Montgomery County sentinel., 1950-06-01
Congress Two Masters

TN THIS COLUMN i nave. Aotfefed
= a full share of criticism for
congress, and for that | have no
apology to offer. Congress can be
expected to follow one of two leads.
1t will either do the bidding of the
head of the party in power, at the
present, the President, or it will do
what its constituents want it to do.
provided the constituents say what
they want.
To get congress that is trul'
representative of the voters of
the nation, we must express our
wishes to not only one or two,
but to many, and do that in
large numbers.
/ attend fairly regularly the
luncheon session of a service club,
the first purpose of which is serv-
ice to the community, the state,
the nation and the world. But any
talk of partisan politics in that
club is taboo. We never hear nation
al political subjects discussed, but
there are many political subjects
that are not partisan.
Certainly the recommendation
of the Hoover commission are in no
sense partisan. The setting up of
that commission, its long months
of painstaking consideration, and its
findings were not intended to serve
any partisan purpose. But the enact
ment into law of that commissions
recommendations would serve all
the people of the nation, with the
possible exception of the members
Of the senate and the house of rep
resentatives.
To them it means sacrificing
some of their political patron
age, and the only thing that
could be Of greater importance
would be evidence of the de-
mand for the recommendations
by a large percentage of vot-
ers. The organizations that
might have demonstrated that
demand, the service clubs, the
lodges, the churches, and others
did not take any part because
they considered the subject
partisan and political, which 1t
was in no sense.
While it is now late, it is not too
late. The legislation providing for
the enactment into law of those
Hoover commission recommenda-
tions is now before congress. The
bills can be passed before the pres
ent session adjourns if there is
manifested a sufficient demand.
And that can be done if the COM
munity organizations of the nation
will undertake the job. The service
clubs would be an ideal place to
start. Such movement represents
service to all. -.a-e -:Gee
|, The enactment into law of those
recommendations means, for one
thing, simplified government; it
means taking politics out of the post
offices and making of postmaster
ship career job. That alone would
insure better postal service. 1t
would mean the consolidation of
many duplicating and conflicting
departments of government. Even
of more Importance to each one of
us, if congress can be induced to
enact all of those Recommendation
into law, the total savings effected
in the operations of the government
will amount to the staggering total
of close to four billion dollars.
In these days of wild govern
ment spending, such a sum is
one to be seriously considered
as an annual saving. A portion of
the commissions recOmmenda-
tiOns have been acted upon
by congress, but there are some
20 to 30 per cent of them that
have not. And all of them are
needed If we are TO achieve a
maximum result and a maxi
mum saving.
The present session of congress
is drawing to close. If it is to be
effective, action must be had quick
ly. 1t can be secured quicker by
community groups than by individ-
uals. If action is not secured from
this congress, it would mean start
ing all over again in any future
session.
The service clubs could make an
effort to express TO congress the
wishes Of the people.
-
The American commissioner Of
the Marshall plan in Europe, he
who does the spending of our
American billions, could have a
closer contact with the sentiment
of the people of European nations,
including the Russian satellites,
than. many others Of our officials.
His is a dollar and cents contact.
His recent prophecy of a coming
showdown for the Communistic die
tatorship, both Stain and the Polit-
ooro' was encouraging to the Amer
lean people. Such thing could be
true. and he could be the first one
to sense it.
-
Senator Pepper found the people
OF Florida did not appreciate a
sympathetic attitude toward social
ism. and that labor union leaders