Evening star., 1935-05-12
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
NY one attempting to make a

~ Washington as whole is
4 \ inevitably baf1ed. The New
Deal is such complex, sprawl
Ing thing as to be hardly whole" at
all. The best writer can do is to
select one of many possible paths as a
lead toward the heart of the maze.
This time let us begin with one con-
dition that dominates many others.
The President has four billion dollars
to spend within roughly a year-to
spend at his discretion-for such pur-
poses as he chooses (There are some
slight limitations in the grant as Con-
gress made it. but they amount to lit
tie; and while I have said -four bill
lions" there is an additional 800
millions as to which the conditions
are slightly differently No other per-
son in the world, think. at any time
In all history-no monarch nor nabob
nor private Croesus-had the disposal
of so much money in so brief time.
There were great Government ex-
penditures during the administration
Of woodrow Wilson. but those appro-
priations were made mainly for spe-
ciflcally designated war purposes.
This four billions give Mr.. Roosevelt
great power. 1t gives him political
power in two respects-power over
members of Congress to cause them to
vote for the legislative measures he
proposes and power next year toward
getting himself reelected.
Power Over Congress.
To say the four billions give the
President power over Congress is not
cynicism: it is simple reality. For
example.
There was before the House the
other day a matter of giving an Under
secretary to Secretary of the Interior
Ickes. It was a simple matter. it
ought to be done. and doubtless Con-
gress would have done it under any
circumstances. But many members
do not like Secretary Ickes. (The
reasons, in some cases. are not to Mr.
Ickes' discredit. but that is not ma
terial here) Ordinarily the House
might have given Mr.. Ickes his Under
secretary, but would have taken the
occasion to lecture him. Actually
they. as the Associated Press put it,
Sang a paean of praise" to him
Only one member spoke a word OF
criticism of Mr.. Ickes-Representative
Truax of Ohio. The reason for his
solitary eminence of temerity is told
by the Associated Press.
Nothing was said about it in the
debate, but couple of members after
ward remarked-enviously and prl-
vately-that. since Truax was Rep
resentative at large from Ohio and
ri he
not expect money to be allocated 70
his congressional district
That may not be understood by the
reader distant from Washington. 1t
means that Representative Truax is
not elected by any one district, but by
the State of Ohio as whole. No dis
trict looks to him to get some of that
four billions the President has to dis
pose of. Nor does the State look to
him. because they have two Senators
to look to. Because Representative
Truax does not need to go, hat in hand,
to the President, nor to the Presidents
appointees, to ask for some of that
four billions. he enjoys unique free
dom to criticize the President or the
Presidents cabinet, or to vote against
what the President wants.
Under Pressure of Billions"
Every other Representative, prac-
tically, and every Senator, even Re-
publican ones. are under the pressure
of that four billions. What happens
is that the people of district or a
State want some of that four billions
for their own unemployed; they want
to build bridge or dam or what
not. They ask their Representative
or Senator at Washington to get the
necessary money-they speak of it as
"our share" The Congressman fears
that unless he gets the money he will
be regarded by his district as not a
good man on the job. He can only
get the money by asking the Presi-
dent for it, or the Presidents ap-
pointee. And asking for the money
carries an implied obligation resting
upon the asker to vote in Congress
for measures the President wants him
to vote for.
Because I am obliged to state it
briefly, state it perhaps too strongly.
but the basic fact remains-that four
billions gives the President enormous
power over Congress. (And, preSum-
ably, next year it will give him great
power over the electorate) 1t is not
for nothing that the power of the
purse has long been familiar polit-
ical phrase wherever there are Con-
crosses and Presidents, or Parliaments
and Kings. AS an old Southern polit-
ical proverb used to put it, Whose
bread I eat, his song sing"
i
four billions to dole out. he would
It might be put more strongly. Ac-
tually, it is put more strongly by Mr..
Frank Kent. AS Mr.. Kent puts it:
In plain words, but for the money
the administration program would col
lapse. Not only would the pending
program not 60 through, but the
policies in force for the past year
would be repudiated. The Roosevelt
control of Congress today depends
neither upon his personal prestige nor
the soundness of his proposals. The
first. his friends concede, has dimin-
ished, and there is profound distrust
of the second. His ability to enact
legislation has come wholly to rest
upon the appetite and necessities of
the States for the Federal funds.
There is literally nothing else to the
situation. But for the money, Mr..
Roosevelt, despite his huge party ma
jority in House and Senate, would
have control of neither. Even with
the money he is having an extraordi-
narily hard time getting his way"
incidentally, the man who wrote
those words, Mr.. Frank Kent, Is
Democrat, has never voted any ticket
other than the. Democratic, and has
spent his whole professional life writ
ing for Democratic paper, the Balti-
more SUM-
Congress Seen Objectinx.