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Show KAJ Xgy drew Pearson am limVi ni iirlliililirt Block Housing Dili ONE OF THE MOST IMPOR TANT VOTES In the closlni days of congress was held In strict est secrecy, though it affected sev eral million people. It was the vot of the house rules committee to pre vent the housing bill from reachinj the floor of the congress where othe. congressmen could vote on it. How ever, this column has now obtaine that secret vote. J The Taft housing bill, with provl slons for slum-clearance and low cost housing, had long before passe the senate. It also passed the housi banking and currency committei after Congressman Jesse Wolcot of Michigan pidgeonholed it fo. weeks. Finally it went to the rules com mittee, which has the power to de cide whether any bill can come ba fore the full house for a vote. Ant j j that was as far as It got. Whit thousands of veterans waited fo: 'long-promised housing to mate rialize, six Republicans on tin rules committee voted thumbi down. Naturally they tried to keep thcii names secret. However, here is th roll call of the six men who flnutet the will of the majority of congres and wouldn't even let 400 odd othe congressmen vote: Leo Allen of Illinois, chairman chair-man of the rules committee; James Wadsworth of New York, who while voting with the real-estate real-estate interests on this, simultaneously simul-taneously demanded that young men be drafted; Edgar Cheno-weth Cheno-weth of Colorado; Ross Rlzley of Oklahoma whose law firm represented some of the big natural nat-ural gas companies while he authored a rate-increase bill for the gas companies; Forest Harness Har-ness of Indiana; and Robert Rich of Pennsylvania. Two Democrats present voted foi the housing bill: Howard Smith o Virginia and Adolph Sabath o Illinois. That was how the Taft housini bill containing the hopes of mil lions was buried. One Interesting gentleman whi walked out at the last minute of thi housing bill was Congressman Gen Cox of Georgia. Cox is a key man of the rulei committee, claims to have grea influence. Before the vote cami off. Cox sent a telegram to his homt district promising to support thi housing bill. But just before the vote came Cox, got up and ducked out of th rules committee. News of his run out, of course, did not get bad home to his home voters. Woman Gets FCC Post ONE OF THE FEW Truman ap pointees to be confirmed by th senate during the last-minute rusl of congress was Miss Freida Hen nock, the first lady ever appointee! to the federal communications com mission. Miss Hennock was con firmed not only because of her abil ity but because of her amazinj frankness. Called before the Republican dominated interstate commerct committee. Miss Hennock, appoint ed as a Democrat, told the sen ators: "I'm against you and I alwayi have been. I have done my best tc collect money for Roosevelt and have probably taken a lot of good Republican money away from what you wanted to collect." "Do you know anything about radio?" asked one Republican sen ator. "Only that I've raised a lot ol money for radio programs foi Roosevelt," replied Miss Hennock. Senator Brewster of Maine want ed to know what Miss Hennoch thought of Mary Martin of Maine, who last year was considered as a possible appointee to the FCC. "I didn't know her," replied the lady Democrat from New York. "But I think that women haven't had nearly the recognition recogni-tion they deserved since they got suffrage. If they have brains and ability they should not be penalized merely because they wear a skirt." The amazed senators, taken back by Miss Hennock's frankness, isked many questions, all of them :ourteous and friendly. When the rearing was over, the prospective ?CC commissioner told the com-nittee: com-nittee: "You're much too nice. I hope you don't confirm me and that rou'll call me back here every week." But they didn't, they confirmed ler right away. Politics in Education E. B. NORTON, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER COM-MISSIONER of education, has re-! re-! signed in a huff over political cen-: cen-: lorship. He is sore at energetic )scar Ewing, new federal security jdministrator, who is the over-all kjss of the office of education. Ewing was former vice-chairman of the Democratic national nation-al committee and is an all-out Truman man. Another resignation resigna-tion in the offing Is that of Educational Edu-cational Commissioner John Studebaker himself. |