Evening star., 1937-12-24

was to follow 1t was thought by the
administration that age-and-hour
legislation could take its natural course
along with a crop-control bill and that
the economic system could really digest
both reforms.
BY the time Congress was convened
on November Is the whole temper
of the country had changed and there
was a widespread recognition, includ-
ing a pointed mention by the President
himself, of the existence of serious
business recession. Under the circum-
stances, the movement to get the tax
laws revised attained greater impetus
than might otherwise have been the
case. Certainly the Ways and Means
Committee has made greater progress
toward revising tax bill in the short
time that its members have been
meeting than has been possible in
advance of any regular session.
Tax Bill Due by January.
When Congress reconvenes in jan
uary, therefore, the tax bill ought to
be ready for report to the House.
This is important because in the
interval between January and March
is, when income tax returns are being
made out, the taxpayers will want to
know what administrative provisions
and what rates are to be retroactive
and which ones are to be applicable
to the calendar year 1888.
There are many people who dread
q session of Congress. Business men
often shudder when there is mention
of a congressional meeting, especially
an extra session. But the truth is
when Congress is in session the people
have a check upon the executive bu-
reaus and agencies and representative
Government is more truly operative
at such times than when Congress is at
home. The members of the present
Congress have shown tendency to be
cautious about new legislation affect
ing the economic structure and if this
be a reason for condemnation, then
the business world is overlooking the
true achievement of this session, which
has been to examine carefully any
legislation that might affect the busi-
ness situation adversely.
There is a rather extensive mis-
understanding of the farm legislation,
especially as it relates to proposed ex-
penditures. The farm bill is in con-
ference between the two houses, which
means that compromise measure
satisfactory to the administration will
t%n n hry To, yl,o
is to be spent will be within the budget
plan for the present fiscal year. 1t
is not generally realized that the pres
ent administration has been spending
between $700,00O,000 and 5000 100000
a year for the last three years on some
form of subsidy to agriculture, so the
new farm bill must be examined in
the light of previous yearly totals
and also with the knowledge that the
total farm appropriation probably will
be about the same as the New Deal
has been allocating to agriculture in
the past.
Controls to Become Greater.
So long as the world is in a dis
turbed condition and exchange restric-
tions and high tariffs impairs COM
mercial intercourse, the market for
American agricultural products will
necessarily be limited. Fo1 this rea-
son controls of domestic crops and
even subsidies will tend to become the
order of the day very much as it the
case in foreign countries. Nearly
every foreign democracy has some
form of crop control today, and the
only important question to be de-
cided nowadays is whether the plan
effectuates the purpose for which it
is intended and whether it has per-
manently injurious effect on the for
eign markets. Too often the American
subsidy, as in the case of cotton, has
the effect Of being so attractive in its
raising Of the price as to bring into
production the acreage of other coun-
tries, some of which are closer to con-
sumer markets than We are, and thus