Evening star., 1946-01-11

ooAAo LiCoouA Go 4IUill COull1S OuG Oll
the floor where they can be dis
cussed and voted on.
This business of smothering bills
IN committee is nothing new. 1t
has been going on for many years
and has been denounced many times
before. But these committee smoth-
erings do not always thwart the will
Of Congress. Sometimes members
Of Congress are exceedingly glad to
have a committee chairman spare
them the necessity of going on rec
ord for or against an awkward con-
troversial proposal.
Works Both Ways.
Sometimes it works one way;
sometimes the other. The reason
Mr.. Truman now inveighs against
the practice is because some of the
bills composing his program are
being held up.
What am asking" he says, 'is
that these committees at least give
the representatives of the people
a chance to vote yes or no on
these vital issues" That is an ab-
solutely reasonable request. And it
is good to have Mr.. Truman so
unequivocally against these obstruc-
tive and indefensible tactics.
And having thus gone on record
as to the wickedness of committees
smothering. his own bills, certainly
consistency compels him to be
equally against smothering of other
general bills. If he thinks the rep
resentatives of the people" are
entitled to a chance to vote Eyes"
or mo" on his own bills, he must
believe they are entitled to the
same chance on all other bills of
national scope and concern. And
that, of course, means that any
effort of the Senate Judiciary Com
nittee to pigeonhole and thus kill
the Hobbs antiracketeering bill
will meet with his stern disap-
proval.
Killed in Committee.
This measure, which is not in the
least an antilabor bill, but merely
seeks to establish the principle that
labor unions are not above the laws
against robbery and eXtortion in
obstructing interstate commerce. has
twice passed the House by over
whelming votes. The first time it
was killed in the Senate Judiciary
Committee by exactly the practice
Mr.. Truman now indicts.
The organized labor lobbyists are
insisting that it be killed in this way
again. Their whole idea is to pre-
vent "the representatives of the
people" from getting a chance to
vote on 1t because of the very clear
conviction that it would surely pass
If they did.
A somewhat similar situation ex-
lists in connection with the so-called
financial responsibility" bill, which
seeks to impose the same sort of
financial responsibility on labor
unions to which other organizations,
corporations and individuals are
subject. This is the sort of legisla-
ton on which Mr.. Truman's pred
ecessor, Mr.. Roosevelt, over a
perlOQ O1 years, IuSeu ulS pelSOlldl
influence with House and Senate
committees to prevent favorable
congressional action. The union
lobbyists counted on his help in
snothering bills undesirable from
tkeir standpoint and generally
got it.
Increases Prospects Of Report.
1t Is fine to have Mr.. Truman go
on record in the way he has. It not
only precludes the President from
conniving and encouraging the
smothering Of important bills, it
puts him squarely in opposition to
the practice in principle. Undoubt-
edly, if he presses the committee
chairmen, all of them members of
his own party, he can get yes" or
a mo" vote on his own bills. Un-
doubtedly, too, he has diminished
the chance that the Judiciary Com
mittee will be able to kill the Hobbs
antiracketeering bill by refusing to
report it.
The prospects that both it and
the financial responsibility" bill will