Show SE Nan N NH an ane e H L i l RD ia Il a and nd tl e NATI N NATIONAL ONAL APITA y Carter CarterField Field Not Wash Washington Not Not much has been heard icard lately about the purge of democratic senators who opposed the White House on the Supreme court ourt enlargement On the contrary President resident Roosevelt has bas been holding holding hold- hold ing ng out quite a few olive branches to the he northern and western Democrats important Issue but who agree with hIn on most of his New Deal pro- pro po als The answer is II simple The Pres- Pres PresIdent dent Ident is Is' Is worried about possible strength at the 1940 Democratic convention of bf the southern louthern He knows knowl that his opposition tIon on to the northern and western opponents op op- of his court plan drove those lose senators into alliance with the Southerners and he does doel not want that hat alliance made permanent So within a few days daYI no one need neede be e surprised when Senator Durton Burton K Wheeler the one opponent of the court ourt plan whose attitude was resented resented re- re more than that of any other othery by y the White House is announced as s conferring with the President In n fact the subject for this conference conference confer- confer ence nce has already been selected It wIll ill be on the railroad situation Wheeler being chairman of the senate sen- sen ate te committee on Interstate corn com I merce coerce But there is another reason why the talk about a purge has died away way It develops that plenty of thick hick and thin tried and true per er cent administration senators may have troubles The Tie latest is Senator Kenneth D. D McKellar of Tennessee This comes closely losely on the news newl that Senator Alben Alien Al Al- i ben ien W W. Barkley of Kentucky whose selection election as al Democratic floor leader I PresIdent resident Roosevelt forced by a majority of one vote after putting on n pressure and pulling every wire he ie could mani manipulate Is In lD danger In both these cases casel there Is i. no rumor of an anti administration n upstart upstart up- up start tart taking the scalp of a good New Deal eal senator Both the aspirants In n these cases Governor Gordon Browning of Tennessee and Governor Gover Gover- nor tor Albert B. B Happy Chandler of i Kentucky are ardent supporters of President resident Roosevelt In fact Chandler Chan Chan- Her dier was wu elected over over ver a nonconformist non con with all the strength the Farley Far Far- Farey ley ey organization could bring to bear Bad Medicine But Dut it is bad medicine for the morale of the administration forces in n the senate and house to have the word get round that even the most devoted following of the White WhiteHouse louse House on every issue is no tee ee that the follower will be returned reo re- re turned to power when his term ex ex- pires And it is slightly embarrassing embar ember rassing to say the least to the White House for it to be known that the he lena senator tor it picked to lead It its I forces in the upper house may be thrown out Especially when th the theman theman man defeated by that White House pressure Pat Harrison was the last time he faced his voters by something like a three to toone toone toone one majority despite the tion of his own colleague Then there are some other other bad spots Governor Herbert IL It Lehman Leh man of ot New York phom Roosevelt once called his hil good right arm arm Is getting setting sourer lourer and sourer lourer on the New Deal And now spies are tell telling telling tell ing the Great White Father that his own choice for governor to succeed succeed suc suc- Lehman Robert H. H Jackson might not be elected if It nominated They whisper that he has bas no politIcal political pout ical seal sex appeal whereas Attorney General John J J. J Bennett Jr fairly reeks with it IU There are no cases yet of a a Republican Republican Republican Re Re- publican making a real threat anywhere anywhere any any- where nor even of some rabid anti anti- New Deal Democrat frightening the faithful But there are plenty of in the existing machine all calculated to encourage senators lena sens tors and representatives to play safe sate when measures that their own constituents may not like are dema demanded demanded de de- ma ded by the White House Nobody Likes Likel It The proposal by Commonwealth and Southern Southern's president L L. that the government buy all the privately owned electric utilities utilIties util util- in m the Tennessee valley field accompanied by the suggestion of thi machinery for determining the price promises to cause more irritation irrItation irrl tation and trouble among the pro pro- government ownership and anti anti- utility groups In Washington than anything which has so 10 far devel devel- The truth is that nobody tikes likes it It Is 11 mighty hard bard to criticize and that combination is ie an annoying thing to happen to anyone David E. E Lilienthal most molt ardent yardstick yardstick yard stick man in the TVA TV could find nothing further to la say than that Willkie's proposal was radical If had not proposed a aboard aboard aboard board or rather suggested how the board that would determine the price be b. selected be he would have Invited a barrage of cf criticism There would have been lots of talk about asking the government to pay for water and air plenty of speeches peeches about Wall street financing Ing ng etc But the head of Commonwealth and nd Southern has bas apparently learned something about Washington during his hll Is long controversy versy with TV TVA A. A Ha lie sacrIficed a lot from business trading methods in his offer but what he gained by putt putting In a his opponents ODthe on OD the he spot For It Is II very hard for a radical to o criticize the idea of a board