, 1935-06-23
ASHINGTO
BY Ray Tucker

BY Ray Tucker
Hoist - An unexpected discovery
may turn the voluntary bankruptcy
act into q boomerang for Uncle Sam.
The measure was designed as one
way Of leading US out OF the depreS-
sion - especially the railroads. IL
permitted corporations borne down
by debt 20 60 into court and reduce
their obligations to a point where
they could pay out. II Is known as
the process Of going through the
Wringer."
Now come almost 1900 corpora
tons with a plea for relief under
this act. But II 70 happens that the
great bulk OF their debt consists OF
income and processing taxes owed
TO the government. The question
confronting government lawyers is:
VIII Uncle Sam be as generous as he
expects private creditors TO be I'M
der the terms Of the act? Lawyers
say that there are no presidents for
answer. 1t puts the government on
the spot.
BOning - New Deal agencies are
quaking in their legal boots these
days. Even those seemingly I'M
touched by recent supreme court
body blows are praying that ingeni-
Gus lawyers won't discover the vul-
nerable point In their constitutional
armor. Most Of them admit to an
Achilles heel.
The supreme court promoted q
pilgrimage Of so-called legal experts
TO the capital. You can see them
scanning New Deal measures ana
law books in the supreme courts Ii
brary and in the library Of congress.
II Is estimated that more than 500
out-of-town lawyers have landed In
Washington since the decision. 1t
is almost like q gold rush TO the
Klondike.
They toll laboriously TO discover
weaknesses in the new laws. They
read from morning till night to diy
up precedentS against the new NRA,
the AAA, the pending measures be-
fore congress and several o.d-estab-
lished agencies. If they find any
they will seek some affected inaivlI-
ual or corporation and point out how
he can recoup by hiring them. In
such instances the beSt advice is:
See your lawyer"
Revoked 800 On the advice or a sub
ordinate Postmaster General Farley
recently discontinued a De I Office
In an Indiana town cons sting OF
IS homes, a general store and bar
Der shop. 1t meant only the scratch
ing Of a pen signature to me p. g..
Next day the p. q. got q letter
from a former resident OF the Indi-
ana town. 1t told what the poStof-
flee meant to the natives. 1t told
how the writer's Aunt Emma" liv-
ed only for the hour when she could
go for the mail and gossip with her
cronieS. IL explained that the bar
Der shop was open only che day q
week, leaving the Post Office as the
only place where informal town
meetings and political debates could
be staged. The letter told a lot
about the humble comings and 60
ings In a little town in which a tiny
post office was a fountain OF mem
DRY, conversation and adventure.
Jim may be a hard boiled Tam
many leader. But ne immediately
revoked the order discontinuing thai
forgotten post office III an Indiana
town.
FavoriteS - The custer OF Ewin"
Y. Mitchell as Assistant Secretary
VI Commerce emphasizes the quiet
efforts which the administration ~
making TO warm I'D to Old-line
democratic machines. No matter
now popular the president may be
hext year he will need the party
mechanics.
Mitchell vas anathema TO Tom
~Pendergast. who controls Missouri az
MuSsolini does Italy. In Ohio Harry
Hopkins composed his y
with Governor Davey. In Indiana
the patronage givers try 10 steer a
safe course between Governor Paul
McNutt and Senator Fred Van Nuys.
In Pennsylvania Joe" Guffey gets
everything he asks for. Jimmie"
Roosevelt. who lorded II over the
machinists In Massachusetts,. has
been moved 10 Hyde Park TO look af-
ter the cows and pigs. And so on
In political baronies where the old
fashioned nobility still holds the
castles and the pawns.
AS 1886 approaches the practical
politicians become ~favorites. They
know where votes grow. The brain
trusters" think votes come in doc
tors bags - or under rose bushes.
Entente - Informed American
diplomats r secretly amused at
Stanley Baldwin's announcement
that cultivation Of Anglo-American
friendship viii be the keystone Of his
foreign policy. They think that John
Bull is simply making the best Of a
couple Of bad situations.
To understand this latest move
or moue - you must realize that