Evening star., 1936-03-18
RETAINS.
TREASURY RE|NS
Defeat of $4,000 900 Fund
for Canal Turning Point
= in Spending Epoch.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Rejection by the Senate of q pro-
posal to spend $l2000,000 on Florida
ship canal marks new turn in the
spending epoch.
There Is more involved than a
39-to-34 vote on the merits of a canal
project. 1t is the recapture, in this
instance at least, by Congress of its
right to say how public money shall
be expended.
Gated $5.000,000 to the Florida ship
canal. Senator Vandenberg of Mich
igan insists that this $4,000 900 is
valuelesS unless $195 100000 more is
spent to complete the canal. The test
came on whether the $5,000,000
would be supplemented by $4,000. 900
for the coming year. The Michigan
Senator has conducted a fight against
the proposal and he was persuasive
enough to break down party lines in
support of his contention that the
extra money should not be spent.
The canal is matter of sharp con-
troversy between residents of North
and South Florida anyway, but the
awkwardness of the situation is that
the Nation as whole had no chance
to pass on the project through its
chosen representatives in Congress,
but found itself committed to s5,O00,-
600 of work by the action of the
Chief Executive.
Pressure of Sections.
There are some indications that Mr.
Roosevelt may have regretted the step
he took, for he told the press recently
that future appropriations would have
to be approved by Congress. Indeed,
the whole difficulty with the $4,800,.
100000 which was voted to the Presi-
dent to be used at his discretion was
that groups in different sections of the
country were able to put pressure on
the White House and on the Govern
ment departments which never would
have been effective had it been neces-
sary to convince majority Of both
houses of Congress.
The argument in favor Of presiden-
tial discretion was that Congress would
waste the fund and that projects
would be voted which were the result
Of log-rolling agreements among the
members. But 1t turns out that local
pressure was even stronger and was
aided by sectional groups of Congress-
men.
T., The Florida ship canal project Is
the first to run up against the economy
wave which is in the ofing and
which bids fair to assume considerable
proportions before the end Of the
present session of Congress.
-. The principle that large projects
should be voted by Congress and not
by the Executive out Of huge fund
is bound to become the center of con-
troversy as some members who have
had money spent through the W. P.
A. in their respective States for par
tcular developments now attempt TO
Secure additional funds
Dangers Are Exposed.
What Senator Vandenberg did was
20 expose to the fun view Of the Sen
ate and the country the dangers of
Unlimited appropriations. The pos
sibility that the Michigan Senator
was beginning to see real campaign
issue in the making undoubtedly in
nuenced some Of the Democratic
members who voted against the extra
appropriation For, while several
charges of waste have been made from
time to time, the Florida ship canal
was such a concrete demonstration
Of how wasteful the w. P. A. has been
that it began to make a deep impress
sion on Senators of both parties. 1t
is probable that other projects will
undergo similar scrutiny.
The Senate is beginning to do at
last some of the things 1t might have
been doing a year ago. From the
standpoint Of the taxpayer, it is bet
ter late than never. 1t is a safe as
sumption that the huge size of the
deficits has been instrumental in
awakening even the New Dealers to a
realization that borrowing could not
60 on indefinitely for the purpose of
building unproductive projects or prof.
ects that were clearly unnecessary
from the standpoint Of economic
value.
1t is natural that cities and areas
where the money is to be spent will
staunchly defend the expenditures, but
what apparently has been unrealized
10 any great extent Is that many of
the work relief projects have not been
merely temporary affairs, but that
they involve permanent undertakings
which commit the Government to con-
tinued expense over a period of years
unless the initial investment is to be
written off as a total loss