Evening star., 1935-07-04
THE POLITICAL
MILL
By C.. Could Lincoln.

Just where does President Roosevelt
stand today with the House of Repre-
sentatives, that body which comes once
every two years from the grass roots?
Does the sock which the House handed
the Chief Executive, when 1t turned
down cold bis demand that the death
sentence" clause be retained in the pub
lie utility holding company bill, mean
that 1t has declared its independence,
legislatively speaking? These are ques-
tions to which administration leaders
would like to know the answers. Frankly,
some OF them are puzzled.
* X
They are not sure whether the men,
bers of the House-meaning of course,
the Democratic members-are through
with taking orders from the White
House in regard to legislation, or
whether they have been pried away
from White House allegiance merely on
this one subject. The administration
leaders know that the House members
received thousands of letters from con-
StituentS who have money invested in
the holding company securities urging
them to oppose the death sentence"
clause of the administration bill. if not
the whole bill. They are inclined to
figure that the House members parted
with the President in much the same
state of mind as they did when the
soldiers bonus and other veteran legis-
lation was up. They hope that it is a
merely temporary reaction. But the
administration leaders are not sure.
There is looming ahead of the admin
iStration, and particularly of the ardent
New Dealers, another test in the House
which has so recently clouted them. 1t
will come when the T. w. A. bill is
taken up, probably Monday. This
measure has been reported from the
Military Affairs Committee in a form
which does not please the New Dealers
little bit. The House committee has
taken away powers demanded by the
New Dealers to permit the Government
to go into many and large operations
in competition with private power and
distributing companies.
In some measure, it is like the fight
over the holding company bill, since
both involve electric power. In the T..
v. A. case, however, there is the added
question of putting the Government
more and more into buSineSS-into buSi-
the private citizens.
The T. v. A. bill has passed the Senate.
The Senate has been more inclined to
be reStive under administration dicta-
ton than the House. But it is noticeable
that the Upper House passed both the
holding company bill and the T. V. A.
in form which was highly acceptable
to the President and his New Dealers.
1t remained for the House Committee
on Interstate and Foreign Commerce
to pull the holding company bill to
pieces, and then for the House itself
to put the finishing touches on that
work. And it remained also for the
House Military Affairs Committee to
| tamper with the administrators T. v. A.
bill. What is the House going to do
about this? There are predictions that
the House will go right ahead and back
up its committee. If it does, it will be
! sock number two for the President at
the hands of this hitherto docile gather
ing, in which the Democrats have some
thing more than to l of the men,
bership.
Coupled with increasing reports that
the President has been slipping" in
many parts of the country. the attitude
| of the House is not only puzzling. it is
worrying. There is a feeling that it
would have been better, perhaps, to have
| allowed Congress to get away from
Washington little sooner.
The House has ordered a lobby in
vestigation in connection with the pas
sage of the holding company bill. The
Senate is in the process of putting
through resolution for its own in
vestigation of lobby activities. In the
House the investigation was forced be-
cause Representative Ralph o. Brewster
Republican. of Maine, charged openly
on the floor that one of the youthful
New Dealers, Thomas Corcoran, attor-
ney with the r. F. c.. had threatened
construction on the PaSSamaquoddy Dam
would be halted if Brewster did not vote
with the President. The dam is located
in Brewster's district. and the project
is expected to cost in the neighborhood
of $40 900 OOO Some of Mr. Corcoran's
friends have Indignantly denied that he
ever made any such threat. They say
that if he said anything to Brewster it
was to tell him that his legal services in
connection with the "Quoddy" project
would no longer be required-and ex-
plain that Brewster had been consulted
as a lawyer regarding certain phases of
the project. The investigation begins
Monday.
If Mr.. Corcoran made any such pass
at Mr.. Brewster as the Maine Repre-
sentative says he did, it should make
cold shiverS run up and down the backs
of some of our leading Democratic poll
ticians. The very idea of halting con-
struction on the "Quoddy" project would
seem like threatening to take candy away
from a child. Maine has ordinarily been
Republican State-quite Republican.
But Maine slipped badly and has elected
a Democratic Governor and two out of
the three Representatives in heNational
House. "Quoddy" is to keep Maine
Democratic, or at least that is the way
Democratic politicians figure it, and also
some of the Republicans How would it
| help the Democratic party to stop work
on "Quoddy"? But then no one believes
| that Mr.. Corcoran could have stopped
work on "Quoddy," even if he wanted to.
AS matter of fact, Vice President Gar
ner is setting off today the spark which
| is to dynamite that project into the course
of construction, right from his Office
here in the Capitol.
But, aside from the Brewster charge
against Corcoran, there have been plenty
of stories floating around the Capitol
about the lobbying of administration
officials in support of the Presidents
legislative demands How much evi-
dence will be produced remains to be