| OCR Text |
Show t WEEKLY A.if.S ANALYSIS UY JOSI I'll W . LnBIME LatoTerm Congressional Bolt Looks Like Foretaste of 19 10; G.O.P. Expect Victory in House f KJJlTOK' S NOTE When opinion are expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Itelejsed by Western Newspaper Union. CONGRESS: Cct Out of Toini As congress nearer! term's end. Franklin Koosevelt sat at his Hyde I'ark cottage with Democratic Chairman James Farley, talking and thinking. He could afford to do both, also to wish congress would get out of Washington in a hurry. Reason: The New Deal was being ground underfoot unceremoniously and indiscriminately in a manner that boded ill for any 1910 campaign plans the President might have. Moreover, everything indicated the f f. f i t MARY NORTON She might have stayed abed. poisonous Republican upsurge of recent weeks would rise to new heights in 1940. Expecting the 49 additional seats they need for a house majority, hoping for 16 new senate seats to make themselves a formidable minority, Republicans had the makings of a persuasive argument against the President's third-term ambitions. For if this happens, neither Mr. Roosevelt nor any other New Deal President could do much. Equally important was what had already been done, not only by Republicans Re-publicans but conservative Democrats Demo-crats who found strength in coalition. coali-tion. The record of one week's in-surgence: in-surgence: Labor Board. New Jersey's Rep. Mary T. Norton got out of her sick bed to swallow bad medicine. Strongest foe of the bill offered by Virginia's Rep. Howard W. Smith to investigate the national labor relations re-lations board, she examined the record rec-ord and found Mr. Smith had never cast a vote in favor of organized labor. Thus, when the house voted 253 to 135 to probe NLRB and (by custom) to place Representative Smith in charge, she felt justified in charging that he was "the last man in the world to pass on labor legislation legisla-tion or problems." New Deal poison here is that NLRB's alleged shortcomings short-comings publicized this summer and next winter will focus attention on the White House. Hatch Bill. Passed by both senate sen-ate and house, the "clean politics" measure of New Mexico's Sen. Carl M. Hatch is designed to keep relief out of political hands, and vice versa. Far more significant is that portion which forbids federal office holders from participating in national na-tional political conventions. Since 400 jobholders attended the 1932 G. O. P. pow-wow, and considerably more the 1936 Democratic convention, conven-tion, it is obviously the custom for pro-administration wheelhorses to write platforms and make nominations. nomina-tions. Thus the New Deal will suffer suf-fer at next year's Democratic convention con-vention because Mr. Roosevelt's best supporters may be absent. Logan Bill. Passed quietly by the senate, this measure gave federal courts power to review acts of all federal quasi-judicial bureaus (like NLRB), striking the most severe Japan s Victory I v I I V I & I f ! In preliminary discussions at Tokyo, To-kyo, British Ambassador Sir Robert Leslie Craigie recognized the necessity neces-sity of extraordinary Japanese defensive de-fensive measures in China, and abandoned Britain's program of aid to China, marking an about-face ol British policy in the Far East that will pave the way for ultimate Jap domination of all China and expulsion expul-sion of British (and probably other western nations') commercial interests inter-ests there. blow at agencies created since 1933. Result; Administration and executive execu-tive pover would be badly crimped. Though last-minute senate reconsideration reconsid-eration was possible, the bill was a cinch to pass if it reached the house. Lending. Labeled by critics the "pump-priming bill of 1939," the President's pet $2,800,000,000 lending lend-ing program fell to $2,490,000,000 passing through the senate banking committee where Federal Loan Administrator Ad-ministrator Jesse Jones became so exuberant in his praise for the bill that his tongue slipped. When he told the committee Reconstruction Finance corporation could handle the program two years with its present pres-ent borrowing authority, smart Republicans Re-publicans jumped into the breach with a suggestion: Why, then, should congress bother legislating an entire en-tire new program when the same purpose could be accomplished by giving RFC a few new loan powers? In a sense this proved a Godsend; such action would put a hasty end to the last major measure still before be-fore congress. That done, the President's Presi-dent's friends could get out of town until next winter. DOMESTIC: Nose Count On August 15 someone in St. Joseph Jos-eph or Marshall county, Indiana, will hear a knock on his door. The 1940 census will be under way, tested test-ed at a cost of $20,000 prior to the most complete statistical inventory of the nation's resources ever attempted. at-tempted. Not until April will the official count be made by 140,000 enumerators working two weeks in urban centers and four weeks in rural areas. But from preliminary Indiana surveys the department of commerce will pick key questions. No. 1 aim of the 1940 census is to check social trends. Since the depression changed social and economic eco-nomic status of most U. S. citizens, special emphasis will be placed on the following points: Employment. Status of every citizen citi-zen over 14 years of age during the week of March 24-30 will be checked, answering queries of many federal agencies. Fertility. Great changes in reproduction repro-duction rates among regions and in social classes have taken place since CENSUS CHECKER AT WORK She'll record social trends. 