Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-04-30
THE NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT
BY CONG. JOHN PAUL KvALE

The past week saw the new tax
bill begin its stormy path through
Congress, with general debate begin
ming in the House, to extend through
sixteen hours, which means that ac-
tual consideration of the measure by
reading and offering amendments
will not be had until the middle of
the following week. Meanwhile, the
Senate has shown that it desires some
facts and explanations regarding the
scope and meaning of the bill, and
members of the House subcommittee
that presented it have been called
into consultation to enlighten the
Senators that will have to handle
and pilot the bill after the House has
passed it on to them.
The bill is admittedly exceedingly
complex. AS limited at in former
weekly letters, it has been attacked
from the standpoint of completely,
and in general debate it has been
assailed as a measure that will be so
difficult of administering that only
the tax lawyers will profit by it, be-
cause not even the legislators can
properly understand it's provisions.
1t is also charged that it is in effect
a penalty on the thrifty corporations
that try to save up for the proverbial
rainy day. Nevertheless, the ones
who are responsible for the bill, and
who speak for the President and the
administration leaders who conceived
the plan, insist that the plan is work
able, and that it will result in SUBJ
stantial increases in revenue and
will not unduly penalize the cor
poratfons, big or small, that honestly
divide their profits in fair degree and
do not try to conceal excess profits
through surpluses, stock dividends,
bonuses. or other makeshift devices
we'll known to the financiers.
The tax bill should be out of the
hands of the House and into the
Senate by the end of the coming
week. There the upper body is likely
to take some time in discussing it
in committee, and again on the floor.
The opposition is not purely Repub-
Ifcan. 1t will consist, as it does to
lesser degree in the House, Of the
conservative elements in both major
parties, and Senate rules permit wild
err latitude in debate, and for that
reason will tend to prolong debate.
But interest in the House is rather
Indifferent, mostly because of the
realization that the real fight will
come after the House and Senate
have each passed their version of
the bill, and the conferees conclude
their efforts and bring in their re-
ports for approval or rejection.
Which all makes a prediction for
prolonged session a reasonable one.
The one thing that will counterfeit
is the almost unanimous desire of
Senators and Representative to wind
up their legislative duties by the
time of the two major party national
conventions, and the primaries that
closely follow in a large number of
the states. There are but few men,
bers, literally not more than a hand
full or so, that feel that Congress
should stay in session until some of
it's more pressing tasks have been
properly attended to.
But the frankly stated disposition
of administration leaders is to throw
overheard everything except the tax
bill and the relief problem and the
pending appropriation measures,
leaving such issues as the ship SUBJ
sidy, tariff reform, banking Iegfsla-