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Show NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS ( , Written (or The Telegram By Ray Tudor WASHINGTON Congress is having one paroxysm of uncertainty uncer-tainty after another as it moves toward adjournment. Leadership is lacking. Joe Robinson is sorely missed but even he could not have wholly mended a situation caused by six months' delay which the administration consumed con-sumed in pressing the court bilL Fsrm and labor legislation hangs In the balance at the eleventh hour. The farm program is practically prac-tically hopeless no agreement on any bill Wags-hour legislation faces obstacles and ambushes. So the two big special interest blocs are disappointed and resentful. Members are scrambling to put through their personal measures. On the president's program they are badly split Part of the split can be charged to deliberate sab-otage sab-otage by Democrats who are trying try-ing to break F. D. R,'a grip on their party. In emergencies F. D. R. has usually made some audacious move that has given him the victory. vic-tory. This party mutiny creates an emergency different from ethers that he has mastered. It calls for more expert knowledge of congressional psychology than was necessary when F. D. R. had a aubservient majority and practically prac-tically no insurrectos was necessary neces-sary when F. D. R. had a subservient sub-servient majority and practically no Insurrectos in bis party. His critics say that since the court bill defeat he has seemed to be puzzled in dealing with congress. They now think Joe Robinson was more Influential as a presidential advlssr than appeared on the surface. sur-face. Yet In capltol cloakrooms It's generally expected that F. D. R. will execute one of his sudden and brilliant coups. The chaotio farm and labor bills, with defeat hanging over them, must have his personal attention. Senator Pat Harrison's deadly thrust at the wages and hours bill ia not attributable to disappointment disap-pointment ever his defeat for senate sen-ate leadership, according to insiders. in-siders. He was dragooned into that contest he was already a leader, without a leader's responsibility. responsi-bility. He remains more influential influen-tial than Leader Berkley. Nevertheless, Never-theless, his attack en the wages and hours bill was chalked up by many people as an outburst of antl-F. D. R. feeling. Senator Bilbo, Harrison's Mississippi Mis-sissippi colleague. Isn't thanked back home for defeating Harrison. Harri-son. Missiastppians have found ' out that Leader Joe Robinson was skipper of the biggest gravyboat in new deal times. Arkansaa haa drawn down millions and scores of Arkansans hold fat federal jobs, thanks to Joe. Now it's assumed that tha lion's share of the gravy and jobs will go to Leader Berkley and Kentucky rather than to Pat and Mississippi. A growl by the lion of Idaho aent both sides scurrying for an agreement on sugar legislation. Borah threatened te tie up everything every-thing unless sugar beet relief was forthcoming. It wouldn't have been a one-lion filibuster, either a whole menagerie waa ready te start the rumpus, and maybe It will yet. At present tt appears probable that the enly farmers who will get special relief thle year will be sugar beet growers. Leaders Berkley and Raybura don't dare to fix a date for adjournment ad-journment for fear of a filibuster. The makings of a holdup are available in the labor bill, perhaps the court bill and in other measures meas-ures greatly desired by F. D. R. His six-assistant bill was kept in suspense, to be used against htm If expedient Members said there was an agreement with Joe Robinson Rob-inson that no part of the executive execu-tive reorganization program should go through at this session. The supreme court question Isn't disposed of yet A nomination nomina-tion to fill the Van Devanter vacancy va-cancy could reopen the controversy, contro-versy, which now has Democratic political angles. Or failure to aend in a nomination could atir up a rumpus by senators who Insist In-sist that F. D. R. has no authority author-ity to treat the vacancy as one happening during recess. These senators can't prevent his postponement post-ponement of action, but they could make a recess appointee extremely-uncomfortable extremely-uncomfortable next winter. Because of Senator Mlnton's move to change the court bill in spite of the general understanding, understand-ing, fresh bitterness has been a routed which would spend itself ! upon almost any individual the president might nominate for the court This individual would be the ostensible target, but F. D. R, would be the real one. Many southern Democratle senators sen-ators have parted company with F. D. R. They will make trouble for him whenever they can. While open and secret warfare continues In Washington, Chairman Chair-man Farley makes apeechea breathing reconciliation and party ' harmony. It's a situation that doesn't make sense and the anti-F. anti-F. D. R. crowd ridiculea Farley for what they describe as a reckless reck-less waste of soft soap. These antis ars convinced that F. D. R. isn't seeking party harmony. They believe he is organising a Roosevelt Roose-velt new deal party and is expecting ex-pecting the Democratic party to fall in behind him. They don't like his program. His movs against the supreme court permanently perma-nently antagonized them. Partiality Par-tiality to non-Democrats In distributing dis-tributing patronage infuriates them. All these factors enter Into the situation that makes 'for chaos in congress. Add to this party feud the fact that southern Democrats really believe their section Ik threatened with disaster by labor legislation, failure to provide against a alump in cotton, etc, and the uncertainties attending hangover legislation become understandable. un-derstandable. . The harassed president has other pressing mattera to attend to. He isn't finding much enthusiasm en-thusiasm among cabinet members In cutting down expenditures by 10 per cent The grim old bureaucracy bu-reaucracy that haa always strangled stran-gled retrenchment is getting In its work. It has also baffled F. D. R. in reorganizing departments, just as it baffled Harding and Hoover. F. D. R. can't put his finger on every bureau chief who belongs to the tightest union of all the Union for the Protection of Federal Jobs. Congress has been very liberal in appropriations, aa F. D. R. demanded. de-manded. Now the jobholders want that monsy distributed, and not maybe. It's not in the cards that this money should be returned to the treasury. Apparently the Spanish and far eastern fracases are not linked, but some of the foreign envoys are wondering, just the same. One of them said tha outburst in China would engross the attention atten-tion of the soviet, which might suit the plans of Germany and Italy If they contemplate action la 8 pain. A general board admiral said he wished the U. a was well out of the Philippines. He also remarked re-marked that whenever foreign conditions seemed to call for cooperation by Great Britain and the United States this country always came out the loser. (Copyright, 137, for The Telegram.) |
