Evening star., 1935-02-14
TheP Political Mill
By G.. Could Lincoln.

Organized labor, rs represented by
the American Federation Of Labor,
lost its first round In its battle with
President Roosevelt over the McCar-
ran prevailing wage" amendment to
the $4,000 ,000, 900 work relief bill. A
so-called compromise, worked out by
administration Senators. was adopted
| by q vote of IA to in the Senate
Appropriations Committee before the
bill was ordered reported to the Sen
ate itself. This compromise, accord
ing to the labor leaders, Is not only
unsatisfactory, but little worse than
nothing. It authorizes the President
to pay what wages he sees fit on
these work relief projects-the So
called security wage" presumably,
| which has been averaged at about $50
a month. Then 1t goes on to provide
| that If the payment Of lower wages
than those paid by private industry
| have the effect Of reducing wage
scales in private industry, then the
President or his representatives are
| to look into the matter and II the
| reduction of private wage scales can
be traced to the action Of the Gov
! ernment, then the President must
pay the prevailing wage scale. AS
| the labor leaders say: isn't that
something?" After the wages OF pn-
vately employed workers have come
down, then the Government Is to do
something about it.
The fight, Of course, is not yet over.
| Already kilograms from labor unions
all over the country are beginning TO
pour in. Senators are hearing from
home. Some of the Senators are be-
ginning to wonder just why the ad-
ministration hangs on to Its original
position in opposition to the prevail
| ing wage amendment. Labor leaders
have pointed out how the same amount
/ Of money can be used to give $500. 900
men and women work on these relief
projects and still pay the prevailing
wage 1t could be done by paying the
hourly wage and limiting the number
Of hours, thereby making frequent
| shifts Of workers. From the point OF
view of labor, this is an entirely rea-
sonable way of handling the matter
The open debate in the Senate on
the question of the McCarran amend
ment, to be followed by roll call vote
in the open Senate, is likely to be in
interesting. The compromise" held
| out by the administration may be
enough to keep some Of the Senators
in line who otherwise would feel they
must support the McCarran amend
ment. 1t apparently was enough in
the Senate committee.
y y 4
The vote on the amendment Of
fered by Senator Adams Of Colorado,
| a Democrat, to slice $4,000, ,000, 900 OF
the total amount allowed for relief
, in the pending bill was closer than
| that on the McCarran amendment.
1t went down to defeat II to IL. 1t
! looks as though the Adams amend
ment, If it is offered from the floor OF
the Senate. may have less chance Of
adoption than the prevailing wage
/ amendment. The progressives on both
! sides Of the chamber, Democrats and
Republicans, will oppose the cut in
| the appropriation, and, added TO the
strictly administration Senators, they
! should be sufficient to prevent the
! adoption of the Adams amendment.
! On the other hand, it is going to be
| terribly difficult for the progressives
/ to oppose the McCarran amendment.
Two Republican progressives in the
committee, Nye of North Dakota and
! Norbeck of South Dakota, both voted
| against the administration compro-
mise and for the McCarran amend
ment in committee yesterday, and two
Republican conservatives, Hale Of
Maine and Keyes of New Hampshire,
voted for the administration COM
promise and against the McCarran
amendment. And the two Republi-
can progressives voted against the
Adams amendment, and, by the same
| token, the two conservatives supported
the cut in the appropriation.
| y
The work relief bill. which was
slipped through the House under a
gag rule in rapid-fire motion, is likely
| to require time in the Senate. There
! will be a flood of amendments offered
, and each subject to debate. There
will be efforts to increase the total
! appropriation beyond the 81 $50 ,000.-
900 mark as we'll efforts to decrease 1t.
The Black 30-hour work week measure
may be presented as an amendment.
and there is talk of a currency in
! flation amendment. The administra-
ton will bring all its influence to bear
to speed the bill through the Upper
House as quickly as possible and in
the shape it desires.
| X x X
When the President signed the bill
carrying the restoration Of full pay to
Government workers beginning April
l next, a statement was issued from
| the White House saying that this
would entail an expenditure Of Sl6.-
! 900 900 in excess of the budget figures.
1t may be necessary to increase the
taxes on that account, it was said in
the statement. Considering the fact
that the budget includes $4,000, 900 900
for the work relief experiment now to
be launched by the administration,
the public may wonder, after all,
whether it is the $4,000 900 or
the $4,000, 900 which is likely to make
necessary an increase IN Federal taxes.
Perhaps the need Of extra taxes Is
making itself If so, some reason must
| be advanced for them.
X y
Former President Herbert Hoover,
Gov. Hoffman of New Jersey and
President Glenn Frank of the UNI
versity of Wisconsin PERFORMED ac-
cording to schedule at the Lincoln
day dinner given by the National
Republican Club in New York. If the
Republicans are to be believed. they
' did a pretty good job. Mr.. Hoover
was more restrained in his remarks
than the others. If he had delib-
erately made a political attack on the
Roosevelt administration the inter-
probation would have been that he
was seeking O presidential nomina-
ton in 1896. If there is going to be
Hoover candidacy 1t will be because
the great mass of Republicans turn
to him as the most available candi-
date, and not because Of any maneuv-
ering by the former President. 1t was