Show Bruc Bru karfs charts washington digest president irked by georgians georgias refusal to alter constitution state will get no more alore money aloney from federal government possibilities of staggering burdens of taxation pointed out by hoover and byrd by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press washington D C washington the state of georgia has a provision in its state constitution that effectively prevents ian an accumulation of state debt it is one of the few states having such a constitutional inhibition of that kind but the fact that such a pro division vision exists in georgia suddenly has become momentous in the eyes and minds of the new dealers headed by the president himself because it is in the news however mr roosevelt s criticism of the pro vision forces a review of the facts and implications flowing from that charter provision mr roosevelt said recently while sojourning at warm springs ga as he does frequently that georgia will get no more federal money his particular peeve at georgia re suited from the fact that the state has not amended its constitution to permit it to borrow directly from agencies of the federal government as most other ettes have done with federal money flowing like I 1 streams at flood the president was disgusted with georgia s attitude hence the federal government is all through with giving the state more money of course it is only my opinion the opinion of only one observer but it nevertheless strikes me that in years to come the citizens of many states will have cause to re gret the absence of such provisions from their respective state cons titu eions it is only a question of time politicians and over zealous aavo cates of improvements and the like have been rushing to the fed eral feed trough in droves carrying away checks they have borrowed billions from the national govern ment they have received grants or gifts of other billions for the coun try as a whole on condition that they put up additional funds to match or equal the federal gift and they in consequence now are load ed down with debt so I 1 say there will be cause for regret that so few states have the same provision as georgia has when the time comes for payment there must be taxa tion it if the debts are paid or there must be that awful thing depudia tion must be additional taxation or repudiation former president hoover has had much to say about the waste that has been going on and has coupled those observations with the pos sibil aties of staggering burdens of taxa tion so hasSen has sen harry byrd dem of virginia mr hoover s criticisms have been laughed off by the administration here because mr hoover is a republican senator byrd s jibes have been pooh because he has insisted on sound government and has been frequently anti new deal but mr hoover and senator byrd each have stressed a N att e noted phase of potentialities inherent in the situation they have tah ed about moral codes now it appears as I 1 said above there must be additional taxation to meet thee loans whether from the federal government or from private borrowers or there must be aaion repudiation is simply and plainly a refusal to pay a debt re fasal to pay an honest debt makes deadbeats in the light of these facts I 1 want to make a little prediction I 1 am going to predict that there will be movements in many states within llo years to have the federal govern ment relinquish its claims against those states to have congress pass legislation that will say to the states tin in effect just tear up the papers and we will tear up your notes and bonds and forget about the whole thing politicians of the unsavory demagogic type will leap onto such a thought and shout from the house tops of every community in the state that the federal government that great and rich government ought to forego collection they will have all kinds of arguments why it ought to be done but their real reason for doing so will be to obtain votes for their own election to office they will be saying to the people that it will not be repudiation if the fed eral government says it does not desire to collect yet it is my con that such proceedings prove edings will be thoroughly dishonest it will be exactly the same as if the state had said I 1 wont won t pay president on wrong track in lambasting georgia when men mr roosevelt was giving the people of ge georgia orgia a tongue lash ing therefore I 1 believe he was on the wrong track he was lambart ing them for continuing to run their affairs on a sound basis for con to avoid subservience to the national government and for refus ing ipg to surrender completely the rights of a sovereign state for be it known there are very few easier ways to force a state or county or city or other subdivision of govern to become bossed by the t national government than the way that has been chosen through the use of money in tact it seems rather a sour note in our national policies to witness almost complete subjugation of states or lesser areas by the use of federal money when with another hand the government through the various propaganda agencies or by legal action constant ly threatens to send private persons or corporations to jail ail for seeking selfish control for private gain the only difference that I 1 can see is that one is purely for monetary gain in the case of private action while in the governmental situation the benefits are political from which rascals or crooks eventually get their graft some washington writers in con si dering the president presidents s warm springs outburst attributed his frame of mind to the fact that geor gia s citizens or a majority of them refused to follow mr roose velt s demand for the defeat of sen walter george you remember of course how mr roosevelt went into georgia and endorsed united states attorney lawrence camp for the democh itic senatorial nomination it is of fresh recollection too how he said that senator george was old fashioned out dated almost a one hoss bass shay presidents statement may be clever political move I 1 am in no position to know cheth er the f failure allure of georgia to obey the roosevelt command entered into the discourse that has since become an issue nor am I 1 well enough ac quainter quain ted with new deal plans to say whether the president has taken his first step for 1940 convention dele gates in this way it is possible obviously that the warm springs statement may be a clever cal move think of it this way by starting a row the president bly could be laying the groundwork for uniting the anti george forces if they are united and fighting it is within the realm of possibilities that they could take the georgia delaga tion out of senator george georges s con aral in 1940 that would be a great victory for the radical element of the democratic party then too the warm springs dec la ration may be designed to have an effect on the forthcoming congress I 1 think it goes without saying that the new congress is going to be very much different than that which it supplants for one thing there will be less very much less mon man ey voted for the administration to use as it sees fit there will be a bloody battle before congress again writes out blank checks for hopkins or harold ickes to use it is likely indeed that there will be some rath er rigorous investigations of things already done under the blank check appropriations of money if the in are thorough there will be a stench rise from the committee room where the job is done thus if mr roosevelt hopes by the warm springs statement to awaken a fresh thirst for money among local politicians throughout the country it may be a piece of clever politics whatever the purpose of the criticism of the georgia prohibition against borrowing it can not alter the fundamentals of the situation georgia as a state is better off it will be far better off 10 years from now when the country has sorted out the good things of the new deal and put them to proper use its citizens will be happier and less burdened with taxation at a time when the people of pennsylvania for exam pie are using profane language about paying for needless and use less improvements a state of mind they surely will reach as soon as they have forgotten the mouth ings of politicians and have begun to pay through the nose can washington horn in on a states policies 7 there is yet another element in in the situation precipitated by mr roosevelt s warm springs statement it involves the question directly whether a state shall de termine its own policies or have them dictated from washington only a few days ago the depart ment of labor disclosed that it was trying to persuade all of the states to pass legislation exactly like the federal law governing wages and hours of workers the department departments s bureaucrats have drafted a model law which they are trying eagerly to get the states to adopt so that busi busl ness within a state will be subjected to the same provisions as business operating across state lines that same course was pursued when was young and before it was dincov ered that the blue eagle had more feathers in one wing than it had in the other these things are dangerous once such tactics are successful they are followed by demands and commands of broader scope 0 western newspaper union |