Evening star., 1937-11-24
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

That hardy annual, farm relief. is with
us again, to prove there's absolutely
nothing new under the American po-
litical sun. Congress until further notice
will grapple with the moss-groWn issue
that has occupied and perturbed it al
most uninterruptedly for Is years. Cur
rent events and those in indefinite pros
pect recall embattled McNary- -Haugen
days of the Harding Coolidge Hoover
era. First came the Federal Farm Board,
then A. A. A, then the Farm Credit Ad-
ministration, then soil conservation"
and now crop control" One would
think that after decade and a half of
tinkering with nearly every conceivable
panacea the cure for agricultureS woes
would be in sight. The fact is that the
doctors are in as battling disagreement
as ever. Things are not made any easier
for the administration or Congress in
the present emergency by the bitter diff
ferences raging within the rural world
itself. The Farm Bureau ardently New
Dealish. is ranged on the opposite side
of the fence from the National Grange,
the Cooperative Council and the Farm
ers' Union. They're unit only on the
score of wanting something but as to
what, when and how they're as far
apart as the Poles.
Perhaps because agriculture is house
divided against itself. farm spokesmen
in Congress are battling at hopelessly
cross purposes, too. Secretary Wallace's
"ever-normal granary" is violently op-
posed in the House Committee on Agri-
culture, which will hear nothing of
processing taxes and compulsory control
of most crops. Chairman Jones and his
colleagues favor marketing quotas only
for tobacco and corn. The Senate COM
mittee reeks with no less discord over the
Pope-McGill BILL Several of its most in
fuential members are fighting compul-
sorry control as well as price fixing No
sooner will controversy over provisions of
farm bill be ended than new squabbling
will bob up as to where to find the
S500,000,000 or $650,0000OO of Govern
ment cash necessary to finance the pro-
gram. President Roosevelt insists that
II farm subsidies are increased, the
wind must be raised by fresh revenue.
SWag and more sWag to agriculture is
always good for votes in campaign
year, but if it means higher taxes the
idea loses much of it's attractiveness for
members of Congress up for reelection.
AS it will certainly be deep in 1888 before
farm legislation is licked into shape,
these considerations weigh heavily with
the 500-odd politicians seeking self
perpetuation next November.
X X X
Nothing stands out more clearly in the
tangled congressional picture than the
two-fisted spirit of independence which
animates Democratic members. At no
period of the New Deal were they so
ready to let their conscience be their
guide, regardless of presidential disfavor.
1t would, be going too far to say that
Mr.. Roosevelt's prestige has vanished,
but his authority is unquestionably sink
ing. Where once the White House had
only to nod, in order to get its way on
legislative occasions, it's now a case of
the administration having to work tooth
and nail, to dicker and compromise end
lessly, to accomplish almost it's simplest
purpose. On the four-point program
which inspired the call for the special
session-crop control, regional planning,
wages and hours and Government re-
organization-the situation is so shot
With chaos and strife that it's doubtful
whether F. D. r., despite mighty Demo-
eratic majorities could force the passage
of single major administration meas
ure at this writing. The wages and
hours bill is now In the same kind Of .
UArl - farm 1eg1llation.