Evening star., 1938-06-03
Without Strings.

PRESIDENT RooseVeltS plea toN the Sen
ate to pass his recovery and relief bill
without restrictions" rests on the theory
that fexibility is necessary if relief is
to be given in the present emergency.
That is an entirely familiar argument.
1t has been used by the President in
the past, not only with reference to re-
lief appropriations, but also in connec-
tion with emergency" legislation.
His present plea was regarded as an
effort to prevent the "earmarking" of
funds by Congress. AS a matter of fact,
"earmarking' of funds by Congress
would have little real effect, unless the
State, district and project were desig-
mated in detail, and unless the amount
of money for work relief and direct
relief were fixed for each State and
district Such earmarking has not been
attempted. No one would really believe
that Harry L. Hopkins. W. P. A. admin
1strator, and Harold L. Ickes, p W. A..
administrator, would go contrary to de-
eAAoAANo AiuNC Wy UllC GlC0lQclG lI6
expenditure of sums allotted their spend
Ing agencies by Congress, even if the
money were earmarked.
Nevertheless, it becomes clear from
the Presidents letter to Senator Adams,
in charge of the lending and spending
bill, that the Chief Executive wishes no
strings attached to his ALLEGATION of
these vast Government funds. These
funds will have very definite effect on
the congressional elections. They will
likewise have an effect in the party
primaries, in which the administration
leaders have already taken an unusual
amount of interest. And because of this
political effect, some of the Democratic
Senators who have been marked for the
slaughter are restive and have demanded
that, so far as practicable, the spending
OF the money be not left entirely to the
discretion of the President or his ad.
ministrators under his direction. Many
OF them do not like the idea of giving
Mr.. Hopkins the right to spend S1,425,-
100000 as he sees fit, since he entered
the Iowa senatorial primary campaign
IN big way. But they see no way of
tying that money and of hating him
and w. P. A. s.
AS long as Congress continues to give
President Roosevelt and his aides huge
lump sums of money to spend 1t must
resign itself to the political effects of
that spending. 1t has shown itself un-
willing to investigate the operations of
the w. P. A., although it has been clear
for long time that tremendous waste
OF public funds has occurred.
vicious circle makes the appropria-
ton of these great relief funds necessary.
The administration has, by its denuncia-
ton of business, by its efforts to control
industry and by its competition with
private citizens engaged in business
prevented real recovery in the United
States. Since there can be no recovery
under these. circumstances, unemploy-
ment prevails in the land. With the
maintenance of unemployment and its
further development, the need of relief
appropriations continues unabated. In
fact. the need is greater now than 1t
was last year.
Yet the President continues to insist
that it is more important to enact the
kind OF legislation he desires than to
have business recovery. How long the
American people will continue to 20
along with the President in such a course
1t is difficult to predict. Ordinarily an
administration that apparently fostered
depression would not be tolerated.