Evening star., 1935-07-11
THE POLITICAL
MILL
By G.. Could Lincoln.

Ndlcy AutllOIlty. Ill tllc f1OuSc ycSGcT.
day amendments proposed by the Mill
tary Affairs Committee seeking to pre-
vent the sale of electric power by the
Government below cost Of production
and to give the controller general of
the United States definite authority in
connection with the expenditures made
by the T. v. A. were defeated Another
effort to prevent the T. v. A. from build
ing transmission lines paralleling exist
ing private lines was unavailing. But
while the Roosevelt forces won, it was
noticeable that a very considerable num-
ber of Democrats turned their backs on
the administration in this fight and
stood by the House Committee.
u X X
The administration leaders, however,
are taking heart They were rather jit-
terry after the real defeat which they
met at the hands of the House more
than week ago, when the Presidents
death sentence" clause was voted out
of the public utilities holding company
bill They knew they had another
hurdle ahead of them in the shape of
the T. v. A. bill, which had been re-
ported from the House Military Affairs
Committee with amendments distasteful
breathed more freely today. They be-
lieve that the temper Of the Democratic
House is perhaps after all not so strongly
anti-New Deal and i-dictation from
the White House as they feared it was
becoming.
Plans are being made to rush the
Presidents tax bill through as speedily
as possible, judging from the way in
which the hearings before the House
Ways and Means Committee are pro-
ceeding But whether these plans Will
be successful remains to be seen. There
will be lot of argument both in the
committee and in the House over this
measure.
One of the measures which the PreSi-
dent has demanded-the Guffey coal
bill-is likely to run into trouble, either
in the House or Senate or both. The
Presidents letter to Representative Hill
of Washington, chairman of the House
Ways and Means Committee Subcommit-
tee in charge of that bill, has had its
repercuSSionS. In his letter the PreSi-
dent said that he wished Congress would
60 ahead and pass the bill even though
it had reasonable doubts of its conSti-
tuti0nality. In many quarters there is
growing suspicion that the President is
intent upon a war against the Con-
Stitution as it is now written and inter-
preted by the Supreme Court. If the
Guffey coal bill is held unconstitutional
by the court after it shall have been
enacted into law. the President may
say, as he said after the Supreme Court
had declared his N. r. A. law uncon-
Stitutional that under the interpreta-
ton of the Constitution it was impossible
for the Federal Government to come to
the aid of the people in vital economic
and social matters.
There are other signs, too, that the
President is seeking for widespread
demand from the people, business and
the workers and the farmers, for some
change in the Constitution along these
suggested lines. The demand has not
come yet. But suppose wages are cut
generally, now that the N. r. A. is out"
and suppose that business begins to feel
again in substantial fashion the burden
of unfair business practices by minority
of those engaged in business? That
seems to be what the President is bank
ing on lot could be done under the
PACcCLiS laws w PiCNCAt tIdOC
practices, through the Federal Trade
Commission, and through the co-opera-
ton of the NJ r. A. still in existence.
But what Is being done? Voluntary
agreements by business might yet be
effective both as regards trade practices
and wages.
The House Committee on Rules and its
lobby inquiry, fortunately during this
hot weather, has a chairman with a
sense of humor. Chairman O'Connor,
however, is quite ready at all times to
deal firmly with both witnesses and the
members of the committee. The charges
of administration lobbying on the public
utility holding company bill so far have
come from but one witness, Represent
ative Brewster of Maine, Republican.
Whether the committee will have any
testimony from Democratic members of
the House or Senate that the adminis-
tration sought to coerce them to vote
for the death sentence clause in the
holding company bill is another matter.
One story passed around the House lobby
was that Democratic member had been
told some of the banks in his district
might be closed unless he could see the
u uC A6is. 3sot IiiClIlDcT IldS ycG W
come forward with any such testimony.
The Cleveland Republican sectional
conference" which had neither the
blessing nor the opposition of the Re-
publican national organization, has con-
cluded its labors with the adoption of
a set of principles" liberal in the
main. The conference appears to have
been rushed off its feet in the last
minutes into adopting a declaration IA
voring the immediate cash payment of
the soldiers bonus. 1t had been planned
to adopt among the resolutions of the
conference a recommendation that the
bonus be paid as soon as the Treasury
could afford to put the money out for
that purpose. One thing the Cleveland
conference did which was largely miss
ing from the set of principles and creed
adopted by the Springfield grass roots"
Republican conference of the Midwest.
That was hard "swipe" at the A. A. A.,
the Roosevelt farm program.
The Cleveland conference of Republic
ans passed off without party ructions,
although there were speeches in which
strong demand was made for liberalizing
the party and less of the "Old Guard"
The national party organization made no
attack on the Cleveland gathering, which