1929. The census bureau hopes to verify its hunch that few U. S. cities cit-ies are reproducing themselves. Internal Migration. Depression brought big population shifts as people peo-ple sought new jobs in new places. Not only will the 1940 residence be checked against 1935's, but the bureau bu-reau will specifically check an away-from-the-farm movement. Education. Replacing the customary custom-ary illiteracy question will be one asking the highest grade of school completed, since illiteracy's problem prob-lem is rapidly disappearing. MISCELLANY: Recall Recalled In Michigan, 80-year-old Gov. Luren D. Dickinson added a radio speech to his earlier warning about sin and high life evils, then took his critics by surprise to endorse heartily heart-ily a recall petition circulated by Detroit Republican John B. Corliss Jr. The petition was withdrawn. . . . Her Sorrow Meanwhile Japan's economy already al-ready sorely pressed by the long war in China suffers from an unprecedented unprece-dented drouth in central and southern south-ern areas, threatening the all-important rice crop and causing a shortage of hydroelectric power. The electricity shortage is especially serious se-rious because Japan needs power for her speedup program of key industries. in-dustries. And funds ordinarily going go-ing for war purposes must be used for farm relief. EUROPE: Wohltat and Dove Sailing across the English channel chan-nel one hot July day were Germany's Ger-many's Dr. Helmuth Wohltat and the Spectre of Peace. Headed for conversations with Britain's R. S. Hudson, secretary for overseas trade, the man who cemented Rumania's Ru-mania's pact with Germany last spring needed only to wink his eye before European peace rumors began be-gan sprouting like wild oats: 'Positive' Plan. First rumor came from a "reliable informant" who o I ' " SECRETARY HUDSON Peace flew with his visitor, said Secretary Hudson would ask Germany to disarm in exchange for a large British loan to transform her industry from a war basis to a peace basis to hammer her sword into a plow share. Germany's war-lost colonies col-onies would either be returned or internationalized. The reported loan: 1,000,000,000 pounds. A few days later lat-er London papers discovered Mr. Hudson actually had made unofficial loan proposals to Herr Wohltat. Foreign For-eign office, London newspapers and Commons immediately howled for his resignation. Siren of Berlin. With French-Polish-British solidarity apparently an actuality, there is every indication Germany is "testing the atmosphere" atmos-phere" with one thing in mind further fur-ther appeasement. One government spokesman said Berlin "rejects a warlike solution" to the Danzig problem, thereby inviting peace conversations. con-versations. Nothing is definite, only the time-tested "give-us-what-we-want-and-there-will-be-peace" formula for-mula which has never failed Der Fuehrer yet. Philadelphia Plan. From its Washington Wash-ington bureau, the Philadelphia Inquirer In-quirer published mysterious news of a five-power plan which had leaked from diplomatic circles. The plan: Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland would get 25 years of peace by (1) returning Danzig to Germany but leaving it a free port; (2) putting put-ting Italy on the Suez canal board; (3) neutralize African territory opposite op-posite Gibraltar; (4) guarantee all existing frontiers; (5) limit armies to 300,000. Within 24 hours every nation concerned had denied the rumor and gone back to its mid-summer grumbling. Denials notwithstanding, rumors would not float with such utter abandon aban-don without some inspiration. International Inter-national observers took them as a good omen of peace conversations, but shook their heads in fear of more British appeasement. ' . . . Her Worry I rS i 5.-' ' " . ' Jap Ambassador to Russia Shi-genori Shi-genori Togo (shown with wife), shadow boxes in Moscow with a touchy issue. Jap and Soviet troop; are fighting bitterly on the Outer Mongolian - Manchukuoan border, while closer home Tokyo refuses to pay fines assessed against Jap coal and oil concessions operating on the Russ portion of Sakhalin island. Warships and troops stand ready for an emergency. Neither nation will give an inch. |
