Evening star., 1936-04-13

Mr.. Bell was heard to say that the
amount obligated for this fiscal year
is s3,382, 100000 mot the amount
allocated, mind you, but the amount
which will be spent).
The leftover, he said, would be
exactly 81 l,128, ,O0O,0 900, on the basis OF
figures compiled as late as March 20.
II you wiH add this lett-ouer to
the nep relief fund. you tDtH haze
President RooseUelt's secret -
namely, that the relief sock under
his bed for the year beginning July
I Uil contain Gbout s2.62S,00 1000.
Mr.. Bell was giving the status of
the last relief fund of $4,000, ,000, 900.
He said it was carried on the books
at $4,563, 100000, because some of it
included appropriations from the
previous year. 1t would be incorrect
to deduce from his figures that relief
expenditures would be S754 900, 600 less
next year than this year, as the figures
seem to indicate. If you count in the
bonus, the extra a-budgetary appropria-
tions being made in Congress, and the
relief appropriations switched from the
emergency budget into the regular
budget for next year, Mr.. Roosevelt's s
total spending fund will be much
larger than this year. In other words,
Mr.. Roosevelt can spend considerably
more money next year instead OF
less, as generally supposed.
Smith Swift Stopper.
Swiftest legislative stopper in Con-
gress is shrewd Senator Smith. And
the swiftest step he ever made was
on the recent cotton loan legislation
MIR. Smith was living up to his
nickname of Cotton Ed" by cham
pioning legislation requiring the Com
modify Credit Corp. to market 10000
to $4,000 bales of its cotton hold
ings each week. Most of the experts
agreed it was a sour idea. They won
dered what it would do to the cotton
market.
The well-known Mr.. Oscar Johnson
A. A. A. cotton expert, put his head
together with the American Cotton
Cooperative Association expert and
worked out a substitute plan in pri-
vate. They agreed to have the Gov
ernment take a 21a-cent loss on Its
cotton loans by unloading the cot
ton upon certificate holders who would
market it piecemeal.
The plan was to hare been an
nounced at 3 p.m., but Smith
jumped the gun and introduced
legislation er1bodying the plan as q
substitute for his oUn seueTrl
hours earlier.
Some of his senatorial friends
Dere still ctdmpioning his original
bill at his committee hearing merit
day, not knowirg that he had 1bGn-
doned his old horse and tUds riding
another in an opposite direction.
The hatred which Congressman have
been breathing at lobbyists lately in
public statements and speeches ap-
parently does not apply to all lobbyists
A small veterans organization
which boosted the soldier bonus, is
now delivering a handsome citation to
Senators and Representatives who
voted for it. The citation looks like
a diploma. At the top is the name
of the Congressman, written out in
full in an impressive way. The body
Of the document received by one Con-
gresham stated that he had beer
awarded the citation for "outstand-
ing service" in the fight for the SOL
diers' bonus.
The Congressman are very proud Of
these citations.
AS has been said before, a lobbyist
is public benefactor if you happen
to be on his side. He is despicable
crook if you happen to be against him