Evening star., 1935-07-21
BY JOHN SNURE.

BY JOHN SNURE.
Revolt flares at the Capitol in many
directions and dissension grows in
every direction as the congressional
session lengthens and members of
both houses, impatient to leave WASH
ington, find themselves tied up by
the tax bill and other adminiStra-
ton must" measures. The miasmatic
heat of the Capital is one of num-
Der of trouble-making factors.
OF all the difficulties falling to the
sension in the House over the Frazier
Lemke farm mortgage refinancing bill,
a low interest and intiationary meas
ure, Is in some respects most serious.
While comparatively little notice has
been given to this situation in urban
and industrial centers it is receiving
ample notice through all the agri-
cultural States.
Seek to Balk Vote.
In the face of an intensive drive
for passage of this bill this session
the House Democratic organization
leaders, headed by Speaker Joseph
w. Byrns, John J. O'Connor. chair
man OF the House Rules Committee,
and Representative Patrick J. Boland,
House Democratic whip. have been
working for weeks to balk a vote and
thus prevent the measure from being
sent to the White House, where, 1t is
known. the President will veto it.
Speaker Byrns and other organization
chiefs fear the political effect of a
veto.
Advocates Of the bill, headed by
Representative William Lemke, nom
partisan and Republican, of North
Dakota. but Roosevelt supporter in
1882, have been trying some time
to get enough signatures to a dis
charge petition to force a vote They
require ZIG votes. a majority of the
House as now constituted, allowing
for vacancies.
Repeatedly they have all but arrived
at their goal, only to find themselves
undermined by Democratic organiza-
tion heads who have quietly induced
Democrats to withdraw their names.
The result Is that today the petition
Is eight or nine votes short of the re-
CURED number, a vote in July has
teen baked and now the lines are
shaping for a new struggle for a vote
III August. Under the rules it vii.
be impossible for the bills supporters
10 compel a vote before the middle
OF August.
Bill Backers Angered.
This action of the House Demo-
cratic organization has angered the
Frazier-Lemke bill hackers. They
threaten to carry their campaign to
the country and war on members of
the House who have knitted them in
congressional districts.
A group of the bills supporters re-
Gently asked President Roosevelt
whether Speaker ByrnS, Mr.. O'Connor
and Mr.. Boland were acting by his
direction in inducing members to
withdraw their names from the petit
tion. President Roosevelt answered
that he had given no such orders and
that the Withdrawals had not been
sought at his instance.
Members of the group confronted
the House organization leaders with
The Presidents reply. The latter made
il plain they felt they had White
House backing and went right on
picking signatures from the petition
Angry personal arguments cropped
out OF the controversy and the end of
last week, when the supporters of the
Frazier-Lemke bill thought they were
just about to win, found a number of
signatures suddenly withdrawn, the
lie was hurled in one of these Srgu-
ments and a physical encounter was
averted narrowly.
Most Signers Democrats.
While Representative Lemke is not
Democrat in name, though a
Roosevelt supporter in the past, most
signers of the petition are Democrats.
This is important in reckoning the
volume of political high explosive in
yolved in this struggle.
It is to be borne in mind that
everybody knows House vote will
pass the bill and that the Senate is in
favor of it.
Had the House Democratic organiza-
ton leaders not submarined the pc
tition there would now be 225 signers,
a substantial majority of the House.
More than $50 Democrats have signed
it. The proponents of the bill charge
that the gag" tactics used by the