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Show Buck Is Passed On to Congress President Tires of False Criticism; Responsibility Now Lawmakers' By EARL GODWIN WASHINGTON. I'resi.lent Roosevelt has stood enough false criticism about his failure to carry out his economics as promised, and is placing plac-ing the responsibility where it belongs be-longs at the door of congress. Headers of this column recall that on several occasions I have defended the 'resident on his economy econ-omy program, and pointed out that congress alone is responsible for economy or lack of it. A President can propose a program of tax raising rais-ing or money spending, but only the congress can enact either one. The first Roosevelt congress enacted en-acted an economy bill which reduced re-duced the running expenses of the established government 25 per cent. That was in in:;:S. In the next year the same congress wiped out the economy act over Roosevelt's veto. That congress then went home, and most of the members were re-elected. The people approved what they did although I Imagine the average aver-age voter had no idea what had happened. This re-elected congress listened to the American Legion rather than Roosevelt, and passed the bill to pay the bonus now instead of when it is due in 19-15. Furthermore, congress con-gress has fired a succession of bills at the White House calling for money outside the budget, and when Roosevelt refuses to sign congress sulhs. Ihis administration planned to run the regular government with a 25 per cent cash reduction, and to meet the emergency of the depression depres-sion and its hunger-stricken millions mil-lions by borrowed money. The President's message of January 6 balanced the budget; the bonus payment pay-ment and the Supreme court's AAA knockout unbalanced it. Now comes the President with a tax plan that will balance it again, for it must be plain to all that there are but two ways of balancing a budget either less outgo or more Income. Congress Con-gress refuses to pinch the outgo, so unless it raises the income the treasury will have to borrow more money. PROTECTS NATIONAL CREDIT Roosevelt knew that the credit of the nation could be expanded to a point where we could carry a $75,-000,000,000 $75,-000,000,000 debt and not be In danger; dan-ger; but he stops far short of that. People " thought Roosevelt was a spendthrift but he is going to show them that he knew how and when to borrow how and when to pay cash. By adopting a cash and carry car-ry policy he is now carefully protecting pro-tecting the nation's credit, sponsoring sponsor-ing policies to revive Industry while considering the moral obligation to care for the unemployed now getting get-ting scant attention from the state governments and from Industry itself. it-self. From pspiidn-eronomic sources comes the demand that government expenses f"i relief be now cut or wiped out. Liberty league which has in It members of congress who yell for economy but voted to over ride the presidents economy act. Many cries for economy come from thrifty New Englanders who would be the first to protest a real cut i which would knock millions from the ship building program of the navy; for New England shipyards are getting much of that business and feeling the prosperity of the navy payroll. Twenty million dollars dol-lars of public works money outside the regular naval appropriations have been spent in the shipyards of Massachusetts alone; and every one of these projects has been endorsed and received with joyous cries of welcome by the same flinty-hearted politicians who yell for "economy." It does not make sense. A great middle class of merchants are demanding less spending and most of them are continuing In business, are out of the red, and are experiencing what Harding called normalcy, all because of the public works and relief expenditures, plus the tremendous impetus to recovery by the Reconstruction Finance cor poration. Government aid discontinued discontin-ued now would mean nationwide ruin. One delicious bit of evidence of prosperity Is that pointed out by Roosevelt that there is more than $4,000,000,000 In undistributed prof. Its in corporation treasuries; money earned but never given to stockholders. Such things do not occur In financially busted coun tries. That pool of money is In a protected pro-tected spot. Taxes can't reach It unless congress takes Roosevelt's tip and levies a tax on that particular partic-ular pile. Such a tax would drive this money out of hiding Into divl dends, and there would be more money In circulation; which means more purchasing, more business, more wages to workers. G. O. P. IN BAD WAY The Republicans must indeed be In a bad way to talk about running I a Democrat for Vice President along with some good G. O. P. wbeelhorse for President. This Is an evidence of dry-rot. It Is being discussed along with the advice from eminent Republicans that a Republican candidate must promise a "non-partisan" cabinet That is a sugar coated way of saying