Show Bruc karts washington digest president wades into political buzz saw on argentine beef deal affair costs mr roosevelt dearly in personal ant anil political prestige 0 executive s explanation never 0 up with his original Z statement about transaction by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press bid washington D C washington when I 1 was a kid on the farm my father used to warn me against getting too close to the big saw that was used to cut up wood for our kitchen stove the old buzz saw it was called he was right it could have done to me exactly what it did to logs of oak or hickory many times since those days I 1 have thought of the wisdom of those warnings as applied to other acts of life and the other day I 1 thought of how much trouble president roosevelt could have avoided if only his advisors had guided him away from the buzz saw of argentine canned corned beef it must be painfully evident to the president and to his advisors now that he waded right into a few million political buzz saws when lie he instructed the secretary of the navy to buy canned beef from the argentine operatives cooperatives co inc for use of uncle sams blue jackets As a matter of fact most of the presidents stalwart alvart st supporters not only recognize that lie he got his hands badly mangled in the saw but that he failed to have a doctor handy in the form of an offset for the grievous political error but the details of the situa situation tion ought to be reviewed in order fully to understand why so many people are saying that the argentine beef affair has already cost mr roosevelt dearly in political and personal prestige many are saying indeed that the cost has been greater than his ill fated and badly judged plan to change the makeup of the supreme court of the united states all of the facts ought to be stated clearly for the reason that none now can foretell how widespread this prairie fire will be obviously the republicans will use it as ammunition in their warfare and in all probability quite a large segment of old line democrats are laughing up their sleeves about the damage the beef case will do to their pet hates the new dealers surrounding the president facts of argentine corned beef affair briefly the facts are these pursuant to law the secretary of the navy called for offers to sell the navy certain quantities of supplies including pounds of canned corned beef the law says that government agencies must award the contracts to the lowest responsible bidder the bidder regarded as able to fulfill the requirements of the navy there is however another law that says in substance the government must award the contracts to a firm of citizens of the united states and that the products be made from the united states provided they are arc equal to or better in quality than a foreign made product and that the price is not too much higher than the foreign bid the reason for this being obviously sly to encourage business in the united states and give jobs to our citizens for whom as a national policy the american standard of living must be maintained so there is first quality and price and second national policy the bids on corned beef reached the navy offices argentine cooperatives inc offered to sell the 24 tons of corned beef at about 16 cents a pound the nearest bid from the united states was approximately 23 cents a pound in addition there is a tariff duty of six six bents cents a pound that is applicable to imports of beef placed by congress to protect cattle growers grower s in in this country but the navy would not have to pay that tari tariff ff duty thus the real cost to the navy would be that much less navy officers felt there was considerable sid erable difference but they were unwilling to assume responsibility for what some critics might say was a violation of the buy american law in the course of the consideration er era tion the department of state learned of the situation and secretary hull took a hand you see mr hull has been having his own troubles with united states relations with the argentine government it has been necessary to prohibit importations of fresh beef from the argentine because there is is so much foot and mouth disease in in the vast reaches of argentine grazing areas it has even become necessary to forbid the argentine government to bring in steaks for use in its government pavillion papillion pa at the new york worlds fair that did not leave a good taste in the mouth of the argentine people mr hull was anxious to make a peace off offer cr of some kind or another president became tangled up with f the he buzz saw and it is to be remembered too 00 that mr roosevelt has been striving Yng to knit north and south american nations together under his good neighbor policy it would be a friendly gesture to buy something besides all of these there is mr hulls reciprocal trade treaty policy that needs bolstering every now and then there was little mention of this phase yet it seems reasonable to assume that it was in the back of the official mind the question was put on mr Roosevel ts desk lie he decided that the contract should be given the Ar gentines that happened about the middle of april there was no flurry about the matter trien because few persons knew of the transaction eventually however information about the award leaked out and somebody asked mr roosevelt in a press meeting whether it was true that was where mr roosevelt really became tangled up with the buzz saw now it is well to know that mr roosevelt likes to talk he also insists on telling the news writers all about a given situation if he talks at all about it he is decidedly fair that way ile he talked at great length about the problem and the result of his speech to the writers was numerous headlines which read something like this president roosevelt orders navy to buy argentine canned beef foreign product found cheaper and superior in quality president says came outbursts on floors of the house and senate within a few short weeks mr Roosevel ts political hands were torn and bleeding ile he was being ridiculed because he frequently referred in political campaigns to the need for helping our undernourished one third our illy clad and wy illy housed people there were outbursts on the floors of the house and the senate the new deal leaders in congress could do nothing about it the representatives and senators from the cattle country were denouncing his action and one ohe whole day was occupied in the house of representatives where the presidents political body was torn limb from limb the heat of the battle became so great that the house committee on appropriations which happened then to be considering the annual naval appropriations bill took action it included in that bill a prohibition that will prevent such a thing ever happening again they were shouting the idea feeding our navy men on argentine beef etc obviously sly under such circumstances the prohibitory clause was accepted by the house and the senate and it will be the law of the land this heat came of two causes first the cattle business is none too good and the cattle producers are politically powerful they protect themselves as they should to see even a small business contract go outside of the united states was bad medicine even though the beef bought would amount to only about 75 steers it was the principle of the thing then when you add to that the resentment engendered by mr Roosevel ts statement that argentine beef is a better quality well avell you speak your own piece about it explanation never caught up with original statement subsequently mr roosevelt sought to explain what he meant by the statement that argentine beef is superior in quality he pointed out that the argentine practice is to can better cuts of beef because of the slack sale for fresh meat in that part of the world but the explanation never has caught up with the original statement and it never will when this attempted explanation came from the white house I 1 heard an old time political battler at t the e capitol observe that is mistake no 2 one of the first rules in politics is never make a statement that you have to explain if you do your explanation will get you into trouble it is better never to explain anything yet in fairri fairness rss it must be observed that the price in the united states and the price the government must pay therefore results from a combination of circumstances our national policy for years has been to encourage what we advertise as the american standard of living to that end congress has passed laws many of them the walsh healy act for example says that the government may not buy from any manufacturer who does not comply with stated requirements as to hours and wages for work there is the so called fair labor standards act the wage and hour law for another fitly fifty more could be named nor do I 1 wish myself to be placed in the position of condemning all of them I 1 point to them merely as causes for the situation in which argentina underbid our own follis folks because most of our people on relief live better than the employed workers in south america it serves moreover as an illustration and a proof that most so called statesmen advocate national policy and national laws without knowing where or when or how they may have to eat their own words ReIeL released sed by western News newspaper 11 onion nion |