Show SEEN HEARD aromnd tha T national 4 capital W dy CARTER bield rI ELD washington upton Sin clairs success or failure in november may easily decide the future of the new deal in washington far more hangs on the fight that his nomination by the democratic party tor for gover cover nor of california opens than either administration or opposition leaders are admitting openly as yet though doubtless before the votes vote are arc actually cast orators in the tha sierras and the coast towns of tho the golden gate state will be shouting it from the housetops to begin with overwhelming success of sinclair may just determine that the democrats keep a strong amstrong enough majority in tho the heuse house of representatives to make sut suie a that the new deal la Is supplied with tile ammunition ot appropriations next nest winter and with the new powers that president roosevelt may aty decide he be needs the democrats now have eleven seats from california and tho the republicans public ans nine A sweep by sinclair might mean that instead of losing nt t least five seats as most do pesters on the house horse had figured the democrat might pick up two or three more A sweeping defeat for SIn sinclair clairon on the other hand might mean the carrying down of any given martof part of the eleven democratic seats now held all of them them being admits admittedly caly in some danger except that held by clarence P F leu lea the importance of this part of the picture lies in the confidence of conservative republican leaders that it if they can reduce tile the democratic plurality over the republicans in the house from to CO 60 or in short if the republicans can gain 70 seats they can defeat all themore the more radical appropriations and all the more radical new proposals proposals of the administration but tile the really important phase far transcends loven ev en the change of ten seats in n tile the house it will be a sign signpost post as to how the country la Is leaning the significance of which cannot be exaggerated consider foreia for example mple what the defeat of sin clalra victory in Noy november ember would be on those sympathetic with the purposes of I 1 the new american liberty league A victory by such a forthright socialist as sinclair in a state sinto so rich and prosperous as california would frighten the followers of jim wadsworth the du ponta pona andyjohn and CJohn W davis to death it would drive them literally to the more conservative roosevelt for protection effect on congress Congre 83 in short shor tIt it would destroy the only serious threat at Roosevel ts tre lire dominance an the only menace to the now new deal and probably would drive roosevelt bowing to tile ali e storm a little farther to the left than be had intended going its effect on every member of the now new congress elect elected edno no matter gifter by w what h at party would be so BO marked that it would be difficult to lo round up a corporals guard to vote against the most radical proposals the president may advance in the next year also it would change the apparent en t 11 ning lining up now going on looking toward the next presidential election it might easily mean that there would be no republican candidate certainly not in the old sense of republican on the other hand a sweeping victory for governor merriam Merrin ni conservative serva tive lve would place a tight cheek check rein on the now new deal it would tend to force very conservative votes 19 the next neit house not only because of its actual effect in changing california representatives but because of its moral effect it would probably drive roose roosevelt elt much further toward the right than he now intends going anait and it would mean for almost if a certainty the nomination against him in 1030 1036 of a comparatively ively conservative Ro republican publican incidentally the administration Is far more concerned about it than appears on tho surface or in any of the news dispatches the merd mere fact ait that the president devoted most of his farewell talk to washington newspaper men just prior to going to hyde park Is the best instance of that those who have studied the presidents handling of the press kno know w that he does not just happen to talk for fifteen win utes on any given subject quiescent investors the possibility that the new organization managed by bouett shouse and sponsored by alfred B D smith james W wadsworth aldsworth ads worth john IV daas and the du ponts fonts will develop an investors bloc Is in a ways way the most in interesting te resting phase of the movement such a bloc has never before existed in this country despite all the constant reiteration of the new dealers now anti and the progressives Progress ives of a few years ago and the radicals before that tho the Ini interests eresli the fact it Is that the th investors Investor sla la this country have never been very vocal in our politics certain large specific organizations yes certain groups as for example tile tho national association of ilan manufacturers ufa operating cooperating co for higher tariff protect protection lod surely but the average holder of a dozen shares or a few hundred shares of stock or for that matter many holders of thousands of shares never have organized to see