Show t i r t washington f digest mgt topics detec pe tec by WILLIAM BRUCKART P f washington the ibe best laid plans plain of mice mica and men will go off at a tangent it seems congress even when one pois balky lotical party Is numerically meri cally in supreme control of the national government ern ment president roosevelt called congress into extra session cession with very definite objectives outlined and he repeated them in his regular ines message sage on the tate state of tho the union lie ile wanted crop control legislation for relief of agriculture and he wanted wages and hours controlled by federal statute for the relief of 0 labor but congress or a part of it has turned out to be a balky mule it has one foot out of the tracts traces already and the driver I 1 Is having baving a lot of trouble to keep th the animal hitched the tie above is by way of saying that scores of democratic members of the house and many senators with seats eata on an the majority side have come back from a summer on the bu hustings stings quite convinced that it is 11 not popular with the voters to be a rubber stamp I 1 do not mean by that statement that the president has lost control of his party machinery or that he can not crack the whip and get things done I 1 mean that instead of having a few trants arants within his own party to deal with he now has many and members of congress are about like coyotes coyote their courage increases as their number increases it might be mentioned in passing thatah that at least hau half a dozen democratic members of the house have come back bach from home with plans to run tor for their bartys nomination to the senate next year the reason reacon given by those with whom I 1 have talked la in almost the same in each instance the incumbent senator who is up for reelection election re has been too much of a new dealer our people are calling for something besides rubber stamps these potential senatorial candidates have records showing opposition to the president in some vitally important new deal policies while supporting him wholeheartedly whole heartedly in other phases 0 of his program no one can say how tar far this movement will get gel wt but anyone jhc has observed congresses perform in ID other cases where the president was in his second term can not dismiss the circumstance as without significance it is the usual practice for sitting i members of the house ind and senate to stick close to io thi the president as party leader in his first term because they must seek reelection election re with his support but now many of them regard president roosevelt as through and they are starting early to make their record look good to the voters whom they will canvass next year these tew paragraphs above must serve to introduce evidence of a much deeper tact fact in many imbor tant places and among many powerful or influential men in congress one hears frequent references and observations to this effect it mr roosevelt is 11 going to retain his control of the party and carry through on OB the propositions which he wilt will make from taneto time to time he must east cast aside A part at least of his radical advisers end and the schemes they concoct t As ai I 1 related the president out lined his ahli objectives tor for the special session es sion two or diff different crent three years ago novi nou they would have been received by the representatives and senators with loud acclaim with ballyhoo but in the first few weeks of the extra session there has been just as much condemnation as there has been approval nor can we overlook another phase of the situation not only have many of the men at the capi tol declined to affirm the presidents propositions proposition they have gone in the other direction 1 they have offered programs of cf their own they are prepared to battle for them in politics that sort of a thing often has proved fatal to the plans of the man who then occupied the white while house it may not turn out that way this time but there are many observers tire are sure the president is going to be forced into accepting some come things he did not want ar or does not want just now take the question of taxes for instance rightly or wrongly the Preil president dent Is being blamed for the current business depression and crit criticism of this sort is rolling up like a snowball going down hlll hill it is being void that two tax levies which were forced through congress are largely responsible the tax on en undivided divided profits of corporations and the he capital gains tax are used as horrible examples of these unsound policies fostered by mr roosevelt well the president is responsible to the extent that he approved of them they were the product however of some at 0 the dozen or so peek peck a boo artists to whom the president frequently has listened as advisors I 1 think tt it has been gene generally dem that the two taxes in question have been ruinous especially to the small business it Is equally true I 1 believe that business must be given some consideration if it ever is to get on a sound basis again and that it ought to share attention of legislators with labor leaders even though business has fewer votes in any event the burdens which the new deal admittedly has placed on business are serving ns the me springboard for a part of the democratic majority they can properly fight for these things and easily be too busy to push the presidents program through so the presidents plans have gone astray they may remain that way or they hoy may go even further de pending upon how long the backward slide of business continues of one thing you may be sure partly through his own fault and partly through the fault of the type of advisors with which he has surrounded himself mr roosevelt does not h have the confidence of as many members of the legislative branch as he formerly held 0 0 0 it is a little early to attempt a report on prospects for the regular session of con looking gross gress that con forward venes in Ja january yet since it Is quite evident there will be nothing in the current extra session beyond crop control legislation even that 1 I 1 believe we might look forward a bit one of the things now evident li Is the position congress will take on relief for destitute and unemployed I 1 believe I 1 see a battle coming in I 1 that direction it has been apparent during the last two years that congress was dissatisfied with the relief system built up by secretary ickes and the professional reliever relle vcr harry hopkins works progress administrator the requirements especially for the hopkins machine have been met with what has come to be called blank check appropriations that Is congress has passed a bill appropriating two billions or three billions or whatever was thought necessary by mr hopkins Hop kini etwas 1 was lust just as simple astvat as that congress had no strings on tho the money seldom was vai told a great deal of the details it was money to feed and clothe the destitute now however some observers think they detect a change they believe they see signs that congress will put an end to the blank check method of handling relief As far as S anyone knows now the president again will twill ask for a huge sum to be distributed for relief through mr hopkins and that is when the battle lines will form congress therefore will be faced again with appropriation demands to provide food mon money CY and clothing and for relief likely ely the request tor for the funds will come from mr roosevelt as here tor lor a lump sum cum if the number favoring the dole grows to any considerable extent there may be a reversal of policy whether the president wants it that way or not you see ee in an election year land and all house members and 30 odd senators face election canvasses again next year it ignice Is nice to be able to say cay to the voters that they are re calving something at the hands of their representative or their sena tor the candidates can justify a break with the president easily and with business sliding backward as is the case now there will be plenty of relief needed for unemployed again the voters can be told that they are being given charge of these relief expenditures and that they no longer will have to watch washington bureaucrats waste the taxpayers money on the horizon there fore it is possible bleto to see the line of cleavage between the new deal and the old line democrats leading to elimination of the dangerous lump sum appropriation and a restoration to of relief ministration into the hands of local authorities there Is one further consideration in the general relief situation that attracts attention I 1 think it is rea to assume that the far flung relief machine which mr hopkins his has built up Js is permeated to the core with political appointments it Is only the usual political procedure and is not confred to the present national administration assuming therefore that there Is such a political machine it Is hardly open to question that it is a roosevelt machine the picture then becomes clear since numerous members of the house and senate want to control their own political destinies they want control of the organizations tor for relict in their own jurisdictions further iier roosevel Roo Raci seven evea should want to seek a third term nomination those democrats who want to oppose him would be quite quile powerless it if they had to sit idly b by and witness Roos roosevel eveh delegate 4 pach picked ed from weir their own a i western newspaper union |