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Show Washington The members of the 7 6th Congress Con-gress had not got their chairs well warmed after reconvening for their second and last regular session ses-sion before it began to appear that there is stormy weather ahead. Neither the Republican opposition opposi-tion nor a considerable portion of the President's own party showed an inclination to be guided by the implications of the President's annual an-nual message and the recommendations recom-mendations in his budget message which followed it. The annual message on "the state of the nation" dealt almost entirely with the European war and the possible repercussions of international affairs upon our own domestic economy. The President's Presi-dent's budget proposals included recommendations for many governmental gov-ernmental purposes, partucularly in work relief and farm relief, but advocated greatly increased expenditures ex-penditures for the army, navy and air forces. Out of a total estimated expenditure ex-penditure of $8,400,000,000 the President asked Congress to provide pro-vide an additional $1,800,000,000 for national defense, the largest single year's expenditure for that purpose in our peacetime history and the largest single item in the budget. To provide that amount and do all the other things which the Administration thinks should be carried on would run the cost of government for the next fiscal year up $2,176,000,000 above the estimate tax revenues. The President proposed, however, how-ever, that Congress find ways of raising $160,000,000 in new taxes, which would still leave a deficit of -1,716,000,000 for the year. That would necessitate borrowing more money, and if the program I (Continued on Page Five) culation. So far the estimates of tax revenue are largely guesswork. guess-work. The last thing most members mem-bers of either House want to do, if it can be avoided, is to increase taxes. And the agricultural pressure pres-sure block is prepared to make the political lives miserable of those who vote for any curtailment curtail-ment of existing farm benefits. Trade Afiiwinent Controversy Another point in the President's message on which sharp controversy contro-versy seems likely to develop on Capitol Hill, probably earlier than on the other items mentioned, is his request for the renewal of the law authorizing reciprocal trade agreements. This law, enacted In 1934, expires by limitation on June 12 this year. It has been bitterly bit-terly attacked in the light of several sev-eral trade agreements which are repyresented as injurious to the interests of American producers. The party politics of a Presidential Presiden-tial election year figure strongly in all the considerations which will govern this session's debates and acts. Part of the opposition to the reciprocal trade agreements, for example, has its foundation in THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON (Continued from Page Three) worked out exactly as planned the national debt at the end of the year would be within a very few million dollars of the statutory limit of 4 5 billions. Difference of Opinion The points at which the sharpest sharp-est differences between the President's Pres-ident's ideas and those of many Senators and Representatives of both parties occur are, first, the relative importance of the defense program and international affairs generally by comparison with our own international economy; 2nd, the political undesirability of increasing in-creasing taxes in an election year; and third, the inexpediency, for the same reason, of reducing farm benefits. The question of what the United States is going to defend, and against whom, is being asked by the desire to put Secretary Hull "in bad" as a Presidential possibility. pos-sibility. Washington now generally general-ly credits the statement attributed to the President that Mr. Hull is his personal choice as Democara-tic Democara-tic nominee. . That presupposes Mr. Roosevelt's Roose-velt's decision not to put himself forward for a third term, a decision de-cision which the shrewdest observers ob-servers here now think he has reached. Mr. Hull is regarded by many Republican leaders as being perhaps the most difficult opponent oppon-ent for their candidate to beat, since he propably could hold in line the element of Southern Democrats Dem-ocrats who would not stand for an out-and-out New Dealer. Gov. Stryker Mentioned Careful obeservers now regard Paul McNutt as out of the running, run-ning, and believe that the Democratic Demo-cratic candidate will be somebody whom Vice-President Garner and (Continued on Page Six) I critics of the national defense program. pro-gram. More than four billion dollars dol-lars for military preparedness has been appropriated in the past two years, and the enlargement of the navy, the army and the air forces is well under way. There is certain cer-tain to be sharp debate on the new items in the President's defense program. The present inclination is to defer de-fer any sonsideration of new taxes until after March 15, when the income in-come tax returns for the last year will be) available a? a basis for cal- THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON (Continued from Page Five) Mr. Roosevelt can both stand for, possibly Governor Stryker. of Missouri. Mis-souri. Talk of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas has been revived, re-vived, especially since the latest polls of public opinion show Thomas E. Dewey to have gained greatly in popular favor among Republican voters. It would be good Democratic strategy, many believe, to pit a young man of 42 against a young man of 38, if Mr. Dewey is the nominee of the opposition. op-position. Senator Vanderberg has gained in popular favor among Republicans Republi-cans lately, and Senator Taft lifted lift-ed himself in the estimation of political leaders by accepting the President's challenge to show how the budget could be balanced in two years, in a speech which many consider the most statesmanlike utterance by any candidate so far. |