The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1943-12-16
WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, d. c.

WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, D. C.
Unless miss my guess badly, as
these lines appear in print, num-
Der of senators and representatives
will be going through one of the
most nervous nail-biting periods
they have ever experienced.
When the antisubsidy bill passed
the house with such an overwhelm-
ing majority-enough, If the vote
held, to pass it over the President
veto-a lot of congressman were be-
ginning to worry. They were Won
dering: If the measure really does
become law, will the ghost which the
President has cqnjured up really
walk?
Imitation is that ghost.
Nobody wants imitation.
Memories are long enough to re-
member how short the long green
shrank after the last war. Suppose
there came to pass what all the high
brows and the low-broWs were pre-
dieting would. that if you lifted the
lid just l-e-e-t-l-e, it might blow
off, members of congress had begun
to ask themselves.
The memory of the boys selling
apples, the memory of mortgages
foreclosinR, the memory of Mister,
have-you-go t-a-dime?" began to stir
in many a dormant corner.
Strange Phenomenon
1t was strange but not an UNI
accustomed phenomenon. The phe-
nomenon of the congressman torn
between what the particular group
which dominated his constituency
wanted and what he felt honestly
and sincerely was the best thing for
them in the long run. That doubt
began to stir. 1t was an interesting
thing to pass through the halls of
the Capitol and Of the House and
Senate Office buildings and talk to
these men. You could almost see
the spectre rising behind them. The
spectre of initiation pointing its fin
ger at them.
Whenever you run into someone
whose business it is to feel the pulse
of congress, you get the same reac-
ton | have just pictured. Members
of congress are worried. They don't
want to be blamed for imitation.
And that is why now, at this mo-
ment, when the fate of the Commod-
ity Credit corporation (which nearly
everybody wants) would seem to be
sealed by the triumph of the anti
subsidy provision, such fate may not
be SO certain.
When this subsidy fight started,
| wrote in this column that the adj
ministration realized itLhad one Of
the hardest fights it ever had ahead
That there seemed to be absolutely
no compromise in sight.
The other day, a man, wise in
the ways of congress and beholden
to no party and, SO far as | know
in the years have known him, new
er a prepayment of any measure (his
business is to be neutraD, said to
me: "Wait and see, somebody like
Senator Taft will come out with a
compromise.
Well, | have waited and perhaps
by the time you read this you will
also have read that somebody like
Senator Taft has produced the
compromise.
II not, the administration so
called "hold the line" policy will bite
the dust.
See how the congress has struck
| at almost every brick in that wall.
Treasury Department
The treasury said: you must tax
the spending money out of the pock-
cts or you'll have initiation. The con-
gress passed tax bill that would
raise about a fifth of what the adj
ministration said was necessary.
This disregard of treasury's advice
was due only In part to a lack of
respect for Secretary Morgenthau' S
tax theories. And everybody blames
the President for that. He doesn't
have to keep Morgenthau in his cab
met, even if he was good neighbor
up there on the Hudson. But con-
gress wouldn't have taken anyone's
advice on that subject.
The congress threatened to stop
the appropriation and authorization
for the Office of Price Administra-
ton. 1t managed to consider bills
to take away OPA's powers, bit by
bit, to maintain the ceiling on coal
and on oil.
These are just a few of the many
efforts to shake loose the war re-
straints. Congress has reflected,
honestly enough, the feeling of the