Evening star., 1938-04-10
Spending
tContinued From First Page }


Congress may well be influenced
against such a program
Mr.. Roosevelt, it is expected. will
send message to Congress in the
near future dealing with recovery
and relief and outlining his ideas as
to what should be done. Unless pres
ent plans are changed, however, his
first message, probably during the
present week, will deal with the rail-
road problem, on which he conferred
yesterday with Walter M. w. Splawn,
chairman of the Interstate Commerce
Commission and head of his special
committee on railroad problems.
White House Conference.
A group of congressional and ad-
ministration advisers were summoned
to White House conference tomor-
row on the 'pump-priming" plans.
This conference is expected to be
concentrated largely on details of the
forthcoming recommendation for a
new relief appropriation. to be dis
tributed through the Works Progress
Administration, and touch on other
phases of the spending program.
The group summoned to the White
House includes Senate Majority Leader
Barkley, Chairman Glass and Senator
McKellar of the Senate Appropriations
Committee; Chairman Byrnes of the
Senate Unemployment Committee.
House Majority Leader Rayburn and
Representatives Woodrum and Taylor
of the House Appropriations Commit
tee: Acting Budget Director Daniel c.
Bell and Harry L. Hopkins, Works
Progress administrator
Already the administration has put
through bill authorizing use of ST.
500,000000 of Reconstruction Finance
Corp. funds for loans to private busi-
ness, States, counties and towns for
construction projects.
Third Item Discussed.
The President has included in his
budget message about Sl,100,00O, 900
for relief during the coming fiscal year.
Some legislators think this may be in
creased to sl,500,0O0.0O0 The item
will be included in one of the so-called
deficiency appropriation bills. to come
later in the present session of Congress.
The third item in the program of
relief and recovery discussed in ad-
ministration circles is for $500, ,000,-
600 to be lent to States, counties and
municipalities. The money would be
raised through the issue of Federal
bonds, maturing in so years.
Opponents of the spending program
insist the greater part of the money
will never be repaid; that the loan
ing provisions are merely camoufage
for an actual spending of the tax
payers money.
The total of these three items, in
tended in large part to prime the
pump" is in the neighborhood of
S4,5O0,OOO,OOO.
Opponents See Rabbit"
Opponents of the Presidents ex-
pected spending program have another
angle in their minds-they insist that
the New Dealers are planning now to
ask Congress for huge sums which will
influence the coming congressional
elections.
Ihls is the rabbit which the Presi-
dent has pulled out of the hat sue
cessfully in every campaign since he
entered the White House, they insist,
Ihey recall that he had from Congress-
a s4,oOO,0o0,O00 appropriation for re-
lief a couple of years ago, and thev
point to the results at the polls.
Those who are against starting a
new pump-priming experiment saw
they are not, however, opposed to
spending whatever is necessary to re-
leve Americans who are UNEMPLOYED
and in distress.
Senator Byrd was emphatic in his
declaration that pump-primine had
been tried by the administration in
big way-and that it had failed ut.
terly.
Fears Destroyed Confidence.
If such a spending program is un.
dertaken," he said, "it will still fur
ther destroy that confidence among
the people and among business men
that is so essential to real recovery
today.
The administration, from its incep-
ton, has never reduced the annual
expenditures of the Government In