Evening star., 1940-04-30

ercise their own judgment, on the
ground that what they may do will
prove futile. So far as is known
the President has not written any
letters threatening to veto the Wag-
ner Labor Act amendments or the
wage and hour bill or the Walter
Logan bill, but on Capitol Hill
those who want no legislation at all
on these subjects are endeavoring
to speak for the President in say
ing he will veto them all.
Mr.. Roosevelt did write a letter
declaring he would prefer to have
Congress wait a while before pass
ing amendments to the wage and
hour law, but he did not say he
would veto any or all measures ap-
proved by Congress on this subject.
The normal legislative process calls
for full consideration by the House
and then by the Senate, after which
a conference committee would nat
urally attempt further revision. To
put the President in the position of
refusing to permit Congress to leg
islate at all under a threat of a
blanket veto of whatever may be
done is so extraordinary that few
members of Congress will credit any
such position. no matter whether
1t is attributed to him by admins
tration leaders or any other So
called spokesmen for the White
House.
Not an Accurate Picture.
AS for the Walter-Logan bill, the
President, in a press conference. in
dicated his dissatisfaction with some
aspects of the measure, but there
is still available the process of
amendment in both houses. The
administration has conceded that
remedies must be devised to cure
the ills of procedure in administra-
tive commissions, but. for the Presi-
dent to be represented as desiring
to block all attempts at legislation
under a threat of veto is not accu-
rate.
Then there are the proposed
amendments to the Wagner labor
relations law. Some of these
amendments are unquestionably
disapproved by the Labor Board
members, but there is no proof as
yet that the Labor Board is the
spokesman of the President on the
subject of labor legislation. 1t is
true the c.. I. O. has issued PAM
phlets and broadcast its view that
there must be no amendments to
the Wagner Act at this session, but
it can be set down as doubtful that
the G. I. O. is as yet the spokesman
for the White House, or that
presidential veto is intended, no
matter what amendments are passed
by Congress to the present labor
law.
Threat Can Backfire.
The frequent use of the veto threat
Is one that has been experienced
many times heretofore by Congress
under this and other administra-
tions, but usually this sort of war
fare is part of the effort to influence
negative action by the House or
the Senate, as the case may be.
Sometimes when word goes out that
veto may be forthcoming, it works
just the other way. Some members,
feeling sure that piece of legisla-
ton Objectionable to a portion of
their constituents but desired by
others will never become law, take
chance by voting for the measure.
In this way they corral the votes
of those who want it passed and
then count on the others subse-
quently to forget about it, since the
bill didn't become law anyway.
The majority of the members of
the House at this session, however,
are not likely to be stampeded by
threats of veto. This is because all
of them come up for reelection
and nearly every one of the bills
which is slated for passage despite
opposition by some of the young
New Dealers is the type of legisla-
ton which is believed to represent
the prevailing trend in public
opinion, In the Senate only one
third of the membership is up for
election. Here there is a tendency
to go along with the administration,
but surprises may be expected just
the same.
Presidential vetoes are often the
best kind of ammunition for cam
palgn use. If Mr.. Roosevelt is not
a candidate for a third term, the
presence of the vetoes in the record
of the incumbent administration
tends just the same to strengthen
the case of the opposition in those
instances where public opinion is
with a majority of Congress rather
than in agreement with the veto.
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