| Show brouchart Bru chart charts washington wash ington digest three important problems aroble ms for congress to consider s national defense relief and the railroads are arc if pressing questions this congress will not vote money just hist to please the president by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press bide washington D C washington it if it were possible to close onos ones eyes to tho the tragedy ol of the scene and forget all about the sadness of the world ono one might produce a masterpiece of humor concerning the situation in the notions nations capital this week after the manner of tho the circus hawker one might shout that the greatest show on earth la Is about to open one might call attention to the fact that this show is unlike most others because it has two big tops and one might without stretching the imagination suggest that if you w want ant to understand chrit Is happening or Is about to happen you had best keep your eyes trained on both tents yes in all seriousness thoro tire are shows this winter ono one of them has many actors many voices it la Is to bo be found in the halls balls cl cf con gross on capitol hill tho the man on the flying trapeze never excelled by comp comparison arlion with of the house and senate never were there better clownish acts than are staged andua annually uy in those chambers instead of vocal applause and much clapping of at hands however the th 10 octora in tho capitol hill circus wont want applause in the shape of votes they want to have the homo home folks approve now concerning tho the other tent there to la only ono one actor but he controls many charlie mccarthy McCar thys lie ile used to operate a puppet show ile he made his actors perform so oo won well that they became known as rubber stamps but an election has intervened some of tho the strings that controlled puppets have been broken others havo have become knotted and the master actor probably has I 1 somewhat more critics in his andl audience than ho he formerly had national defense and the railroads serious problems and so GO wo we get down to cases president noo roosevelt sevelt will oner offer to cop congress gress in a 0 few days his program for building up the national defense ite ho will tell congress as well what tho the needs of the destitute are and how he conceives hat fiat they must bo be met As a third great problem and probably tho the most difficult as well as aa at 0 concern to every one ot of us there Is the question of what to do to save the railroads of the country no official seems to have found a proper or sane solution but to me it appears that the time has come when national action Is called for in a much more concrete form than the intellectual liberals surrounding the white house are accustomed to advance in bringing about the more abundant life trains run on money oa as well as steel and if tho the owners do not get sonic somo money very soon there wont be more than half a dozen d 0 zen rail lines in the country that have escaped bankruptcy in addition to these problems we are likely to see competition bo be tween the two shows for same some very juicy jobs of course these concern largely the north ring of tho the capitol hill circus namely the senate which must confirm presidential appointments before the act Is completed it Is not too much to expect that there will bo considerable difference of opinion lori between the white house and the senate over a good many of at these selections ahert Is always tho the annual mess of appropriation bills work has been started on many of them by committees which have charge but it should be remarked that the work has been only started it Is by no means for in these money bills this year there aro are tons and tons of hot air there are not enough rubber stamps to bring a majority vote it if as and when wanted like it has been tor for the last several era sessions in other words in tho the forthcoming session unless all signs fall there will be close scrutiny of appropriation bills Cons Cong resa resit wont vote money aloney just to please the president from present indications I 1 be 1 bileve it may basald be said that mr roosevelt will get money butof out of the current session of congress only when the congress decides lt it desires to vote money it will not vote money just because the president says money shall be ba voted further it appears certain that there will be no more mare blank check eions the end has come for that I 1 sort fort of thing hereafter one may expect that congress will have its say as to io what Is done with the money where and how it will be spent in other words there is such intense hatred of P U re ne liever harry hopkins that the bulk of ih the congressional membership is awaiting an opportunity to clip liar harrys rys wings as the worlds words greatest spender tp ender and it might be added just here too that thore there are cov certain senators and representatives who would rather welcome a chance to take p klapat the whole new C W ideal dear filat setup not noi to mention a sido side wise smearing that thereby would bo be given the president it must bo be remembered that mr hopkins JS ia mr Roosevel ts closest friend and adviser this national defense program about which tho the administration has been doing so much talking has its merits I 1 believe As far as aa I 1 havo have talked with oMel officials als with students of international affairs with foreign representatives I 1 find none who Is happy about the prospect it Is if a straight out challenge to tho the demoa eracles of the world that has been waved by hitler mussolini and the others dictatorship Is feeling its oats with communism on the ono one hand and F fascism on tho the other thero there surely Is need for prepared neso and that Is what mr r noose oos volt velt Is proposing big navy helps to keep foreign sf statesmen rational it looks like a tremendous waste of money because hundreds upon hundreds of millions will bo be spent for or ships for aircraft for fortifications I 1 always have felt that a big navy avy the more mero presence ot of it helped help keep boino some greedy and ag gres sive foreign statesmen in their right senses the change in war methods that has como come about from development of the airplane re quires that our air force bo be strengthened all of these things must bo considered but if they were not to be considered I 1 have two other reasons for believing the president Is on the right track I 1 witnessed the terrific waste ln in the tha attempt to build a war machine in 1017 and 1018 it it Is built up according to plans without haste by people who know their business we wa will at least get something for or our money which wo we in 1017 those who have ever visited the james river in virginia surely will agree with that statement at ter they have seen several thousand bouts boats built for war purposes rotting to the waters edge without ever hav ing been used the second reason to bo be men cloned Is that expenditure of money tor for this type of construction la Is going to mean jobs it will take many people oft off 0 at relief relict again surely it Is worth more to have something substantial built than to have strong men raking up leaves or building privies before the debate on the defenso defens 0 program la is over of course there ther 0 will be charges that mr roosevelt has set up a hobgoblin of fear ho he will be charged with having proposed ilia defense program to distract attention from his failure to help business out of its slump there Is some truth in that but there Is truth in the reports that we are not protected as a nation end and thai our army and our navy would be like a terrier fighting a police dooin dog it we should have to mix it with tiny any foreign power railroad picture important aj ad Is the defense program the railroad picture Is as important in a dom domestic estle way as Is the i defense program indeed I 1 can not help wondering what our defenso defense program would be like if the rail lines break down I 1 am told that the war department has figures showing that if the railroads war were 0 called upon to haul 25 per cent more traffic frame now than they hauled in 1837 1937 some of the freight trains would be taking short cuts across corn fields and trying to leap over creeks crack some of the senators and some administration officials want to provide additional addition til government loans to the rail lines to help them build up their rights of way that sounds foolish to me to loan them more money Is simply to break their backs with added debt they ha have ve all of the debt that they can stand now I 1 have about reached tho the conclusion that an actual subsidy to the railroads may be the best and tho the cheapest thing to do give them cash treat them as other means of transportation have been treated there Is no use denying it for or the government has subsidized water ways it Is giving cold cash to the merchant marine it has subsidized highway construction which in turn er crabbed cra bled the sale of motor cars it has given funds or airport construction st and has construction light ed ad always tor for planes each and every one of these is a subsidy and calling them by any other name does not change the tact fact it would seem to me therefore that it if the administration and congress were to vote a plain subsidy of a couple of hundred million dol dollars larsa a year for say three years they would be rebuilding an industry we must Inus have for or pence peace as well as war the funds could be granted for use lite on rodd roadbed beds and buildings g 0 western western newspaper union |
