Evening star., 1938-05-01
Wage-Hour
Continued From First Page.)

mittee-which on Friday declined by
a vote Of to to grant a special
rule for its considerations long fght
may ensue that will keep Congress
in Washington until June IS or July l..
That makes no appeal to them.
The earliest date a discharge mo-
ton for the wage-hour bill could be
voted on is May %. That is predi-
Gated on the prompt signing Of a
petition by the requisite number, Of
members. II the process Of Obtaining
signatures should drag on, action in
the House might be postponed until
the second Monday in June. Should
the House discharge the committee
and bring the wage-hour bill before
it for consideration. there would still
be an opportunity for difficult fight
with the great mass Of Southern
members and some of the Republicans
lined up against the bill. The bill
would have to 60 to conference, pre-
sumably. with the Senate, for the
Upper House would face fllibuster if
an effort were made to have the
Senate concur in the House bill.
The administration had an uncom-
Portable experience when it sought
last summer to force Congress to ac-
cept another pet measure of the Presi-
dent-the bill for the increase of the
membership of the Supreme Court.
Finally. in July, that measure was
shelved. Whether it wishes to 60 to
the mat with Congress again this sum-
mer remains to be seen. Keeping
Congress on the job when 1t wishes to
60 home has caused other administra-
tions plenty of grief.
As the leaders on Capitol Hill fig-
ure it. there is only one big task re-
naming which they must complete be-
fore leaving Washington--the au-
thorization and appropriation Of
money for relief and recovery. The
House Appropriations Committee still
is working on the Presidents relief
and recovery program. It may have
bill ready for report this week, al
though hearings will not close until
tomorrow or next day.
Foes to Attack Bill.
Opponents Of pump priming" and Of
large new expenditures will attack the
relief and recovery bill, it is expected.
But unless there is big wave of pub
lie opinion against the measure, it
probably will 60 through in the shape
desired by the President. That, at
all events, is the view of the oppon-
ents Of Government spending as well
as its supporters.
Mayor La Guardia Of New York,
o. and President William Green of
the American Federation of Labor
will be witnesses tomorrow before the
Appropriations Committee. Repre-
sentative Woodrum of Virginia, 4
member of the committee, said q pro-
posal was under consideration to put
an end to lump-sum appropriations, at
the disposal OF the President, and to
supply the money direct to the agen-
cies which have the spending Of the
money. The plan is to give Congress
As much control Of the money as pos
sible.
Members of Congress recommended
to the committee yesterday that $780,
000,0 be allocated for the construc-
ton Of five Army air bases in this
country and Alaska and the improve
ment of existing Army posts. It was
proposed that 5000, COO, 900 be allocated
for rural electrification and $50 0,000,-
600 for construction Of small lakes
and dams in the dust bowl" Repre-
sentative Better of Pennsylvania pro-
posed that the Public Works Admin
istration. be made = permanent Gov
ernment agency.
Recommendations to Congress.
The President sent to Congress last
week his recommendations for legis-
lation on the monopoly problem and
for permitting the reciprocal taxa
ton OF Federal State and municipal
securities and salaries. These are
largely for window dressing for the
coming campaign, in the opinion of
some members Of Congress They
would be surprised to see lesislation
enacted at the present session dealing