The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-01-16

way by which this situation can be
avoided. The opening of congress
was the opening of the 1886 cam
paign.
In an earlier letter, I reported to
you concerning the question of a
neutrality policy and
congress declared at that time
Nav Stall that it was the most
important item to
come before the current session. 1t re-
mains 80. I believe the situation is
even more delicate than In my earlier
ANALYSIS of this problem and it may
well be that congress will stall along
in reaching decision on this policy In
order to give foreign developments an
opportunity to manifest themselves fur
Their. The administration apparently is
willing to let congress work out the
legislation without much interference
but the leaders realize that a decision
will be difficult as long as foreign
maneuvers continue to present an al
most daily change in the scenery.
Reference is made to the neutrality
question here because it is one of the
things entering into the combination
that will cause longer session than
the President wishes.
There seems to be no doubt that
passage of bill to pay the soldiers
bonus at an early date will be accom-
plished in this session. Likewise, there
is hardly the shadow of doubt that
If congress passes such legislation and
Mr.. Roosevelt vetoes it, the bill will
be passed over the veto. 1t is a cam
paign year and it is not a good time
for politicians to antagonize an or
ganization with the vast membership
of the American Legion or the other
groups of eX-service men. This legis-
lation will not contribute much to the
length of the session but In all such
cases representatives and senator's
must make their speeches and be on
record as to why they voted for o.
against a bill. 1t is good campaign
material for later use.
The Townsend plan cannot get any,
where in the current session. 1 do
not mean that it will be lodged as a
subject of discussion. This is impos-
sible. There will be plenty of debate
on it. In the end, however, it will be
sidetracked.
Then, there was flock of inf1a-
tionary schemes due to horn in on the
parade as the session moves forward.
Farm mortgage refnancing is one
of them. It is unfortunate that the in
Administrations who are willing to
prostitute the currency in any manner
are leading in this fight. Certainly,
there are sound methods of mortgage
refnancing available for use, assuming
it is to be the policy that the govern
ment should go further into that field,
but as long as the infiationists keep
pounding away with their fantastic
scheme, farm mortgage refinancing is
not likely to get anywhere in the cur,
rent session.
In all probability, also, the current
session of congress will be called upon
to meet some prob
waning lens resulting from
Decisions adverse decisions by
the Supreme Court of
the United States. The court has be-
fore it any number of cases involving
New Deal policies, including such as
the AAA, the IVA with its Tennessee
Valley power yardstick, the attempt TO
regulate wages and hours of labor I'M
der the Guffey coal bill known as the
Little NRA, and half dozen other
policy propositions. 1t seems unlikely,
although no one can guess, that all of
these measures will be held constitu-
tional. If any are held invalid, nat
urally the President will ask congress
to draft new legislation within the
boundaries laid down in the court de-
cision. 1t all takes time.
AS sample of the political aspect
Of the current session, one can sight
the Juror that was stirred up when
President Roosevelt delivered his mas
sage on the state of the Union to
night session of congress. Except for
one instance, Presidents always have
delivered or sent their message to con-
gress at noon of a day after the session
has had two or three meetings. Mr.. Roose-
vent chose to get his message to con-
gress on the very first day of the cur
rent session but in order to do it and
allow for consummation Of the usual
routine of the opening day, it was
necessary to hold a joint session at
night.
The White House announcement of
this decision Immediately precipitated
a biting demand from Henry P.
Fletcher, Republican national chair
man. Mr.. Fletcher charged that since
the Presidents speech was being de-
livered "out of hours" and was being
broadcast to potentially the greatest
radio audience ever. to listen to a
Presidential message of this kind, the
broadcasting companies must agree to
allocate time for the Republicans to
answer it. The Republican chairman
asserted that the message was reduced
to the common level of a political
speech and so he demanded for the
opposition the right to analyze it from
the opposition standpoint through the
same number of radio stations and to
potentially the same radio audience.
g Western Newspaper Union.
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