Evening star., 1936-03-05
THE POLITICAL
MILL
By G.. Gould Lincoln.

Now 1t is taxes and reform, with the
accent upon both. President Roosevelt's
message to Congress yesterday was clever
and cleverly timed. With Democratic
members of Congress on pins and needles
because they fear the enactment Of new
and burdensome tax legislation Just be-
fore a general election, the Presidents
proposal is drawing slow smiles Of con-
graduation, as the plan sinks in. The
reform" ideas contained in the plan,
which might have been more difficult to
put over in ordinary times, have better.
chance with Congress, particularly the
Democratic members, because the new
taxes proposed are more indirect" more
concealed, and fall upon comparatively
small number of persons. It looks as
though the President would have his way
in this matter of new taxation-and re-
form.
The Republican shout is that the new
tax plan of the President Is the final
assault upon thrift. That is the terse
way in which Senator Arthur Vanden-
berg Of Michigan puts 1t. The Presi-
dents proposal to levy heavy taxes upon
undivided earnings OF corporations the
Republicans say, means that corpora
tions will not be able to lay up surpluses
from year to year to tide them over lean
years and times of depression. They in
Sist that such surpluses were the savior
of many corporations many workers and
many stockholders during the darkest
days of the present depression. But
then. say the Republicans, the Roose-
welt administration has never been for
thrift, so what?
The new tax scheme of the President
has, nevertheless its appealing side.
| There has been lot of talk about sur
pluses built up by corporations which
prevent q real distribution of wealth in
this country. Now here is plan which
| the President and his advisers say will
| help to redistribute wealth and keep the
distribution moving 1t will be argued
that the profits Of corporations will
hereafter be more widely distributed
| both to workers and to stockholders, par
| ticularly the small stockholders. All of
this has its lure to the mass of voters.
| The President will occupy unique posi-
| ton II he can make taxes popular. How
ever, he has made farm subsidy popular
| in big way in the West-although not
with some Of the consumers in the East.
Although the Ways and Means Com
| mittee of the House has not yet tackled
the new tax bill. it seems a safe bet
| to predict that the Presidents plan will
be adopted in the end It's distinctly
New Deal and brain trust" proposition.
He seems to have picked the psyche
| logical time for it.
The entry of Col. Henry Breckinridge
| of New York as candidate for the
| Democratic presidential nomination into
| the Ohio primary was commented upon
as possible entry Of the American Lib
erty League. Dispatches said that Breck-
| inridge was member of the league It
| appears, however, from statement now
issued by Jouett ShouSe, president of the
American Liberty League, that Col
Breckenridge is not and has not been a
| member of the league. Furthermore
| Mr.. ShouSe said:
THE league has no connection with
his candidacy, has not been consulted
| with reference to it and has no knoWl-
edge of it save the newspaper announce
ments. According to the President and
his authorized spokesmen, Messrs. Ickes,
| Wallace and Farley, the league is COM
posed of the apostles of 'intrenched
| greed the selfish and soulless men who
| have made success of life through their
| own efforts and have earned a compe-
| tence. 1t would be unfair to COL Breck-
| tnridge to permit to go unchallenged the
| assertion that he is connected in any way
with this unspeakable organization,
which has committed the one unforgiv-
able sin Of opposing the unconstitutional
| acts of the present administration.
when and if the league decides to
| support the candidacy of any individual
that fact will be made matter of pub
| lie announcement. The invariable policy
| of the league when it takes position
| on any subject is to set forth that posi-
ton fully and frankly"
Massachusetts Democrats continue to
| spar around with Governor Curley max
| ing the most of the running. He is re-
| Sourceful gentleman. He announces that
| he spent lot of his own money to elect
| President Roosevelt in 1882, but that he
! has not obtained much in the way of
| patronage from the Roosevelt admins
| tration. That may be the Governors
way of looking at it. He may have ex-
| pected to receive everything for which
he asked. Anyway, he had his way with
| the appointment Of postmaster at Bos-
| ton when Peter F. Tague was named by
the President, although Senators Walsh
and Coolidge would have preferred other
candidates. He had his way, also, with
the appointment of John j. Murphy as
United States marshal. The Governor
| has announced he will run for the Sem
ate. There is lot of speculation as to
whether he is more popular in Massa-
chusetts today than is President Roose-
| velt, whether his candidacy for Office
will help the President or vice versa.
Curley has lot of enemies. If Massa-
chusetts goes Republican strongly next
Fall-as It's dislike of much of the New
Deal indicates 1t may-then Curley would
have to be very strong personally to sur
| vive politically. There are some Demo-
Gratis in the State who will not vote for
Curley. The question arises, how many
Republicans and independent voters will
support the Governor He has made him.
| self pretty solid with some Republicans,
but how many votes could they per-
sonally deliver?
West Virginia Democrats, having sent
one Senator to Washington before he
reached the constitutional age for Sem
| ators of the United States-30 years-are
now talking of electing another and even
younger Senator That is, some of the
~s,.s& te II