Show 0 national topics interpreted by willeata Will iata bruckart national Nati press building Waa hIngton D C washington it is often the trick of political spokesmen to let their real feelings become known by a statement t that h a t taxation makes no definite problem reference to the broader policies in which they are interested such a statement was that made lately by sen pat harrison mississippi democrat with reference to what the senate will do on the pending tax bill at least nearly all of the observers here who know the lovable pat harrison were quite convinced that when he said the senate would grant business relief from unfair taxes lie he actually was proclaiming congressional independence of president roosevelt this question of taxation is one with which the new dealers are gravely concerned they are just as much concerned as is business and the country as a whole but they are concerned for a different reason sane minds throughout the country long ago began to beg congress 9 ress and the administration to make changes in the tax laws to permit business to go forward with employment and production new dealers attacked anyone who said that as an economic royalist 0 or tory or some other one of the various things that the new dealers profess to hate after so long a time however the new dealers conceded some changes were necessary and then began the greatest face saving maneuvers yet to be tried by the wishful thinkers when word went to the house ways and means committee that it could make modifications in the two pet new deal tax laws the ageing chairman doughton of that committee followed instructions of course there were seventeen democrats and seven republicans on the committee and that enabled the new deal to carry out its plans for 41 modification of tax laws and to save faces regular democrats and republicans in the committee membership still were in the minority in the house of representatives and the new dealers had their way the tax bill debate in the house nevertheless told of more slaps at the administration that lay ahead at this point in the developments senator harrison enters upon the stage he is chairman of the senate committee on finance his statement therefore that the 1938 1933 tax bill is going to give some basis upon which business can break even at least can be taken as indicative of the final form of that law when it emerges from congress the house under the lash of white house lob managed to hold part of the ways and means committee draft in in its original shape while losing other parts of it thus when the senate has acted and the bill is sent to conference committees for adjustment of the differences it is rather plain to see how democrats and republicans are certain to override new deal face saving 0 0 I 1 have written much in these columns about present tax policies heretofore there harrison js is little need to re speaks out peat the facts which continue to be important factors in the development of the roosevelt depression the assitine assi nine tax on undistributed earnings fathered by the radical prof herman oliphant of the treasury staff has not allowed any corporation po ration to build up a reserve it took all of the earnings of last year a period in which some corporations did make money in a limited way now that the depression is on us again corporations obviously are scared stiff wage cuts are cropping up here there and everywhere and every time there is a wage cut the nations buying power is reduced to that extent but what is an employer going to do go broke in order to keep his payrolls up that is hardly human it seems to me since everyone desires to protect whatever funds he may have be it a dollar or a million so when senator harrison spoke out boldly that something was going to be done to eliminate some of the obstacles which wishful thinking new dealers have built up in their experimentation it means I 1 believe that senator harrison proposes PO ses to do just that the politics of the situation is another matter that phase is equally important and significant senator harrison would not have spoken out a few years ago or even a year ago as he has done lately the house a year ago would never have rejected what has been called the third basket of taxation the so called third basket was a new type of tax that would have made the rates sky high on corporations held by only a few stockholders family owned corporations like thousands of small companies usually are no the house would not have killed that a year ago but it did this year and when senator harrison dared to say congress will do thus and so senator H harrison arrison was simply voicing a fact he was saying in effect fact whether you like it or not mr president we will write the he tax law in the interest of the country as we see it in the course of the tax bill debate in the house there was a curious disclosure a rather biting piece of debate representative treadway who would be chairman of the ways and means committee it if republicans public ans were in the majority instead of being only a handful told the house that the father of the surplus earnings tax had never come before the committee since the time he laid out the silly scheme which led to its enactment professor oliphant has been so silent about his sponsorship of the plan that it has become almost thunderous and mr treadway thought it was unusual that a parent should shrink from acknowledgment of parenthood ile he obtained no answer or explanation the surplus earnings tax in a modified form was still in the bill as reported to the house however and there was sufficient new deal strength in the house to hold it there it will be different in the senate and the speech by senator harrison simply is an announcement in advance it has been interesting to me to review these facts because I 1 am inclining to the i healthy ion th that at the situa sign tion in congress is is more or less a reflection of the opinion in the entire entire country the november elections lie ahead mail from home is pouring in and the character of that mail is always closely studied by the politician seeking reelection election re that is to say the average house member or senator is keeping very close tab on what the feeling is back home they were not put to that necessity during the first four years of mr Roosevel ts administration all that was needed was for a member to say that the president wants this or that and vote that way so clearly has all of this been made apparent that few who so desire are afraid any longer to assert themselves to say what they think even if that is in administration opposition it is a healthy sign it means that congress while going along with mr roosevelt many times will put more and more checks on his proposals that have had their birth in the little red house of George towns section of washington where all of the new dealers congregate it means further in the opinion of some of the real democrats that the new deal has played out they are therefore getting back into their harness as democratic leaders and in this light there has been another development that should not be overlooked I 1 refer to the collapse of robert H jacksons candidacy for governor of new york when mr jackson who lately was made solicitor general of the united states was going to town as the expression is left wing press agents had him all but elected in ne new w york A big banquet was tendered him in new york city mr roosevelt was quite instrumental in that banquet plan he lent aid in stirring up attendance it was notable however that the banquet created no excitement that is there was no excitement of importance and just there the candidacy began to sag 0 0 0 I 1 do not know what the real reason was for mr jacksons subsequent statement ignores that he would not parley farley seek the new york governorship it is just possible however that the absence of postmaster general farley from the banquet sponsorship had something to do with the flop tor for flop the dinner and candidacy surely did now everyone around washington knows that mr roosevelt no longer takes the postmaster general into the executive confidence even though mr farley is chairman of the democratic national committee indeed it was printed in several widely read columns that mr roosevelt actually distrusted mr farley I 1 would not be able to report on that detail but I 1 can not overlook the fact that left wingers especially the long haired group have been sniping at mr farley for months it is just possible then that they have persuaded mr roosevelt to the point of conviction he has listened to that group a very great deal and they may have made him feel that mr farley is undermining the president in any event one may follow the tax pronouncement by senator harrison right on through the significant silence of mr farley one may find how mr farley has hai had numerous and sundry conferences or chance meetings with a good many powerful old line democrats but to examine the thing from a congressional angle again I 1 am pleased by the defection the establishment of the line of demarcation between democrats and new dealers not that I 1 care who runs the government or is charged with responsibility my interest lies deeper I 1 know from having watched the wheels go round that too great a majority of one party in c congress 0 n produces bad laws it can not be avoided sl 0 western newspaper union |