Evening star., 1938-12-30

proper use OF tundS. Best picture
= OF ertent to Which politics actu-
ally has entered relief is expected
IN Senate Campaign Expenditures
Committee report to be released
soon.
BY the Associated Press.
Vice President Garner was de-
scribed authoritativey today as
taking an active part in efforts to
give local communities more con-
troll over expenditure of w. P. A.
funds.
Mr.. Garner is understood to have
told close associates he believed the
problem of keeping politics out of
relief could be met, at least in part,
by setting up non-partisan boards
in each county. These boards would
examine complaints of political mis-
use of relief money or discrimina-
ton against relief applicants.
He has told his friends, it was
learned, that these boards should
be purey local agencies, appointed
by local officials entirely free from
w. P. A. control.
This view differs sharply from
that OF Senator Barkley, Democrat,
OF Kentucky who said yesterday he
believed that if such boards were set
up they should be appointed by the
w. P. A.
Senator Barkley, the majority
floor leader, said he never had IA
vored the current practice of having
local certifying agent, appointed
by a local official, accept the re-
sponsibility for designating those
eligible for reief He said he be-
. lieved w. p A. should accept this
responsibility.
Confers With Byrnes.
After hearing of the Barkey state
ment, Vice President Garner con-
ferred with Senator Byrnes, Demo-
crat, of South Carolina. floor man.
ager for w. P. A. appropriation bills.
Senator Byrnes said later he had
mot made up his mind on details of
relief legislation He called a meet
ing of the Senate Relief Committee
for next Wednesday.
Senator Byrnes has said previ-
ously some specific prohibition
against political coercion of relief
employees would be inserted in the
next w. P. A, appropriations bill.
He also has been working on
formula by which relief might be ap-
portioned to States according to
need, population, area and other
. factors.
In the House, meanwhile, influen-
tlal members intimated the Appro-
priations Committee might curb the
Administrations relief program for
the year beginning July l.
Talk of Negotiation.
Some legislators talked of letting
the committee make a long-dis-
cussed investigation of the entire
relief set-up, including any political
aspects it may have.
Such an inquiry, they said, prob
ably should be delayed until an
appropriation to carry relief through
June 80 Is out of the way. Then,
when the administration makes its
recommendations for next year, the
committee would have to decide
whether to continue w. P. A. and on
what financial basis it should op-
crate.
Mayor La Guardia of New York
said today it would be impossible for
the new Congress to abandon the
relief program now carried on by
the W. P A.
Work relief is here to stay, he de-
clared because it is the American
way of providing relief"
Mayor La Guardia had long talk
with Senator Norris, Independent,
of Nebraska, but said afterWard he
was only paying his respects and
not talking any third party politics.
The relief bill for the remainder
of the current fiscal year may be
given right of way over all other
legislation in the House. Brief
hearings are planned as soon as
possible after President Roosevelt
sends up his estimate of the money
needed and the Appropriation
Committee is organized for the ses-
sion.
Committees Discussed.
Committee organization also was
topic of discussion in the Senate,
where Senator Barkley and Senator
McNary of Oregon, the Repub-
lican leader, arranged to talk over
the question of giving Republicans
increased representation on commit
tees.
Senators and House members are
arriving on almost every train,
ready for the opening of Congress
Tuesday. Many are coming by auto
and some by airplane
The House Office Buildings are in
. hubbub, because most of the
members who were defeated in No
vember are keeping their suites un-
til the last minute. OF the lit new
members only about IS have moved
into their offices.
In shaping the administration
program for the session, leaders
predicted that, despite evidences
of farmer unrest, Congress would
make no fundamental change in
the crop control program
Representative Hope of Kansas,
senior Republican member of the
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