Evening star., 1935-07-14
Doughton and
jenkins in
Battle.
WHITE HOUSE
DURESS SEEN
Sentiment Growing
Sullen i'm Both
Chambers.
BY THEODORE C. WALLEN

nj IHEODOhE 4. WALLEN.
With President Roosevelt sailing
down Chesapeake Bay for week end
goodwill outing with divergent Dem
ocratic elements, the House Ways and
Means Committee brought to an end
yesterday its public hearings on his
tax the rich program Democratic
leaders of the committee indicated the
President would be urged to accept a
SubStltute-Such as a drastic excess
profits tax-for his proposed stiffly
graduated corporation tax and that,
in any event, the committees tax bill
would not be ready for reporting be-
fore August L.
Over Republican protests against
"railroading" vital legislation, the
Democratic leadership had shown its
determination to end the tax hearings
on the House side yesterday. even if it
took until midnight to do it. This
was allowing week for public hear
ings. The last witness in the room
had been heard and Democratic and
Republican members were engaged in
verbal tiff over the haste when Rep
reSentative John w. Mccormack, DEM
ocrat, of Massachusetts, forced a show
down on immediate adjournment
This was in the early afternoon.
Challenged by Jenkins.
Chairman Doughton insisted that
all persons that had been asked to
appear had been heard. His defense
of the brief hearings brought a sharp
challenge from Representative Thomas
A. Jenkins, Republican, of Ohio, a
member of the committee, who charac-
terlzed the statement of the chair
man as "an apology Mr.. Jenkins
sharply criticized the plan of holding
hearings before any bill was drafted,
but Mr.. Doughton, along with Repre-
sentative Samuel B. Hill Democrat. of
washington, insisted this was the
usual procedure.
Chairman Doughton announced
that the committee would meet in
executive session to shape the bill
probably Monday, July %. Meantime,
experts will work on it and try to
formulate it. Mr. Doughton explained
that the committee would have other
pressing matters before it all next
week.
The situation indicated that it
would be early in August before the
House passed its tax bill and late in
August before the Senate and House
concurred, despite the Presidents de-
sire to clean up the must" legisla-
tion and adjourn Congress by mid
August.
New Agreement Operating,
The new working arrangement de-
veloped by the President and Demo-
cratic leaders in their political self
preservation" conference at the White
House last Tuesday, was operating on
both ends of Pennsylvania avenue.
however. The President and the
congressional chieftains, after seeing
the House Democratic majority split
wide open on the public utilities hold
ing company bill, saw that politically
they would hang separately" if they
did not hang together.
In line with the common DISPOSE
tion to resist implications of executive
dictatorship the President, yester-
day, and Chairman Doughton, today.
objected to the journalistic use of the
term must" legislation. Chairman
Doughton explained that the term
must was used by those who would
create the impression that the Presi-
dent was dictator
Representative Jenkins persisted,
nevertheless, in the open committee
hearing today that the evidence of
"dureSs" from the White House was
unmistakable. and later saw further
support for that theory in the word
that the Democratic side of the COM
mittee would consult the President on
the general outlines of their tax bill
before trying to reduce it to writing.
Doubts on Graduated Tax.
A Democratic leader of the commit
tee conflded later that, while the other
phases of the Presidents tax program
to rediStribute wealth were apparently
satisfactory to a majority of the COM
mittee. there were distinct doubts
about the graduated corporation tax.
These are the doubts that are to be
carried to the President.
The administration graduated cor
poration tax plan would replace the
nat present 1924 per cent tax on net
corporate incomes by graduated tax
(See TAXES, Page ~