The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1938-05-26

ture which official Washington pre-
sents today is that of a renewal of
the Presidents pressure on Congress
for greater power for the Executive,
and much less resistant attitude
on the part of the majority of mem
bers than was apparent few weeks
ago. That IS not to say that Con-
greSs is again ready to rubber
stamp any proposal the President
may make, but it is ready to give
him-indeed, has already given
him-things which short time ago
the recalcitrant leaders on Capitol
Hill swore they never would give
him.
An outstanding example is the
failure of the much-talked-of plan
to "earmark" the items in the new
mp-priming appropriation bill,
calling for the expenditure of above
two and a half billion dollars for
various kinds of public works and
relief. The House Committee on
Ways and Means had worked out
schedules allotting the various items
to particular uses. When the Presi-
dent returned from his vacation
cruise to the West Indies the re-
turns from the Florida primaries
and other political signs of the times
had indicated to many of the Demo-
cratic insurgents that it was not as
safe for them as they had imagined
it to be to align themselves openly
in opposition to Mr.. Roosevelt. The
same revelation had come to the
President, who is about the most
adroit politician who ever inhabited
the White House. So when the par
ty leaders called on him with
draft of the pump-priming bill
so worded as to eliminate all Presi-
Dental discretion in the allotment
of money to particular states and
Congress districts, the President
made just one suggestion.
He penciled the words Gas the
President may direct" into the bill,
and the Congressional spokesman
accepted it.
Score For F. ID. r.
It was a complete abandonment
of their previous-announced purpose
of curtailing the political power of
the Executive for in politics con-
troll of the expenditure of public
funds is, except in extraordinary
circumstances, control of elections.
The House accepted the Presiden-
tial demand and passed the big ap-
preparation bill with practically
full authority in the Presidents
hands to spend the money as he
pleaseS.
Another example of Congression-
al receding from it's previous de-
fiant position occurred in the Sem
authority. It is proposed to estab-
authority. It is proposed to estab-
lish an independent commission like
the Reconstruction Finance Corpor-
alton, the Federal Trade Commits
sion and many others. The commits
sioners are to be appointed by the
President, but may be removed as
the bill was originally reported to
the Senate, only for malfeasance,
neglect or inefficiency.
That did not please the President.
He remembered that he had under
taken to remove Commissioner
Humphreys from the Federal
Trade Commission on the ground
that Mr.. Humphreys was not SYM
pathetic with the aims and purposes
of the Administration and was mot
cooperative" The Supreme Court
ruled that the President had no
power of removal except for caus-
es specified in the law. Therefore
word came to Capitol Hill from the
White House, and the Aviation
Commission bill was amended to
give the President power to remove
any commissioner who was "unde-
sirable, uncooperative or antagonis-
tic" The Senate passed the bill in
that form, by. the narrow margin
of 80 to 80 votes, in spite of marn-
ings that such a provision, if ex-
tended to the quasi-judicial and
quasi-legislative agencies of the
Government would give the Presi-
dent full control of their opinions
and acts.
Senate Reverses Position
This action was complete re-
versal of the Senate's previous posi-
ton when the Reorganization Bill
was before it last winter. The House
version of the proposed Reorgani-
cation program applying to all Fed
eral departments and agencies con-
tanned a provision giving the Presi-
dent full power of removal for any
reason or no reason at all. The
Senate eliminated that provision, on.
the ground that it would be plac-
ing too much personal power in the
Presidents hands. Now, in a paral-