Carolina watchman., 1935-05-31
Reason For Speed
NRA and Wagner Bill
The Bonus Situation
Explain Change of
Tactics
AL Smith Coalition?

The Senate showed sudden
burst of speed in passing, in quick
succession the Clark resolution to
extend NRA until April, 1876
which amounts to chloroforming
that institution out of existence
the amendments to the TennesseeI
Valley Authority Act which
broaden that organizations powers,
and the Wagner Trades Disputes
bill. Such speed is in sharp con-
trast to the two months that it
took the Senate to pass the Works
Relief Act. Observers seeking the
reason for this change Of pace find
it where reasons for anything that
happens in Washington are usually
found, in politics.
The strongest political influence
on the Senate today is that of the
four billion dollars which the Pre-
sident has begun to allot for Work
Relief projects among the states.
Where this huge sum was merely
lot of figures on paper short
time ago, now it is real cash actual
ly being disbursed. That is much
more impressive to the Senatorial
mind. Privately some of the De-
mocratic Senator's talk bitterly
against the President; but when it
comes to voting, few are unable to
restrain the urge to bite the hand
that feeds them.
They voted against him on the
NRA extension, to be sure; but it
begins to look as if the President
himself had discovered that NRA
is dead issue and that his ''pres-
sure" for revised and strengthen
ed law was never as strong as was
represented. And the Senator's
who voted for the Clark resolution
practically killing NRA went in a
body, almost, for the Wagner
Labor Disputes bill. It was point
ed out in this correspondence some
weeks ago that the choice probably
would be between continuing NRA
with its labor clause which hasn't
worked to the satisfaction Of or
ganized labor, and the Wagner bill,
which is an out-and-out Labor
measure.
Some of the Senator's who voted
for the Wagner bill did SO because
they believed in it; more of them,
it is gossiped here, voted for it be-
cause they wanted to go on record
as friends of Labor believing
that the Supreme Court will set
it aside as unconstitutional.
The Presidents veto Of the Pat
man Bonus bill does not end the
Bonus matter, by any means. The
accepted Interpretation here is that
the Presidents real objection is not
to prepayment of the veterans
Bonus, but to the inflationary
'breenback currency" provision of
the Patman measure: Either the
Vinson bill Or the Harrison "com-
promise'' measure will pop up, and
one or the other may be passed,
and will not be vetoed.
While the Presidents position is
against initiation, he is strongly in
sistent now upon the Eccles bank
ing bill, which has the political
value of promising initiation to the
inflationists and control Of infla-
ton to the anti-inflationists. There
is better outlook for the ultimate
passage of this measure than SEEM
ed apparent a few weeks ago. 1t
will put complete control of all of
the major functions Of banking in
the hands Of the Government. Pro-
tests against it have come mostly
from bankers and big business men.
There is strong feeling here
that Father Coughlin's radio ap-
peals for centralized banking con-
trols have had a strong influence
upon Congress, though the Eccles
bill is not Father Coughlin's plan.
The radio priest with fol-
lowing of nobody knows how many
million voters, looms up now as
one of the most potent political
forces of the time.
Another reason for the recent
speed shown by the Senate is the
apparent decision Of the Republi-
can minority to use no more OBJ
structive tactics, a decision in
which some of the anti-Adminis-
tration Democrats appear to have
concurred. There are several rea-
sons for this change Of tactics, the
principal one being the belief that