The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-09-28
Dispelling The Fog
Roosevelt Not to Blame for Potato Amendment Couldn't Veto It Without Vetoing Whole
 Bill of Which It's Only Part
By CHARLES MICHELSoN Director of Publicity, Democratic National Committee

 flint to the proposal. For just think what conscientious president could do to a pork barrel bill if he were allowed to discard half mill lion dollar appropriation for the improvement of Bilgewater Creek which the Bilgewater congressman had added to the bill in exchange for his agreement to support a similar appropriation for the ex- tension of the Gumshoe Highway, advocated by his Gumshoe col league.
 This dissertation is, however, concerned neither with the merits or demerits of the whole hog -or- none theory of government nor of the potato act. The idea is to con- vey the unanimity with which an en ctment, that the administration had nothing to do with, was heralded by the anti-Roosevelt press agents as part of the New Deal. Mark Sullivan points out that under the law the federal gov ernment through the AAA will dictate for each farm how many potatoes can be raised. etc. Ob- viously, the potato package having been handed the AAA, it must c"-ry out the congressional man. date. Frank Kent quotes MT. Sul- + ln---and so one down the line-- always the theme being the ter rible things the Roosevelt admin istratson has done or Is doing.
 The other day the anvil chorus raised a question as to Whether the president had departed from some of his party's platform pledges. MT. Kent was quit fero- cio B about 1t. James P. War burg quoted MT. Kent, and I have no doubt that presently, if he has not already done it, MT. Kent will quote as admiringly from MT. War burg's book. There may not be complete harmony among the re. publicans as to their prospective candidate or their policies, but the harmony among the press agents passeth understanding.
 But to get back to our potatoes: I wonder how bad and unconstitu-
 
 the vote of Senator Borah, that great constitutionalist, whose devo- tion to the sacred document is his strongest bid for the republican n nomination? Incidentally eleven other republicans-pretty much all in whose states 8 potato Is grown voted with Senator Borah. As il- frustrating how much of an admin istration amendment it was, 1t might be noted that of the fifteen senatorial votes recorded against 1t, nine were democrats and only six republicans. @
 The potato may become the har- binger of future woe,. but while the possibility is being mourned over, 1t might be worth while to note that General Motors sold more cars in August this year. than any previous August since 1899, and the Ford production kept right up: that bank deposits increased a bil- lion three hundred million. dollars over last year; that the sale of farm implements was 75 per cent over the corresponding period last year; that in the first six months of 1885 the earnings of the 16 larg- est companies dealing in building materials more than doubled; that the department stores and mail or- der houses were doing better than at any time since the height of the boom, and that the earnings of nearly 400 major companies of all sorts were 13 per cent more than in the first half of 1884.