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Show SEEN-' HEARD around the National Capital i By CARTER FIELDS i Washington. Negotiations between this government and France are unofficially un-officially under way looking toward one of the new tariff treaties. The prob lem has been that France was most eager to sell its wares in the United States, but has found what seemed to be Insuperable difficulties in the way of making any concessions In return. In fact, some of our more cynical diplomats diplo-mats commented several times during the preliminary overtures that France was so used to getting her own sweet way with this country she could not understand un-derstand that the Idea of this reciprocity reci-procity treaty business was that both sides had to make concessions. As it is, France will not be able to make any proposals to this country, which would have a chance in the world of being aceppted unless she revises her very definite policy since j the war about being practically self- j supporting so far as food is concerned. I Actually France could absorb a very considerable amount of American wheat, and a far larger proportion of such fruits as apples, with actual net benefit to her citizens. The point Is that the cost of producing sufficient ! wheat to feed the French people and visitors to France Is excessive. It Is accomplished only at a very considerable consider-able cost to the French housewife and the French taxpayer. So a move Is under serious consideration consider-ation by the existing French government, govern-ment, so Washington has been Informed, In-formed, looking to changing this policy. pol-icy. The thought would be to let American foodstuffs, particularly wheat and fruit, In with a rather moderate duty, and thus at one move reduce the present subsidy burden on the French treasury and reduce'1 the cost of bread to the French consumers. Want Cheaper Bread The move would not have been possible pos-sible a year ago. But two changes in the situation have come about In that time. One Is that there has been some clamor about the rapidly rising cost of living in France. Already, to meet this popular sentiment, the French government govern-ment has taken such effective means of dealing with the middleman that the price of meat has been sharply reduced to the housewife. But this is not enough. The people are still clamoring. So the idea of making bread cheaper by reducing the high government subsidy on French-grown French-grown wheat, and permitting Importation Importa-tion of a sufficient amount of American Amer-ican wheat to make up for the falling off In domestic production which would immediately ensue, Is under consideration. consider-ation. This placation of the populace Is second sec-ond only to the urgent necessity of balancing bal-ancing the budget, so as to keep France on the gold standard, on which the government Is determined, if possible. pos-sible. The second reason is that, as the French leaders see the situation, the urgency of the original reason for producing pro-ducing all the wheat France consumes Inside her borders is not as impelling as was the case one year ago. At that time the fear of war in the Immediate future was far greater than right now. Hence the necessity of being be-ing self-supporting on foodstuffs. But Hitler's gyrations In Germany have driven Italy, until then probably France's most bitter enemy, into France's arms, and the fact is that at the moment Italo-French relations are more pleasant that at any time since the armistice. And what with the French wine and brandy makers, not to mention the perfume per-fume men, the jewelry fabricators, and whatnot who are now. due to the high exchange and higher tariffs of America, Amer-ica, unable to sell their wares in the world's best market, there is quite a different feeling about the wheat subsidy. sub-sidy. Negotiations have not approached the public stage. In fact, they probably prob-ably will not for some months. But it will be a feather in this administration's administra-tion's cap if it can assure our wheat growers another market for next year's crop. New Dealers Chuckle Certain Republican blasts at President Presi-dent Roosevelt, Insisting that he tell the American people what he told Upton Up-ton Sinclair in that two hours, so they would understand what he was planning plan-ning and where the country was head ed, have caused loud chuckles from New Dealers here. The point Is that there has never been much doubt about where the New Deal was headed, except on the part of those of whom there are a great many who simply do not believe what they see, much less what they read and ear. And one of those who believed themselves them-selves to be in the dark. New Dealers point out, is none other than Upton Sinclair himself. Otherwise, they hint, how could he have been surprised at Roosevelt's ideas? How could he have thought so many of his own Ideas new, and then learn, as Sinclair said in his National Press club speech, that they were not? For, of course. Federal Relief Administrator Ad-ministrator Hopkins has been doing In part Just what Sinclair proposes to do in California for some time. Not only that, but since last winter there have been the outraged protests of business interests whose toes were trampled on. Some of these activities, and the protests of business about them, were chronicled in these dispatches shortly after last Christmas. Particularly the proposed maufacture of mattresses by unemployed, etc. So far there has been