Evening star., 1935-03-26
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN

BY G. GOULD LINCOLN
Administration forces in the House
brought up today a special rule to
send the Presidents s4.880, ,GO0,00o
work-relief Dill to conference.
With one nour of debate before
vote on the rule, infiationists n the
House launched an attack on the spe-
cial rule. They arc seeking To have
the House concur in all of the Sen
ate amendments, including the
Thomas silver amendment. and there
by do away With the necessity of a
conference with the Senate en- the
bill.
After a wrangle over the question
OF how much time should be allotted
to Democratic opponents of the rule,
the debate got underway with Rep
resentative Rankin of Mississippi. one
OF the inflationist leaders, making
the first speech
Stresses Delay in Bill.
Were opposed to this rule" said
Rankin, for the reason that We want
the Senate amendments adopted If
this bill is sent TO conference notice
has been served in the Senate that
there will be much debate when the
bill is reported back That will delay
passage Of the bill
The Senate has greatly improved
this bill. When this bill was before
the House those in charge did not
give us time to offer an amendment.
They said the bill must be hurried
through. 1t was hurried through. And
the Senate debated the bill for two
months. Now those in charge of it
wish to get rid of some of the Senate
amendments and have brought in this
special rule.
Il know there are men here who
do not wish any expansion of the
currency. But wish to call atten-
tion to the fact that since these
Senate amendments we're adopted.
commodity prices have gone up. 1
say that it would do more good for
the country If we adopt these Senate
amendments than If We send this
bill to conference
Impractical. Says Buchanan.
Chairman Buchanan of the House
Appropriations Committee was the
next speaker recognized
The Senate has put 80 amend
ments onto this bill" said Buchanan.
Many of their amendments are i'm
practical of administration. If had
the time I could demonstrate that
Fact beyond question"
Buchanan then discussed briefly
the Senate amendment which seeks
to give specific amounts for the use
of the schools and for the Secretary
of Agriculture. He contended the
Senate amendments merely put lin
itation on the amount that could be
used for schools. He declared the
Secretary of Agriculture did not need
and did not want the money allotted
under the Senate amendments.
Discussing the Thomas silver
amendment, Buchanan said it placed
in the hands of the Secretary of the
Treasury an unheard-of power. the
power to accept in settlement of any
balance due the United States domes-
tic or foreign silver. He attacked the
Senate amendment to provide for the
confirmation by the Senate Of officials
and employees under the work relief
appropriation.
What chance would a member OF
this House have under this amend
ment, when it comes to the appoint
ment of these officials?'' Buchanan
asked.
Says Road Portion Confused.
"Ill bet that not 10 men in thn
House can tell what the Senate road
amendment means. 1t would take
Philadelphia lawyer to tell how much
each State would receive under that
amendment"
At a meeting of the inf1ationists
and opponents of the special rule,
held in the House Office Building this
morning and attended by AZ members,
the program for the fight against the
rule was outlined. Representative
Martin of Colorado was chairman OF
the meeting, which determined to ask
concurrence in all the Senate amend
ments.
Rule Is Invoked.
Representative Taber of New York,
ranking Republican member of the
Appropriations Committee, said he
would support the rule. He declared
the entire bill was fraud.
1T was bad enough when we
passed it," said Taber. Il don't want
it made any worse"
Representative Martin. acting as
chairman of the Steering Committee"
for the opposition, denounced the spe-
cial rule and urged its defeat.
The Republican support of this gag
rule" said Martin, shows the Repub-
lican party has not yet lost the cum
ming of the serpent"
Representative Marcantonio of New
York insisted the House was merely
shadow boxing.
When the Senate and this House
turn down the prevailing wage
amendment to the work-relief bill"
he said. 'it was the signal that we
are about to throw $4,000,000 900 into
the labor market, with a wage scale
running from s28 to SIS a month"
Marcantonio said this would have
the effect Of turning American labor
over to Fascist control.
Meanwhile, a threat Of a presi-
Dental veto was voiced on Capitol
Hill in an effort to kill the Thomas
amendment.
At the same time an authoritative
source said President Roosevelt not
only opposed the amendment, but that
high administration officials close to