composed composed composed com com- posed of three men one to be appointed appointed appointed ap ap- I. I pointed by the company one by President resident Roosevelt and the third by iy the Supreme court Especially now ow that the Supreme court has a liberal majority And especially as Hugo lugo L. L Black Dlack for years one of the most rabid of the utility a aman aman aman man who believed In reading private prIvate vate ate telegrams of all and sundry inthe Inthe In Inthe the hope of discovering some lome utility propaganda against the death sentence sen len tence ence when that was Wal pending in congress Is il now now a member of the court Put tit in a Dilemma So Winkle puts the government Ina ina in a dilemma To accept his hIl offer isto Is Iso to o admit that government action is and nd has been frightening Investors from rom putting their money into util- util ties That fastens the blame squarely on the government for the I failure allure of the utilities to spend that billion dollars a year additional for forthe forthe forthe the last three years yearl which President President President dent Roosevelt and the securities commission and the power commission commission commis- commis sion lon think they should have spent Further Furth r it knocks the tho props from under the Roosevelt contention that the operating companies are allright aUrighi all aU right ight but it is 11 the wicked holding companies controlling the operating operating ing companies that prevented this ills spending pending just as a lobbying measure to force repeal of the death sen sen- tence ence But to reject his offer Is to make the actual picture worse so far as these same investors are concerned con con- Which again puts the administration administration ad ad- ministration squarely on the spot as being responsible for the depresSion depression depres sion or at least one of the important tant according tant-according according to Its own expressed expressed expressed ex ex- pressed judgment reasons judgment reasons for the depression Surprise Reverse Passage of the federal housing bill It was generally agreed at the time President Roosevelt called the special session of congress on November No No- November vember ember 15 last was the one thing congress could do quickly to con coo contrIbute contribute tribute to the employment situation and to help business conditions The President had other plans in mind for that session One of them was the wages and hours regulation bill blU Also he wanted to get a start starton on his pet government reorganization tIon bill and generally clear the ground so as to the legislative legislative legis legis- bill blU in the regular session But there came the surprise reverse reverse reverse re re- re- re verse for the wage-hour wage bill and no one on Capitol Hill really thought any progress would be made on the reorganization bilL General opinion ion was as that special session convened convened convened con con- that just two things would be accomplished 1 congress would rush through the housing bill and 2 congress would crystallize its Id Ideas as on the impending tax re re- vision But here Is Janu January ry of the regular session slipping away with the special session passed Into history and the housing bill just agreed upon upon upon up up- on in conference There were various various various va va- rious excuses one of which was that the father of the bill Senator Robert F. F Wagner of New York has not been well The trouble was over one of those peculiar combinations of politics and saving face which so 10 often arise hi m any governmental body In this case it revolved around the amendment amend amend- amendment ment introduced by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr of Massachusetts and accepted by th the senate And it was the discarding of this amendment amend ment meat that made conference agreement agreement agree agree- ment meat possible This amendment merely provided that no mortgages should be approved approved approved ap ap- ap- ap proved and brought within the scope of the act unless the prevailing rate of w wages had been paid In the construction construction construction con con- of the houses thus mort Not So Simple Sounds fair and simple doesn't it Itt Well so 10 it did to the senators the day young Mr Lodge proposed it But its it's far tar from simple In fact the h housing experts in m the administration administration ad ad- ministration stated frankly that the amendment if enacted would simply sim- sim ply make their program unworkable able that able that congress might as well not pass the bill at all Why was it so 10 difficult to straighten straight straight- en this thing out saving Face Is s the answer Senators and representatives representatives do not like to vote against provisions for prevailing wages It would sound lound bad when the op op- opponent opponent talked about it in the next primary or election Too many people would get the impression that the representative so voting was against fair tair wages Worse than that in lD this thia case it would put the union leaders and their lobbyists In m a hole bole The truth is 11 s that while the building trades have been beeD pretty tightly organized they have concerned themselves chiefly with larger types of building construction con con- public public buildings hotels hotell office buildings apartment buildings buildings build build- ings bogs factories etc They haven't haven bothered much about the folks folkl who work on dwellings If H they were union men fine if U they were not DOt the union organizers organizer often looked theother the tha theother other war way The game lame wasn't worth the candle candIe and there ther were too many odds job chaps who could to o a little scabbing O C Bell BeU Syndicate Service Barytes |