Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-11-08
Presidents Reelection
Involves Serious Tasks
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

BY OWEN L. SCOTT.
The Roosevelt record now includes:
Reelection won in a remarkable testi-
monial Of public confldence-more I'm
pressive than any since the second term
Of James Monroe-but . chance lost
to get out from under the staggering
problems that are arising ct this time
to confront the next President.
Those who must keep tab on White
House duties and responsibilities often
wonder why any individual should want
the job.
In Mr.. Roosevelt's case, the answer
given is that he thrives on the response
bility and the cares Of office. and never
is more happy than when In the midst
Of fast-moving events and Of what APP
pear to be unsolvable problems. Now,
too, he Is In o position to carve . real
niche In the hall Of national fame.
Still, the period ahead will put to
test even the Presidents expansive ma
ture and his skill In guiding the country.
This time he Is to enjoy no post-inau-
gural honeymoon. Instead the prospect
is that q really critical stage Of his
White House experience win open with
the new term.
How so? Principally because Mr..
Roosevelt, in his campaign for re-elec-
ton. pictured his conception Of . Fed
eral Government that Is to watch over
the personal lives Of its citizens.
II they are destitute, the Government
will provide work. II they face an i'm
povertshed old age, the Government will
care for them. If their wages are low
and hours long. it is the Governments
duty to do something. If prices of the
commodities they produce are depressed,
the Governments job is to get them
higher. II creditors press, the Govern
ment will intervene. II employers balk
at labor organization, the Government
steps in to police the situation.
But this promise Of an ever-watchful,
all-seeing Federal Government is largely
lacking in power Of fulhllment without
the sort of battle from which Mr.. RooSe-
welt has backed away In the past.
Essentially, the President faces the
task of reconciling his philosophy of
Government with that laid down in the
Constitution as interpreted by q majority
Of the members Of the Supreme Court.
If able to effect that reconciliation
now that the country has given him a
mandate to 60 ahead-then he has a
chance to apply the program he has In
mind. If not, somebody is going to be
disappointed.
Can he do it2 The answer is: Not
without change in the Constitution or
a change in the Supreme Court. Mr..
Roosevelt faces the problem of deciding
soon whether he should, or whether he
should not. ask the people of the Nation
to alter their basic law to permit the
type of legislation that he wants.
Even without facing that issue, flying
brickbats cannot long be delayed.
Mr.. Roosevelt promised the workers
Of the country a system Of social Sc
curity. But those workers still do not
realize that only go per cent of them are
covered by the system on the statute
books, and yet that all, directly or indi-
rectly, will bear its cost.
Neither are they aware Of the admin
istratiye troubles that threaten to break
down the system Of old-age insurance
even before 1t really starts. Nor do they
know Of the legal pitfalls that promise
to upset the pay roll taxes that are sup
posed to support the social security pro-
gram.
The first month of the second Roose-
welt administration promises to see the
air filled with cries of fighting, legal and
otherwise, over what was projected as q
basic measure Of reform.
That same month will find the White
House wrestling with the job of getting
the Federal budget in some sort of order
President Roosevelt has promised the
people to get Federal finances under
control. Yet he also has promised the
people to spend more money on new
ventures.
He is pledged to continue work relief
for the unemployed. Unvarnished fig
ures show that the cost of this form of
relief is causing the total of actual Fed
eral expenditures to exceed those of q
year ago, even in the face of official re-
ports that about 100000 unemployed
have gone back into private jobs.
Then the President is pledged to give
farmers a system Of crop insurance, part
of the cost of which will be borne by
taxpayers. He also has promised to
start spending money to turn farm ten
ants into farm owners and to give
Treasury help to projects for construc-
ton Of low-cost homes for families of
small income.
His task is to perform those promises
while, at the same time, reducing the
total cost Of Government. He Is on rec
ord as promising that reduction.
y 4
This means that, in the period ahead
the Federal Government may assume a
more hard boiled attitude in giving
work relief Unless ready to assume that
attitude, there is little chance of an
early approach toward budget balance
But to bear down will hardly be popular
with important groups In the population
or with many members in q Congress
that has come directly from the people
At another point, decisions of critical
importance may soon be called for.
The President and Congress have
given labor to understand that Govern
ment is interested in seeing that 1t gets
a chance to bargain with employers
over wages and working conditions.
But what If employers balk? What Il
the Supreme Court sets . rigid limit
to the right of the National Government