Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-02-10
By HUGH S. JOHNSON

By HUGH S. JOHNSON
THE lease-lend bill, as it passed
the House amended. carries
a lot of meaningless window
dressing but it meets one princi-
pal objection of those whose
only real opposition was because,
in its original form, it almost
completely transferred the power
of the purse from the Congress
to the President.
An unqualified power to dis
pose of any commodity
$50 for defense which the
United States has or here
after acquires title, possession or
control would have been power
to give away all the gold in that
hole in the ground in Kentucky,
all the silver at West Point, all
the surplus stocks of farm pro-
duce owned or controlled by the
United States, all the army and
navy equipment we now have OF
illdy llCl Cdl ltI dCQulics
IT HAS been said that no such
L power was intended or would
ever be used. So-well, why
grant it? The good faith of the
administration in disclaiming
any such wide purpose or intent
was pretty well evidenced by
permitting the amendment limit
ing the value of certain defense
articles to be disposed of pro
cured from funds heretofore ap-
propriated shall not exceed
81, 300, 100000"
Of course, there is no limit on
future appropriations, but as to
them CONGRESS- still keeps the
power of the purse" The i'm
portant point is that without
that amendment the total field
in which this authority could
have been executed might have
exceeded so billion dollars. What
is it now?
AS to articles procured from
funds heretofore appropriated"
guns, planes, ships and the
like-clearly it is 1.3 billions of
dollars of value. But how about
that gold hoard of billions for
example? Was that procured
from funds heretofore appro-
priated?"
TT WAS procured in many ways.
1.-The bulk of it was not procured
from any funds appropriated. A
miner brings new gold to a mint
and for practic al purposes
sells it.
1t is of itself the basis of
money. The government issues
money for it. No appropriation
is necessary. The amendment
does not restrict the President
in disposing of such gold-the
foremost article of defense" To
much of our vast hoard, the 1.3
billion limit does not apply.
A similar objection applies to
other commodities which were
not procured from funds here
tofore appropriated"-a field too
complex to discuss in this linn
tied space. I am informed by
some congressman in charge of
the legislation that the 1.3 bill
lions is limitation designed to
cover all these things, and that
if it does not it will be made to
do so.
If that is done, it would de-
flate IS per cent of the valid OBJ
lection to this bill. 1t is hard to
see why it should not be done.
The obscurity as to the true eff
feet of the limitation in this
regard is very real and this is
no time for obscurities.
THE amendment requiring con-
L sultation with the army and
the navy staff chiefs is pure
hekum and, in q sense, an affront
to the President. The caution that
nothing in this act authorizes
the convoy of other vessels by
naval vessels is worse than
meaningless and ought to come
out.
Under existing law the Presi-
dent can convoy American YES
sells - except in combat zones.
He ought to have that author
ity. That is what the navy
is for.
Under existing law he could
not convoy foreign vessels-ex-
cept by violating the spirit if not
the letter of his authority
which ought not be assumed.
The time limit June 30. 1943),
except as to commitments. does
not mean very much. That is
time enough to give away or
commit our shirt and pants. The
amendment permitting terminal
ing of these powers by joint reso-
luton was necessary to prevent
granting extraordinary powers
by majority vote which could
not have been retaken over a
veto without a u vote.
Much has thus been done to
reduce this legislation to the
bounds of prudence. necessity
and reason. It is not enough,
but it is a great step toward
. unity. liberation and intelligent
Use of the democratic institu-
n 1@L