Evening star., 1935-04-04
Mill
By G. Could Lincoln.

No one will accuse the Senate Of
rushing the Presidents $4.s80. .000, ,oeo
work-relief bill TO final enactment, no
matter what they may say Of the
House. The course of the relief bill
has been dogged with troubles. The
bill came to the Congress in the first
place in unfortunate shape. 1t was
in effect a check made out to the
President to be used as he desired.
The President has never yet taken the
Congress into his confidence, telling
it exactly what he intends to do with
the vast sum Of money. One Of the
reasons for the last fiare-up in the
Senate over the conference report has
been a widespread belief that the
President intends to lend large sums
| Of the money to various communities
to buy up public utilities, particularly
electric power plants. II the plants
now privately owned are not to be
purchased in some instances, then the
money will be used to build new NUM-
cipal plants In other words, the i'm
| preston Is abroad that the adminfStra-
ton intends to foster the policy of
public ownership of utilities through
legislation intended to give relief to
the unemployed and the destitute,
through appropriations that are in
tended to put food into the stomachs
OF the hungry and clothes on the backs
OF the shivering. All of this is per-
haps due to the fact that no one has
yet told Congress and the American
people just what this vast sum Of
money is to be used for. Having
observed the inclinations of some of
the New Dealers when it comes to
spending Government funds, and how
they have spent 1t, there is distinct
hesitation now on the part Of many
of the Senators.
****
A little more frankness on the part
of the administration. and the relief
bill might have been passed weeks
and months ago. There has now
grown up a feeling that the admin
istration does not intend to deal
frankly with Congress in this matter.
And, furthermore, members are get
ting further and further away from
the earlier acquiescence in the idea
that President Roosevelt should be
given carte blanche to do as he deems
wisest in the matter of recovery. One
reason for this Is the fact that after
two years Of the New Deal, recovery
is still Just around the corner An
other is that members are fearful
that many Of these so-called emer-
gency measures of the New Deal, en-
acted for. short periods Of time and
with promise of abandonment, will
become permanent policies from which
the country will have no escape, if
they are further continued.
y
A Democratic Senator, one whose
democracy has never been questioned,
rose in the Senate q couple OF days
ago and spoke out in meeting. He
said in effect that the time had come
for the Democrats to take stock of
what was going on in the country;
that it was time to quit merely pallia-
tive measures, emergency measures,
and get down to brass tacks, If there
was to be recovery Of business. He
said he spoke In the hope of arousing
his own party to the danger it faced
| in coming elections. This was Sena-
tor Tydings Of Maryland. The burden
of his plea was to get away from
the emergency policies Of the New
Deal, the A. A. A., the N. r. A., and
! what not, and to take steps looking
to the building UP Of foreign trade.
He is strongly opposed to the policy
| Of building UP wealth through
scarcity. which he charges Is the
philosophy of the New Deal. One
Of the remarkable things about the
scene in the Senate was the fact none
Of the administration leaders rose to
reply to Mr.. Tydings when he made
these attacks on the New Deal. He
dubbed these Government agencies
and the laws that created them mon
strosities" and said 1t was time to
wipe them OF the books. Further
! along in his address. Senator Tydings
said:
What Is the Democratic party nov
doing? I am not seeking to hurt tn,
Democrats; but I believe the time ha.
come to raise our voices in warning
for before another year shall havl
| gone by there may not be the larg,
Democratic majority here and in othel
places which we have enjoyed. w,
cannot go on running the Government
on hot air, on money pulled dow
from the heavens which the taxpayer
will have to pay back. We canno1
continue on the philosophy Of scarcity
Of producing less and less and expect
ing to employ more and more people
We can no longer do that with an,
degree Of success, because the less worl
there is. the less we produce, the les
employment there is. Up to this tim
the whole philosophy of the admin
istration, in my Judgment. has beel
to produce less and to increase rathe
than to decrease the army Of the un
employed"
Senator Tydings is not bent merely
on knocking down the New Deal, al
though he does not believe in tn.
theories advanced by the New Dealers
He Is anxious to see the United State,
go after foreign trade again in a con
structive way. Without a revival o
international trade, he is convinced
there can be no real and permanen
recovery. He does not see how Ameri
can foreign trade will be advanced b!
cutting down American production o.
cotton, wheat and other things tha
this country used to sell abroad H,
is convinced that foreign production
will take the place of American pro
duction of these and other articles o
commerce. And he is convinced alst
that it will be impossible to provid,
| jobs for the unemployed by reducing
production. Many people will agre'
with him.
The domination of State and mu
nicipal governments by the Fedora
Government becomes more and NOR
apparent. The change in the ol,
|