The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-12-14
have a Congress-"
"MULEY BOB" DOUGHTON

MULEY BOB" DOUGHTON
The other day, Congressman
Bob Doughton Of North Carolina
asked me to come up to see him.
He was pretty irked over a story
had written that his tax vote
was influenced by Johnny Hanes,
former Under-Secretary of the
Treasury, whose family has bene
INFLUENTIAL in North Carolina
and helped to establish one Of
the big tobacco companies.
Congressman Doughton, who is
80 years old and simultaneously
one OF the most patrarchal and
fortnight men N Congress, had
a lot of things to say about me
some of them none. too pleasant.
He agreed thoroughly with the
President of the United States re-
garding some explosives hurled in
my direction and indicated that
FDR didn't 60 half far enough.
He also said that so many
people had called me names that
no one ever believed what they
read in the Merry. Go Round. /
replied that, If that were true,
no one would believe what I had
said about Johnny Hanes in
fluencing his vote.
After the fireworks had sub
sided, We sat down and had a
really good talk, during which
Mr.. Doughton thoroughly con-
cinced me that Mr.. HaneS had
not influenced his vote, and fur
thermore that not even the
not even the President of the
United States could influence
his vote unless "Muley Bob"
found that the Presidents views
conceded with his own carefully
considered conviction.
Also I became convinced-aS
I sat in Congressman Doughton's
office looking over his pictures of
the past-that the newspapers
had missed great story about
a great figure who has written
more tax bills than any other
man in history.
On his walls and In his mind
as we talked, appeared the
names of other great Congress
sional authors Of revenue bills
Claude Kitchin, who wrote
the tax bills for Woodrow Will
son; JOsepsh FOrdney of In
diana, cO-authOr of the famous
FOrdney- Met omber tariff act;
Serene Payne of New York, CO.
author Of the Payne-Aldrich
tariff act; Willis Hawley Of
SmOOt-Hawley tariff act--and
So on down the line.
All had been chairmen of the
Ways and Means Committee.
which frames the tax bills and
raises revenue to meet the
mounting costs of the government
of the United Staets. This COM
mittee is so important that no
member is allowed to sit on ony
other co1mittee of the House.
Most of the chairmen have
worked themselves to death, have
become i'll after few gruelling
years Even today, two Of the
veteran members, Representatives
Treadway of Massachusetts and
Cullen of New York.
TOUGH JOB TODAY
But Bob Doughton, despite the
grind which has worn down most
men, seems as fresh at 80 as he
was ten years ago and he has
been chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee for ten long
years, the longest of anpy man
in history. He even gets up at
500 in the morning and Is in
his office by TOO.
The days of Fordney, Payne
and HaWley were heaven COM
pared with what Doughton faces.
About all they had to do was in
crease the tariff and let foreign
imports pay the cost of govern
ment - regardless of the inter-
natlonal consequences. In those
days, q "BilliOn Dollar Con-
gress'' was something to shout
about. Now 1t is a Forty
five Billion Dollar Congress"
The present Ways and Means
committee cannot fall back or
some Of the easy money-raising
panaceas of the old days. It
doesn't even want to fall back
on the sales tax, and Doughton
is just as tough against the sales
tax as he Is against more taxes
on tobacco. A sales tax Is
what the big tax lobbyists of the
United States Chamber of Com
merce and kindred institutions
want most. Also, they want aboli-
ton Of re-negotiation. by which