Evening star., 1936-02-03
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY C.. Could Lincoln.

The demand for currency imitation, to
the soldiers bonus, may be only fore
runner Of similar demand to pay bene-
fits to the farmers and probably to pay
debts of the Roosevelt administration
The demand for currency imitation, put
forward in the House and the Senate,
has not the backing Of the administra-
ton. It Is, however, the answer of
members of Congress to proposals by the
President for additional taxation to take
care of the bonus in part and to care for
the benefit payments to the farmers
under the proposed new substitute for
the detunct A. A. A. It is to such infla-
ton that continued expenditures by a
government far above the receipts of the
government have brought other nations
in the past.
The immediate cause Of the demand
for imitation is the suggestion of the
administration that new tax bill be
passed. With an election staring them
In the face members of Congress do not
want additional taxes. They believe they
would make them unpopular with the
people. So some of them lend an ear to
the inflationists, who believe that the
Government can make money ad lib and
get away with 1t, and make the people
happy. There are not enough dyed-in-
the-wool currency inf1ationists in the
House or the Senate to put through a
"greenback" bill, turning lose the Gov
erning printing presses to turn out
money. But the danger lies in the num-
ber of other members who may think
that it would be better to dabble their
feet in controlled" currency imitation
than to have to face the anger of the
people who are forced to pay more taxes.
An inf1ationary bill may 60 through
the House, it is said, although the ad-
ministration leaders scout the idea. In
the Senate such a measure probably
would have tougher road to travel.
And If the President vetoed a currency
imitation bill, it would have an even
harder time obtaining the necessary
two-thirds vote to become law over a
veto. The President has resisted the
passage of such inflationary legislation
in the past. The Patman soldiers bonus
bill, which was sent to him last year by
Congress, and by him vetoed, carried a
provision for the printing of Treasury
notes, "greenbacks" for the payment of
the $2,2OO,00O,000 bonus to the veterans.
The Senate stood by the President,
sustaining his veto of that measure
although the House overrode. The only
reason that the imitation proposal went
through Congress SO strongly at that
time was because it was tied to the
b,yY hi
back.
But now imitation is getting another
free ride, it seems, because of the stren-
uous opposition of members of Congress
to the passage of new tax bill before
the coming national election. Argu-
ments are advanced for it. 1t is said
that the Government has a tremendous
amount of gold and silver on hand,
against which the greenbacks could be
issued. and that the credit of the Gov
ernment also is sufficient. 1t is said that
the imitation is to be controlled" and
not allowed to get out Of hand; that it
will do a great amount of good to put
lot OF new currency in circulation.
Further, it is argued by some that
there is really no difference between
issuing new currency backed by the
credit of the Government and issuing
new Government bonds. Indeed, they
say, the greenbacks, bearing no interest,
are better for the taxpayers than are
the bonds which bear interest. These
are plausible arguments. They have
been made many times in other nations.
And what has happened in Germany,
France, Italy and other countries when
the inflated currency got in its work is
common knowledge. Prices of food and
everything else hit the sky. And the
working man and the poor were the
hardest hit of all. 1t is easy to start
currency imitation. "It's hell to stop it,"
said an opponent of that method of
financing the Government.
X x x
The President told the country and
Congress that he saw no need of new
taxes at this time, when Congress met,
January 3. He added, however, that this
might be changed if the Supreme Court
threw out the processing taxes of the
A. A. A. ano new items of expenditure
were added to the budget by Congress,
as, for example, the bonus-although he
did not mention the bonus in his mes
sage. Well, the Supreme Court threw
the processing taxes out of the window
1t made the Government give back about
5000, 100000 of these taxes which had
been inlpounded in the courts pending
settlement of the case, and it might
order some $900,000,000 more processing
taxes returned to the professors if it
sees fit. Then the Congress passed the
bonus bill over the Presidents veto.
Even then Senator Pat Harrison of Mis-
sissippi, chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, went right ahead saying that
no new taxes were necessary at this time.
But the administration seems to take a
different view.
Will the President and the admins
tration take a different view regarding
demand for a constitutional amendment
to validate the New Deal? Will con-
tinued action VI the court and Congress
force his hand in this matter, or compel
him to abandon the New Deal laws in
large part? 1t is getting to be a nice
question, even though Roosevelt Demo-
cratic leaders in Congress continue to
insist that the President and his party
will not back proposal to amend the
Constitution in the coming campaign.
The President has abandoned the N. r.
A., which the Supreme Court ruled un-
constitutional last Summer. He is seek
ing to revive the A. A. A., which the
Supreme Court declared invalid month
ago. But the substitute proposed by
the administration for the A. A. A. has
run into trouble in Congress. There