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Show Economic . f Highlights Industrial News Review Happenings that Affect the Dinner m ; I Pails, Dividend Checks and Tax ti-'' Bills of Every Individual. Nation- 1 , : al and International Problems In separable from Local Welfare. m 0O0 uj Generally speaking, industry and business always wish for short , congressional con-gressional sessions. So long as the nation's lawmakers are at work, in- ! lis dustrial leaders, uncertain as to the ills trend of legislation, must mark time for the most part. The present con-Jtt con-Jtt gress has business leaders worried and perplexed. Time and again they ;nice have said that the best thing that could happen on behalf of industrial expansion would be for congress to (i wind up its business and go home. :': Up to a few months ago it seemed iQo possible that this might occur but the outlook has changed tremendously tremendous-ly since then. It is inevitable that the current session of congress will J. I last far into the summer. The con- ilf gressional calendar is burdened with a vast amount of unfinished busi-j,ess. busi-j,ess. Here is how the slate stands now, insofar -as the most important bills are concerned: Social Security Legislation Has ? ' passed the house, is being debated in the senate, where it is meeting with "5 1 considerable opposition. Some senators sena-tors feel that it is ill-advised; others, 9 k who would normally back it, fear that it is unconstitutional, in the light of the supreme court's decision in the .i Railway Pension case. Banking Bill Passed by the house, J is now in senate committee, where it faces the stinging criticism of Sena- lOf tor Glass, founder of the Federal Reserve Re-serve system. Every banker in the country, large or small, seems to be aga'nst the bill they constantly re- p9 iterate that, if it passes, the banks of the country will become political footballs, and may be used to further the political fortunes of whatever administration ad-ministration happens to be in power. Holding Company Bill Was hur-r'edly hur-r'edly passed by the senate the other day after a resolution, which would have changed it to a regulatory ra- ; ther than a destructive measure, was sa defeated by a single vote. It is now in the house interstate commerce committee. com-mittee. Irrespestive of the commit- UEli tee's report, it is certain to meet with : i a great deal of criticism on the floor. It is said that congressmen have received re-ceived more than 1,000,000 letters from voters in opposition to this bill. Further, the quest'on of constitutionality constitution-ality is being raised against it, following fol-lowing the supreme court's declaration declara-tion of principle in the NRA case. ' ' Enlargement of the Powers of the Tennessee Valley Authority This t : bill, wh'ch would give the TVA al most unlimited powers, has passed the senate, is now in the house, where it is finding the going rough. Recent (Continued on last page) Economic Highlights (Continued from page 1) disclosures of Comptroller - General 1 McCarl concerning irregularit'es in the administration of TVA affairs is causing many representatives to hold out against giving the Authority further fur-ther powers. Regulat'on of Motor Buses This administration-backed bill has also passed the senate, is now in the house. It seems to have many supporters sup-porters and few unprejudiced opponents; oppon-ents; will probably pass in the present pres-ent form. It will subject buses to the same kind of regulation now exerted over the railroads by the I. C. C. Amendments to the Agricultural Adjustment AdmVstration Act Will shortly come on the floor of the house for debate, where they will be passionately advocated and passionately passion-ately opposed. AAA constitutionality is also an issue. It seems a safe forecast, fore-cast, however, that the AAA, when it comes to a vote, will have more backers than enemies, due to admin-istrat'on admin-istrat'on pressure, and to the prodding prod-ding of organized farm groups which want AAA benefits and payments continued. Liquor Control and Oil Control Both the Petroleum Administrative board and the Federal Alcoholic commission com-mission were largely creatures of the NRA. When the NRA was thrown out, they lost author'ty, and at present pres-ent the government has no control whatsoever over Tauor or oil. Practically Prac-tically everyone believes that it is necessary to replace these bureaus with rew and legal ones but everyone every-one also seems to have a different idea of just how the laws should read. When the legislation comes up for debate, congressmen will spend many days talking about 't, unless ' the administration is more than normally nor-mally successful in putting its views into law. NRA The National Recovery act has been extended until April 1, 1936. But the present set-up of the Blue Eagle would be hardly recognizable to its former friends. The codes are gore. The famous or infamous sect'on 7-A is gone. Fines and other penalties are eliminated. The present NRA asks for voluntary agreements iby industry to keep to its provisions. It is not a law, but a resolut'on, without with-out any legal power behind it. Its thousands of employees still remain on the publ-'c payroll. Business has almost unanimously said that it will j maintain NRA hours and wages pro-ivis'ons, pro-ivis'ons, will voluntarily fight the sweat shop and the profiteer. oOo During April, farm income totaled $507,000,000, a gain of 31 per cent over April, 1934. For the first four months of the year farm income is 12 per cent in excess of the same period per-iod last year. |