Evening star., 1935-04-24
BONUS BILL VETO
.. IS HELD ASSURED
Testimony of Morgenthau
Is IndiCati0n-Final
Passage Seen.
RY DAVID LAWRENCE.

n nc~ appears assured that Pres
ldent Roosevelt will veto any bonus
bill passed by Congress.
This Is the natural deduction from
Secretary Morgenthaus testimony be-
tore the Senate Finance Committee.
= II is not customary for Mr.. Roosevelt
to allow his cabinet officers to testify
against a piece of legislation of major
Importance and then turn around and
approve it himself There is a lot of
unco- -ordinated action in the New Deal,
but no lack of team work between
Secretary Moreenthau and President
Roosevelt
The Treasury chief reflected. Of
course. the disposition Of his depart
ment to keep expenditures down. This
has been its feeling for some time.
and even though $4,000, 900 900 was re-
ouested by the President from Con-
gress. Treasury officials have been
hoping thst ways would be found to
keep such a sum from being spent.
Want Budget Balanced.
For the balancing of the budget is
one of the prime concerns of Treas
ury Department which realizes that,
while it might sell bonds at a low
interest rete today. there is such a
thing as bends falling below par if in
vestors suddenly decide to shift to
other types of bonds or investments
in businesses whose budgets do bal
ence.
The warning that taxes would have
10 he tn hnonS will
not make much of an impression on
Capitol Hill nor on the veterans. The
reason Is that. while the billions were
asked for other purposes, no mention
was made Of extra taxes. and 1t Is
not considered that the administra-
tion will reopen the tax question and
stir up all the troubles ensuing there
from Just because bonus bill has
been passed.
In other words. II there were to be
any attention paid to methods OF
meeting the big expenses being in
cured. the administration would have
revealed its solicitude on this point
long before this.
Veto Needed for Currency.
The truth is the Harrison COM
promise plan does not provide for any
large annual outlay. compared to the
Patman or Vinson bills, but the ad.
ministration would be in weak posi-.
tion If it approved the Harrison bill a,
this time. Mr.. Roosevelt evidently
would rather see the Harrison com
promise adopted. If any measure does
become law. but. to be consistent with
his previous position, he will veto II
on principle.
This means that there will be 4
greater chance of passing the Harri-
son bill over q presidential veto thar
either of the other measures. There
is also the probability that, when the
bonus measure gets to the Senate. il
event. the presidential strategy today
is not TO approve any bill but to
crystalline as much opposition as pos.
sible in the Senate. so that the
amount actually called for by any
measure that passes over a veto will
he less than the legislation which
passed the House Of Representatives
Administration in Weak Spot.
The administration is in an embar-
RAISING and contradictory position
with reference to the bonus. II has
favored national spending as a public
policy. The bonus offers such an
opportunity. Yet the argument Is
made that the Government cannot
afford to pay. or rather to anticipate
payment OF. obligations it has already
incurred anyway The school of
thought which believes in a balanced
budget is opposed to any bonus bill.
but the Roosevelt administration
doesn't really belong to that school
as yet. Notwithstanding the pressure
Of Treasury influence for economy.
Many of the expenditures in the
proposed work relief bill are ques-
tionable public policy. so far as as
sisting recovery. So long as money
Is being spent lavishly, however. the
bonus advocates will feel their claim
to the public funds is as good as any
other. And that's why there will be
a bonus law passed over the Presi-
dents veto.
Copyright 1887