Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-26
BY FRANK Il. KENT.

It would be fine, Of course, If
while the war is on, all political
considerations could be banished
from the minds Of our rulers and,
without regard to parties or cleo
tons, every energy be concentrated
on the conduct Of the war. That
was the idea promulgated right after
Pearl HarbCr. Nearly all our public
men from the President down pro-
claimed it as their own.
But, it just does not work out
and for a number of reasons. One
is that, even in great crisis, poll
tiCianS capable of rising to so high
a plane are exceedingly rare. There
may be a few such here, but they
certainly are not il positions of
power either in the executive or
legislative branches Of the Govern
ment. Even if there were, it would
be an exceedingly difficult thing
to do.
Our normal political processes,
very properly, have not been sus-
pended and the fact that we had
an election last fall certainly has
not interfered with the conduct of
the war. On the contrary. there is
very good argument that loss of
control of Congress by the admin
istration has had beneficial results
More Minds on Politics.
The fact is that the resumption
of its independence by the Con-
gress is the only effective correc-
tive to administration arrogance,
laundering and wastefulneSs. With
out that, there would be no check
on the excuses toward which so
many of the new agencies tend.
In this and some other respects
congressional post-election politics
up to the present has worked we'll
from the public standpoint. Whether
this will continue remains to be
seen, but one thing is certain
politics will be increasingly in the
minds of everybody here as the
1914 conventions, now hardly more
than Is months away, approach.
This is natural and inevitable.
Evidences Of this multiply both
in the administration and in Con-
gress. If each politically stimu-
lates the other to action in the ma
tional interests the outcome will
be fortunate, indeed. Unhappily,
however, there are indications that
the rivalry between the President
and an independent Congress may
become a rivalry in demagoguery
rather than a rivalry in statesman
ship. If, instead of striving to out
do each other in service for the gen.
eral good, each tries to outma-
neuver the other in appealing to
certain class interests and pref
udices, the effect will be bad.
Tax Jockeying Seen.
Some observers feel that this
sort of jockeying is even now going
on with the tax situation. On the
one hand the administration is still
opposing the sales tax. Neither its
opposition to the Ruml pay-as-
you-go plan nor the Presidents
most recent $4,000 income limit
gesture are based on sound fiscal
policy.
When analysed, the s25 900 pro-
posal would affect so few people
and bring in so little revenue that
it becomes more than a little alb
surd. The former is so sound that
the administration is compelled to
accept part Of it anyhow. 1t SHES
away from the complete proposal,
not for fiscal but for quite obvious
political reasons.
On the other hand, there Is obVi-
Ously a disposition in Congress to
meet politics with politics. Sena-
tors and House leaders say they do
not intend to let the administration
put Congress in position where
it can be demagogically accused of
legislating in behalf of the upper
brackets and unduly burdening the
lowest income group. In brief, both
sides are considering this vital busi-