| Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart national press wa Wahl neton D C washington A week or ten days ago the file name of frank 0 lowden was ins scarcely ulias draft perea around where lowden politicians ered they talked about the forthcoming national convention and they mentioned governor landon of 0 kansas col frank knox of illinois sen arthur of michigan and others but never was the name of lowden mentioned in the short space of a fortnight there has coyne come first a whisper of the name of lowdon lowden then a mention of him as it a possible republican nominee and finally a full voice that approximates a draft lowden movement A few weeks ago I 1 reported to you in it these columns that the prospects were very good for the republican national dional convention to turn to a dark horse there was no name at that time upon which anyone could pin a prediction tion but there were circumstances undercurrent in character that seemed to point the way to the nomination of a man not then in n the forefront of political prognostications of course alth the republican convention delegates delegate 3 pledged and here there and everywhere it Is possible for almost anything to happen but my Inform information atlon Is that the leaders desire most of all to avoid a bitter battle they wish to avoid the very thing which new deal political strategists have been seeking to foment only the final ballot will tell the story of course hut but it does appear at this time that the republican leadership may display some good horse sense and seek to accomplish a nomination without splitting their party wide open this draft lowdon lowden movement has come on with almost startling suddenness as I 1 have indicated above it has resulted from the fact apparently that sir air lowden while he be was governor of 1111 illinois a number of years ago and since that time has built up for himself a record as a friend of a agriculture kicul thus the strategy would woul W s seem eem to be that the republican leadership Is turning to a man who con can give president roosevelt a 1 run for his money in the farm belt states As far as I 1 I 1 know mr lowden has not been consulted respecting the nomination In it would seem however that it if he were nominated he be would accept des despite the fact that he has not sought the nomination in any way nor has he been very active in politics since lie ho sought the nomination for the presidency in 1920 it was ivas on that occasion it will be remembered that he rind and the late general leonard wood foight through into a convention deadlock and warren 0 harding arding II of ohio finally fir ally was nominated as a compromise candidate it Is difficult to see how the conservative serva tive element clement in the republican party could refuse to back mr lowden and it Is equally difficult to see how the farm representation and the liberals in the party could withhold their support when the lowden farm record Is considered but all of this represents subject matter that must awalt await convention action because after all there are still other candidates who have blocks of delegates behind them rind and they may be unwilling to withdraw unless they are satisfied with the dark horse that finally trots out onto the convention platform a a one hears more and more discussion in washington these days of the tax muddle in which tax president roosevelt muddle has ats found himself I 1 think it Is fair to say that his prestige has surf suffered ered considerably sider ably from the way his proposed tax increase was handled bandied and I 1 think it Is the general consensus that this years tax bill was a proposition to which the president gave too little thought sometime in the future the history of the new deal will be written in a clear and comprehensive manner the story then will show in retrospect that which we can hardly understand now the good and the bad in the bewildering adventures attempted under the he policies of reform and recovery I 1 beneve believe those who write that history will dwell upon the 1030 1936 tax legislation as one of the important political weaknesses eak developed by mr roosevelt As far ns as I 1 know there has never been a public off official lelal who has been entirely consistent at all times in his methods and policies mr roosevelt being human has been inconsistent like all of the rest and there was no reason to expect that he would be the one exception despite the fact that some borne of his followers maintain that he cannot make mistakes but to link the tax legislation with tle fact that mr air roosevelt Is human let me call attention to the further fact that he has been bold even daring in many of 0 his moves where his bis quick decisions have hate been sound the country has been benefited where he be has made mistakes by acting too quickly his spokesmen have sought to deny that there were errors tho the reason I 1 have called attention to mr Roosevel ts mistakes on the tnt tax legislation Is chiefly to show something of a new awakening on the part of tha general public the way in which the senate took the tax bill that had bad passed the hoube aud and turned turn edIt lit topsy casting out the administrations experimental levy on corporate surpluses pluses shows bettor better than anything I 1 can say how the voice of public opinion again Is being heard in washington the voice odthe of the people so often referred to by the politicians was lioard heard quite clear and strong by the senators rind and the result was a complete reversal of the position which the president desired them to take now the point Is this if ur mr roosevelt had done as he has lone done on numerous occasions he heres could have avoided the point the situation that has reacted unfavorably to him it will nill be recalled that sey several times the president has tried out his theories on various governmental problems and has studied the popular reaction to his trial balloons lie he did not dot do this with the tax tas bill ue ile left the job of drafting the legislation to the treasury and the treasury being populated with a number of men who have no conception whatsoever of business practices arid and care little for american traditions produced a piece of legislation that would have forever prevented any business unit from saving funds to carry it through times of depression the proverbial rainy day in the discussions around washington it Is frequently stated that had mr roosevelt taken his so called tax experts into a room and made them explain the character of the bill they were presenting much of the difficulty would have been averted but he did not use this foresight and the result Is now history lie ile has alienated a considerable sid erable amount of congressional support that he ordinarily could have for the mere asking As the tax legislation stands it Is nothing more nor less than a makeshift boost in rates it has added nothing at all to strengthen the nations general taxation roll rol cies leles it seems to me that the time is ripe for a general study of the tax structure with the idea in mind that a wholesale revision should take place and that scientific methods should be employed we must not forget that we have hate a national debt of more than thirty one billions and that several other billions in securities curi ties are really to be counted in since those obligations are guaranteed by the united states that debt must be paid eventually and the revenue must be raised in the only way that the federal government can get its money namely by taxation the conclusion cl therefore is inescapable that we face heavy taxation and we may as well face the music it may b be e that all of the twenty one billions in tax payments and borrowed borrowe 1 I money which sir air roosevelt has expended can be justified in every respect it may be that jn in future scars cars the nation will be grateful that this era of extravagance Is a part of our history but the fact still remains that when a government or an individual borrows money that money must be returned to those who hold the e evidence vi of the debt 0 0 0 the civil service commission lately has compiled complied some statistics indicating that the merit system la ift U 7 S pay t the it e federal govern roll grows mm ment Is bes being cubed aside at nn fin alarming rate the commissions figures show now every president since arthur in issa has expanded the scope of the classified civil service during his administration until the administration of president Rons roosevelt erelt it would be a list much too long to record here how the number of employees of the federal government has haq increased each year a as the government has expanded but as a matter of his tory it struck me as interesting to see how per cent of employees of the federal government under president mckinley held their jobs under the civil service system and laws and how this percentage increased to per cent under president taft to T 72 per cent under president wilson to per cent under presidents IIa riling and coolidge and to per cent under president hoover hy by the end of june 1035 the number of civil serece sen ice employees in the federal gov government rement amounted to only per cent of the total number and while the civil service commission has bas not tabulated teil the record for this year I 1 understand reliably that the ratio will be about 57 per cent of the total the total number of employees employee ot the federal government has grown consistently since the turn of the century when it stood at in tafts administration the total was president lysons Wilsn ll sons ns first administration employed and then with the advent of the world war the government expanded its personnel to its highest point As the war agencies were the number of employees declined obviously until during the hartling ll arding and coolidge Oo administrations the highest point reached was the hoover er administration numbered i on the pay rolls but the election of president t immediately brought on greater numbers anil an by june 30 1035 1033 there were on the federal pay roll imd this number was waa further increased to at the end of march this year 4 0 western News newspaper union |
