely,
where is money to come from! Even Uncle Sam cannot
go on borrowing forever.
The answer might well be "inflation, . not the mild
KIND but a drastic %purgative dose. Perhaps we are now
seeing a race between recovery and initiation. If recovery
comes first and Uncle Sam is able to let go of the BEARS
tail, he may get out of it with nothing more than a head
ache and the greatest public debt in all history. But if
there is still need for spending after money and credit
are exhausted, the bear may be in Fighting mood after
the grip on his tail is loosened.