eoa that their interests were protected some y years e ars ago the richest district la in th the e united states then as aa now the seventeenth district of new york sent a democrat to the house of representatives it so BO happened that during hla his two year term the esch cummins railroad bill was passed seldom has haa a bill been considered by ej agress cna gresa of moro more direct interest to every holder of ra railroad stocks and bonds bonda than this nor was there a single congressional district triestin tri etin in the united states where so many railroad stocks and bonds were held as in the seventeenth new york yet during tile the consideration ot of this measure I 1 le pell did not receive one solitary letter from any of ills his thousands of 0 bli big and tens of thousands of small investors in railroad securities I 1 but when ft hen some gome pleny picayune uno measure affecting florists rame ur up he was deluged with letters the florists had an organization and it vital interest the security holders figured the tha railroad executives would attend ta the problem for them or perhaps they did not give it a thought at any rato rate they write that Is where the new organization may come in if every stockholder in public utilities for exam 1 pie let lef his cori congressman gressman know what he thought about any measure which came up affecting the utilities the results might be very surprising indeed slow irrigation work at a time when because of tho the drof drouth ith irrigation seemed the most desirable thing in the world in the arld arid west work has been held up on several of the most important irrigation projects the rea reason son has nothing to do with the apparent con filet between plowing crops under by direction of one branch of the government while another anether branch Is attempting to reclaim arld arid land it concerns labor problems it has really been due to lack of a definite policy on wage rates public works administration requirements apply with au an exception permitting 40 instead of 30 hours a week but abut rates rate sare are only minimum for two broad classifications common and skilled and ignore intermediate grades rates kates demanded by union labor on projects of the reclamation bureau probably would increase the labor cost one third this means a greater outlay by as original estimates were based on rates raes customarily tom to arlly paid by the reclamation service and consequently the in collecting on farmers notes to phy pay for the job was increased because jurisdiction in any con filet regarding wage rates rests with the labor board of review a proposal that specific wage rates be ba written into all advertisements for bids hits has not been favorably regarded by administrator ickes with the result that the letting of contracts or advertisement for bids has been held up on the grand coulee power dam on the columbia river the huge casper alcova irrigation project on the platte and additional construction on the owyhee owahee project in oregon and idaho milk river la in montana ogden river in utah land and uncompahgre in colorado and many others wage rate dispute comparatively high wage rates paid on the bonneville navigation and power project in washington of which army engineers are in learge cli arge Is the immediate cause of dispute regarding rates on the projects of the reclamation service bo ba cause grand coulee also Is a power project labor contends that the farmers ability to pay day Is not a limiting factor created by president roosevelt prior to hta his departure for hawaii to reconcile any conflicts of jurisdiction or policy among new deal agencies tho the emergency industrial committee composed of donald R ni Iti chberg secretary Perk lils ns general johnson et all al has tackled the wage question that has stymied aled the tha reclamation service at the very timo when activity would have had a profound effect on morale in the drouth area willie while this immediate issue la Is ui III settled the importance of irrigation of storing water to mitigate the hazard of dependency on rain Is a looming largo large in the administrations policy it was stressed by the president during durin g his trip back across the gou country in fact it Is expected that a now new economic study of the drouth region to relate future power ower and irrigation developments to the best beat ultimate use of tile the available water supply will shortly be announced obviously many existing projects project are the result of pressure brought by states and localities individually without reference to develop 1 ments elsewhere such individual istle promotions it Is insisted havo have resulted in a controversial muddle regarding water rights riggs which may leadth lead to legislation by congress next winter defining the respective rights of the state and federal governments streams such as the platte platt flow across state lines every year there ts Is a shortage which results la in contrast feuds between wyoming farmers nod and nebraska farmers downstream so it Is with most streams A national comprehensive ave policy with sound planning Is needed f for the whole pi picture chire but meanwhile lack of labor policy do feats employment alms on big government projects 1 copyright anu service lc |