no proposal .in the part of the federal government that the farmers could pay their taxes with farm products, which would otherwise other-wise rot on the ground. But there is a good reason for this omission. Farmers Farm-ers Involved In difficulties of that sort do not pay Income taxes, or any other direct taxes to the federal government Loans to Fanners But the federal government has been doing better than that by the farmers. It has been loaning them money to pay their state taxes. It has been loaning them money on their unsold crops, particularly par-ticularly cotton and wheat. It has been loaning them money to buy seed. And all this for a long period prior to the drouth, and therefore unconnected with drouth relief. And It has been paying them good American currency for such supplies as it bought to feed the unemployed, not giving them certificates which could be exchanged only for some product prod-uct produced by the unemployed In state factories, as proposed by Sinclair. By the same token the federal government gov-ernment laid itself open to the charge of direct competition witli industry by this same difference. Had it exchanged furniture and mattresses and whatnot produced by the unemployed for the food products of the farmers to feed those same unemployed, the procedure would have been more nearly that of the EPIC plan of Mr. Sinclair, and the manufacturers would have had a harder hard-er time making their case. For the answer in either case Is that the unemployed are not buying now, so the manufacturer Is not losing a market when they produce something for themselves. It is only when their product is put on the market that this competition arises and private industry indus-try is hurt. It may be recalled, despite the fact that the episode apparently escaped Mr. Sinclair's notice, that last winter congress specifically disapproved of Mrs. Roosevelt's idea of a furniture factory run by the government for the benefit of subsistence farmers In West Virginia. Congress, after quite a debate, de-bate, refused an appropriation for the purpose. This action was taken on the protests of the furniture manufacturers, manufactur-ers, who would doubtless have been denounced de-nounced by Mr. Sinclair if he had been noticing what was going on In Washington Wash-ington at the time. Patronage Worries With literally hundreds of member of the house and senate fighting either for renominatlon or re-election, calm judgment is that more of them are In trouble about patronage matters than anything else. Yet this situation Is present despite the fact that never, In the entire history of the country, have so many Jobs been parceled out by purely political endorsements of these same representatives and senators. For never at any time since the establishment estab-lishment of the civil service system has that system less to do with filling governmental positions than in the last two years. The destruction of the civil service for that Is what It is if it continues did not begin with the Roosevelt administration. ad-ministration. The evolution has been nonpartisan. It began with what might be called the emergency measures. It came first, so far as "volume is concerned, con-cerned, with the farm board, spreading into the Department of Agriculture, with the Farmers' Seed Loans, etc. Under the direction of Secretary of Agriculture Hyde, the old civil service traditions began to drop Into the waste-basket, waste-basket, as far as Washington was concerned. con-cerned. From that time on it has been a debacle, most, of the new agencies and administrations and authorities set up being specifically exempted from the civil service. Getting a Job It is rather curious that this came on the heels of what had been supposed sup-posed to be a great civil service reform re-form applying its methods of promotion promo-tion and selection to the diplomatic service, except occasionally, of course, for more important ambassadors and ministers. And the "career diplomat" came into his own, to the great annoyance an-noyance of many senators' and representatives, repre-sentatives, who sneered at the spats and canes and "pink teas" (polite names during prohibition for cocktail parties) of the career men. Young men and women wanting government gov-ernment jobs today do not bother about taking civil service examinations, however. how-ever. The procedure is very clear. First one must be ''cleared" through his Democratic county committee. Then one must be certified by his Democratic Dem-ocratic congressman, If there is one. If there are no Democratic congressmen, congress-men, then both senators must endorse the applicant This is the situation in Massachusetts, Massachu-setts, for instance, where there are more Republican members of the house than Democratic, but both senators happen to be Democrats. If the applicant runs this gauntlet successfully, the only remaining hurdle 'is the Democratic national committee, where the eagle-eyed Emil Hurja Is the deciding examiner, acting, of course, for National Chairman Farley. But the curious point about the whole business Is that senators and members of the house fight manfully to get more than their share of appointments, ap-pointments, if possible, yet nearly everyone ev-eryone of them will tell you privately that he wishes to high heaven that the' civil service were airtight, and that everyone knew that'a senator or congressman con-gressman had no influence so far as getting a political appointment Was concerned. CoDyrlg-ht. WNU Berrla. |