The Washington times., 1939-01-13
HOUSE VOTES
LATE TODAY ON
RELIEF FUNDS
Passage of Modified
Measure Expected
BY ROBERT HUMPHREYS


GN.SD As the House begar
final debate on the appropriation
deluge of kilograms from mayors
municipal officials. and WPA ad
ministrators descended on Con
gressmen today urging them to re
store the S150,O00.000 cut from
President Roosevelt's 1915 100000
emergency relief request.
At the same time, Administra
ton stalwarts in the lower cham
ber rallied to the support of the
President in urging that the pro
posed $725, 100000 relief bill be
increased.
House leaders, however, re,
mained aloof from the fight, ap.
parently resigned to the belief that
a bipartisan bloc of economy ad'
vocates would defeat any attempts
to vote a large relief fund.
DEMOCRATS WARNED
When debate was resumed as
the measure neared final passage
Representative Cochran Cd of
Missouri, ardent Administration
supporter. warned the House that
If the Democratic members do not
look after those on relief they
will drive you from office and
rightfully So"
They drove the Republicans
from office in 1882 and they
will do the same thing to us"
Cochran shouted, shaking his
finger at the Democratic mem
bers. You are not voting
against the Administration if
you support this cut; you are
vot (lg against these poor, miser-
able unfortunateS and their
families who will be thrown off
the rolls in the dead of winter"
He was joined by another Ad
miniStration supporter, Represent
ative Cannon (DD, Missouri, in
demanding that the economy
coalition give the House an op-
portunity for a roll call vote on
the reduction. The two members
charged that the bill had been
deliberately drafted in unprec-
edented form, to save the mem
bers from facing record vote.
MESSAGE READ :.
Cochran, as did other mem
bers, displayed kilograms from
local officials. The Missouri mem
ber read wires from the mayor of
st. Louis and State WPA authori-
ties, demanding support of the
Presidents estimate.
Despite the increasing number
Of pleas in support of the Admin
istration, the attacks of the BIZ
partisan opposition continued un-
abated.
Representative Fish of New
York branded WPA for what he
called contemplate political &C.
tivities." and charged that these
included payroll padding and use
of funds for partisan political
purposes"
The whole rotten mess
Stinks to high heaven, and like
a dead mackerel in the moon
light. "it stinkS and shines and
shines and StinkS," he declared.
URGES RESTRICTION
Representative Starnes (DD ),
Alabama, Severly criticized the
solicitation of WPA workers for
political and organizational con-
tr1butions. He said he favored
q legislative restriction which
would bar enrollees from making
contributions of any sort.
Representative Woodrum, the
Virginia Democrat leading the
coalition of economy-minded Dem
ocratS and Republicans in the
drive to protect the cut, claimed
certain victory. With a final vote
scheduled for late today, Wood
rum asserted that a substantial
majority of the House stood ready
to fend off any attempt to restore
the $l50,000,000 which his COM
mittee Topped off the Presidents
estimate.
Despite efforts of House Ma
Jority Leader Rayburn, it ap-
peared unlikely there would be a
roll call vote on the cut, a move
which would force the members
to go on record individually.
The Republicans, nevertheless,
were assured of a record vote on
their proposal to confine the ap-
preparation to 1910, ,OO0, 900 for two
months, pending an exhaustive
congressional inquiry into the ad-
miniStration of relief. The G. o. P.
members also planned to offer
amendments to end the Federal
theater and Federal writer's prof.
ects, both of which have been
under fire for purported radical
activities.