The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-03-05

bushes for the second coming Of the Great I Am and Aimee Semple McPherson.
 But when they put on this act in Congress, where the admission Is free, the show lays an egg and mo- body cares. Whats a lousy billion and a half2 Chicken feed. Maybe that's why 1t lays the egg.
 Anyway, your Congress is now oil on a spree which aims to spend one billion dollars week for the next twelve weeks.
 In spite of the terrific buildup which such an act should have, the galleries of the House of Represen- tatives are empty when a show ot this kind goes on. Twenty five peo- pie by the count.
 The floor of the House is less than a fourth filled. Fifty Repub- licans. Sixty Democrats. Those are round numbers for the gentlemen of the House don't stay put long enough to put the finger on. Com ing and going. Talking to each other. O. those who do stay put. a dozen read newspapers and another dozen or more read the Congress sional Record to see what they did yesterday.
 ARGUE 3 HOURS
 ON 1I1 BILLION
 Almost everything they did on this bill was done yesterday. That was the day of argument. This Is the day of passage.
 They argued for all of three hours over this billion and a half, even though 1t covered 186 projects in- cluding 49 million for chartering ships, other millions for naval yards from Bost ton to Samoa, submarine bases from the Virgin Islands to Alaska, naval hospitals, 10 million for the marine corps and 675 million for more barracks for the army. When you think how long 1t takes the average family to decide on what kind of Q new car to buy, you wonder how even congressman can spend 1900 million so nonchalantly.
 It isn't all as simple as that, but this is all that shows on the sur face. Behind the surface are the weeks of planning by the army and the navy experts for what they'll need. Then the sessions in which the experts testify before the Con- gressional committee on appropria- tions, thrashing out the various items and deciding why they're nec- essary. The committees have the grief, but every committees name is George. Congress lets George do the work.
 SPARKLING
 EXCHANGE
 Almost any group could argue for more than three hours on how to spend a billion and half, and produce better cracks than the con- gressmen do at one of these shows of theirs.
 Congressman Harold Knutson, publisher of the Wadena, Minn. Pioneer Journal, was far and away the end man for typical bit of badinage when Congress passed the fourth deficiency bill few days ago. The batter goes like this:
 KNUTSON: How much are we going to spend this year on pre- paredness?
 WOODRUM: (He's from Roanoke, Va, and in charge of the bilD I have been so busy working on these appropriation bills that I have not had a chance to recapituiate lately. KNUTSON: I do not suppose there is an adding machine in the committee room that will add up such figures.
 There Is no laughter at this, but that doesn't stop the gentleman from Minnesota, who hits back again.
 KNUTSON: I do not think any one could imagine that sane peo- pie could throw away money the way we arc throwing 1t away now. .. It Is considered one of the great jokes in the House when someone asks, Where are you going to get the money? .. This bill carries an appropriation of one and one-half billion dollars. The hearings con- sist of 378 pages. A year ago the Appropriations Committee brought in measure appropriating, in round figures, one and tnree-quarter billion dollars for the same purposes. Those hearings consisted ot BIO pages. At the rate the Appropria- tions Committee is saving money on printing, it will not be long before we will not have any printed hear ingS at all.
 That was about the highlight of . the debate on how to spend bil- lion and half smackers. When it came to actual passage. they didn't even count noses. It was a voice vote, and orly one congressman voted against it, Marcantonio of New York, the American Labor party'S lone representative.
 As Speaker Raypurn announced the passage there was a slight clapping of hands, and that was that. After all, this was only the fourth deficiency and supplemental appropriation for national defense, to keep the army and navy going till the first of July.
 For defense, we can shoot the works.