The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-03-26
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
THE REORGANIZATION BILL

ticle by Dorothy Thompson, detailing objections u
the enactment of what is known as the 1ederal gov
eminent reorganization bill Miss thompson I'D
personal knowledge of the movements IN bufop
which have resulted in the ascendency OF dictator
ships In several countries and believes that ther'
is a similar pronounced trend in the United States
and that the reorganization bill contains dangerou
provisions which could be used to deprive the Amer
lean people of their freedom. This bill Will be VI
for final consideration in the United States Senate
at five o'clock next Monday afternoon. Anyone de
string to oppose its enactment should wire Senators
Reynolds and Bailey at once.-Editor
If the bill for reorganization passes IN us
present form We shall have gone long way to-
ward establishing authoritarian government IN
the United States. Congress will have decreed
its own partial abdication, and fixed 1t so that
one-third of that body can permanently prevent
the full congressional power from ever beng
recaptured. Thus, from interpreting democracy
to mean the uncontrolled will of the majority,
we shall have passed to interpreting it as mean-
ing the power of one-third of the peoples rep
resentatives to block the will of the other two
thirds.
The events of the last fortnight, all over the
world, have occupied the front page headlines.
The repercussion from them has stupefed us all.
But We have got to continue to keep our eyes
open, and, for the moment, turn them again to-
ward Washington. For this proposal to reorgan-
lie the executive branch of the government IS
at least as revolutionary as the Supreme Court
BILL and, IN my opinion, even more dangerous
to representative, democratic government. And
unless there is howl from the country within
the next few days, this BILL which is now before
the senate, is very likely to pass.
That the whole structure of our administra-
tive system needs overhauling and reforming is
beside the point at this moment What we really
need, and need desperately, is an extension, not
a diminishing, of congressional control and the
erection of, more efficient apparatus for that
purpose.
This bill moves in exactly the opposite direc-
tion 1t gives the president complete power over
the bureaus, the agencies and the public corpo-
rations, which, with their immense funds and
their immense powers, have the capacity to make
or break the economic and social structure of the
country, and under this bill the president will
be subject to less supervision than is given to
the head of any private corporation in the Unit
ed States.
He will be given the power ''to transfer,
group coordinate, consolidate, reorganize on
abolish" all of the administrative agencies. This
might conceivably be desirable move for great
er efficiency, provided that some check some
where, is exercised oy the representatives of the
people But the joker lies in the presidents veto
power. Under this law he can issue an edct with
regard to all these agencies. If congress does not
dsapprove within sixty days the edict becomes
law. If it does disapprove, its disapprova1 is
subject to presidential veto And it will then
take two-thirds majority of congress to over
ride him!
If congress checks the president the president
can recheck congress, and al he needs is one
third of congress to overrue the majority.
Senator Wheeler proposed an amendment to
overcome this. Under his amendment, the preSi-
dent would still have been given reorganization
powers, but congressional approval would be re-
CURED, This would have preserved majority rule.
1t was generally believed that Senator Wheel
er's amendment would pass But the pressure
exerted by the administration and Mr.. Farley
upon legislators never abates for q moment
whether the pressure of holding or withdrawing
support in the oncoming congressional elections
or the pressure for holding or bestowing patron
age. Senator Wheelers amendment was defeat
except to defeat the bill as a whole, and draft
another and better one. $50.
This bill must not pass. If it does, we shall
have created means whereby one man,
elected president, can rule this country with
eamarilla. If we create those means, sooner or
later, they will be used.
Democratic government is on the defensive in
every country in the world. 1t has been over
thrown in state after state. And in not one sin
gle country has it been overthrown by violent
revolution. The revolutions which have already
dethroned the people have all been accomplished
by breaking down the democratic process, de-
stroying democratic checks, and thus opening the
gates for the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of executive pow
er, first over the peoples representatives and
eventually, over the peoples lives This has been
the history of every anti-democratic revolution.
from Mussoini's coup d'etat in 1922, to the maj
collapse of every pretense of freedom, in Austria
few days ago.