that If the country elects a Republican he will choose some IVmocrats to run a few departments of government. govern-ment. Now n sure-fire victory ahead for the Republicans would never produce pro-duce such weak ideas as that. If Republicans believe they are sure to win they will never be caught promising a good job to a Democrat. Demo-crat. For a President to appoint members of another party to his cabinet sounds like a coalition government gov-ernment with a strain of compromise compro-mise running through it all, but In this country coalition governments exist only in theory. The President is the whole thing at the executive execu-tive end of the set-up. Cabinet officers offi-cers are administrative beads and cannot effect a change of policy without the President's o. k. A Republican Re-publican President makes a Republican Repub-lican administration; a Democratic President makes a Democratic administration ad-ministration no matter who is In the cabinet. The current talk about the Republicans electing a President Presi-dent from their party, a Vice President Presi-dent from the Democrats, and having hav-ing a piebald cabinet from both parties is plain bunk, but It Indicates In-dicates that the old G. O. P. has lost its pep and is on its way to the Old Ladies' home. STIRS UP HORNETS' NEST Congress picks up a rock and fires it straight Into a hornets' nest when It starts investigating the Townsend old age pension plan tj pay oldsters at sixty a $200 monthly pension ! That plan has between eight and ten million votes behind it, and they have at times scared to death nearly every congressman I have talked to about it. In some dis tricts they controlled enough votes to guarantee victory to any candidate can-didate they supported ; and In several sev-eral districts they apparently had a clean majority. Now any time that a congress made out of politicians poli-ticians goes out to monkey with a crowd like that you may know that someone has put backbone into the entire aggregation. A gallant little band of senators and representatives has contended from the start that the Townsend plan is weak, Impossible, fanatical, insane, and what-not. They are now going further with their charge, and assail the whole movement move-ment as a racket which enriches the managers and will never help a single human being outside the circle cir-cle of Doctor Townsend's campaign organization. Senator Austin of Vermont is one of the chief opponents op-ponents of the plan. His latest contribution to the antl-Townsend-ites is to have printed as a part of the Congressional Record an article ar-ticle severely attacking the plan, written by Donald Richherg, who was until recently the head of the old NRA and its Blue Eagle. Recent defender Is Representative Representa-tive Martin F. Smith, of Washington, Washing-ton, who speaks of the plan as "The strongest, most dynamic social, economic eco-nomic and political reform movement move-ment in the history of America." The basis of the plan is a 2 per cent tax on every transaction, every sale; and the $200 monthly must be spent within the month thus Insuring In-suring (says Doctor Townsend) a perfect avalanche of money for all. But the avalanche Is all In your mind, say still other members. CHEAP ELECTRIC POWER Congress now pushes definite plans to spread cheap rural electric power. The Rural Electrification administration has been dealing with small experiments, but now, with Senator Norris of Nebraska behind the proper legislation, the government will begin to finance concerns in rural communities hitherto denied electric power! The purpose of the Norris bill, which Is an administrative measure. Is to lend money to rural communities, farm co-operatives, and to farmers for generating and distributing plants and electric equipment. It is straight out-and-out government financing of power for folks who have not been able to get it elsewhere. else-where. The bill will, I believe, become be-come a law at an early date, and will be widely and fully explained when the President signs the measure. meas-ure. The widely organized power Industry, In-dustry, representing many billions of investment and receiving hundreds hun-dreds of millions In profits, yearly, will fight with every ounce of Its strength to prevent a spread of federally fed-erally owned or financed electric power. Tile fight of the power interests for a candidate of Its own is responsible re-sponsible for the quiet candidacy of Senator Vandenberg of Michigan, where, according to TVA standards, stand-ards, the electric light and power users are overcharged $34,000,000 a year. Nor does Favorite Son I,an-don I,an-don of Kansas have much to say about the fact thnt the people ol Ms state pay nearly $10,000,000 a year more for electricity than II they were charged TVA rates. Frank Knox. Illinois' favorite son seems, so far, to ne coni-nt wltt the fact that Illinois Is charged nearly $fA000.000 more lor pnwei (that Is the state of Sam Insull) than TVA rates. Western Newspaper Union. |
