The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-11-19

VCIy COSCAAV 4CdoVAAo WHY VAA got off to such a lame start, spot not very far from the
 Illustrative of the initial con- fusion was the fact that this con- gress never was officially called together. Congressmen read in the newspapers that a special session was set for November l6, and drifted back to the capital. But they never received written notification. Roosevelt issued the call over the radio, but someone down the line slipped up on the other formalities. a
 Much more important was the fact that congressional leaders had done very little advance preparation. Apparently Roose- welt had taken their word that they would get back to town early and whip bills into shape before the actual opening. He never took the trouble to put the halter on them. Southern Democrats
 Sam Rayburn of Texas, Demo- cratic floor leader of the House, when asked by arriving colleagues what was on the program, replied: "Oh, we'll get . farm bill out In two or three weeks"
 Asked what else was in the works he said: "Oh, we'll report out . wage.and- -hOur bill by petit ton in about Q month"
 But there was no real enthusi- asm m Sans voice. He was going through the routine of standing by the President, but his heart wasn't in 1t. An extremely capable legis- lator, the truth is that Sam Ray. burn doesn't like the wage-hour bill. And almost every Southern Democrat (they hold the key places as commltte chAirmen) agree with him.
 Let Congress Do It
 During the first special ses- sion called by Roosevelt in 1883, the Administration itself draft ed the important bills, merely handed them to Q key senator or congressman. Almost unchanged, they were passed.
 Now tactics are reversed. Lis- tening to congressional protests that Roosevelt was trying to ram already prepared legislation down their throats, Secretary Wallace sent no farm bill to the Hill. Instead the Agriculture Comi1it- tees of the House and Senate arc threshing out the bills text.
 RESULT: NO FARM BILL IS YET WRITTEN.
 Cotton Ed" Smith, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Com mittee, came back from South Carolina breathing love and devo- ton to the farmer, but nothing else. He is now further away from 6 farm bill than ever before.
 Meanwhile Marvin Jones, chair man of the House Agriculture Committee, has held hearings, but the bill is still in 0 chaotic state completely unacceptable to Sec- retary Wallace.
 They Hate Roosevelt
 Ono unique spectacle at htiS session of congress has been the Democrats sitting on the Repub. lican side plotting together against Roosevelt.
 Chief pIotters have been Gene
 Cox of Georgia and Arthur
 Lemneck of Columbus, Ohio.
 They not only st on the Repub-
 lican side, but each lunch at
 the Republican round table with
 Jim Wadsworth, New York
 blue.stocklng, and other Repub-
 llcan leaders.
 Object of the Conservative Dem. ocrats and the Republicans is diff. ferent, but they are pooling oper- at!ons. The Democrats want to whittlc down the Roosevelt pro. gram, do what the Supreme Court once did. They never did agree with 1t, and now they intend to take advantage of the business slump to kill 1t.
 The Republicans, on the other hand, are merely out to make po- litical capital. Last session they were meek and browbcaten, now they are on the march. For the first time, they are really carry ing the ball. They are cocky over the La Guardia election in New York (though 1t was largely Q la- bor vote) and have become the gadflies of the administration.
 Uneasy Atmosphere
 Present tempo of Congress is one Of uneasiness and fear. There is @ scare psychology. During the special session in 1883 there was also a scare psychology, but at that time the drift was to give everything to Roosevelt. Now the drift is to be sore at Roosevelt.
 This, of course, is the vocal, surface drift. Underneath there is a large group strong for the President, but keeping quiet about 1t. ~
 There are just two things that will make them erupt in aid of