Show 0 C national topics by william bruckart at press building wax hington D ci washington five important stones in ID the new deal recovery arch have been new farm torn from their legislation moorings meetings now and from nil all of the comments I 1 have been abla to pick up it appears that the general situation has been clarified thereby two of the major new deal items the anti and the AAA have been teen tossed overboard hy by the supreme court of the united states and congress at the request of the president now has thrown three others into the limbo of unnecessary things by repealing the legislation for control of cotton tobacco and potatoes these three with their parent the agricultural adjustment net act represented all that was basic in the new den deal farm program the importance of the presidents act in requesting repeal of the three compulsory crop control laws cannot be mr roosevelt recognized when the AAA was invalidated that the other three crop control laws would be of no further farther use because they were predicated upon the national nal law he be recognized further that to remain adamant would be only to permit delay in invalidation of those three laws because thea the were all headed for an advirse decision by the supreme court anyway in spelling seeking their repeal therefore th ere fore mr roosevelt ron e simply took time by the forelock and girded his armor tor for a fresh start on farm relief legislation where or in what form the new form farm legislation will finally emerge none can foretell the house and senate will piss pass some kind of legislation to supplant the laws invalidated by the court or repealed hy by congress necessarily this new farm legislation will be of a stopgap character and I 1 dont believe that any of its ardent supporters can tell you exactly what the result will be in so far as its effect upon agriculture Is concerned As far as the compromises have been worked out it apt appears tears that some of the leaders arp willing again to enact legislation directed at crop control in a sprol compulsory manner if that Is forthcoming I 1 the new law actually will be nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt to circumvent the prohibitions prohibition laid down in the supreme court opinion holding the AAA unconstitutional tut ional in any event the tragedy in the situation appears nil pears to me to be the absence of clear thinking thin kIngI or else the circumstances we see represent political cowardice of the worst type it Is to be remembered that in this session of congress more than any other since president roosevelt took office there exist a greater number of blocs cross currents of opinion partisan jealousy A great deal of it Is in opposition to brain trust policies sponsored by the new deal but for political reasons the individuals who oppose these things dare not openly show their disapproval of presidential policies as such thus A consensus has arisen among washington observers that representatives and sena tors concerned with directing enactment of new farm legislation are likely to mess up op the situation rather than come forth with a definite and workable proposition 0 0 the situation situ atton at the white house bouse and in congress in connection with agricultural 0 poll partisan cles probably Is politics rule rate the ot best illustration in a definite tangible form of how bow many important federal policies are being dealt with in n R partisan political way rather than as they should be in a scientific manner with partisan politics in the background I 1 need not recall how many pieces of les le Islat lon have been put through congress bearing a new deal tair tae of must of course mr roosvelt roosevelt cannot be blamed entirely for issuing orders when congress Is wil lint to obey it Is a fact nevertheless that time after time and with rf arence to tile the major new deal experiments peri perl ments the legislation has been drafted by men serving under a presidential appointment in executive departments the copies forwarded to given representatives or senators and instructions passed along that the administration will take no substitute it wants the specific measure and in that form the result of all of this has been that in numerous cases legislation was passed without more than a few members of the house and senate having even read the bills before they were asked to cast a favorable vote on their passage now representatives and senators lire are seeking seek ln to dodge the responsibility tor for their nets acts this was shown definitely in tile the celerity with which congress acted on the presidential request for repeal of the three crop control acts named heretofore I 1 know personally of ft a considerable number of representatives and senators who were delighted at the opportunity port unity to vote repeal of those laws they never did like them after they found out what thor had passed president roosevelt likely villre will receive some credit for seeking repeal of the discredited admits laws lie ile said it his mistake he made a mistake he would be the farst to admit it so now he has in a 8 way admitted that he made a mistake in approving those laws although hla his statement concerning the repeal request was that these were useless without AAA it Is to be noted however that long before the supreme court outlawed AAA there was a growing volume of discontent with the principles that law sought to apply it cannot he be that mr air roosevelt was not aware of this growing dissatisfaction and that his political advisers swelled smelled a rat because a good many plans for modification had been under discussion privately among AAA advisers long before a supreme court decision was in prospect practical men working with secretary wanace wallace ond and administrator darts were steadily trying to accomplish changes in administration of the AAA law and the three others as well to make it workable they were con confronted fronted however with a superabundance of brain tr rosters usters who could make a beautiful case in print for or their views and during that time the brain tr rasters usters had bad the ear of the president while the practical administrators were left out in the cold it Is thus that we see a development under the new deal whereby most of the responsible people are attempting to dodge the responsibility that belongs to them some of them are attempting to clean their own skirts or make their skirts appear clean by damning the supreme court others are blaming our system for failure of the theories to work in practical application and still other groups point the finger of scorn at those charged with administration of the agricultural policy blaming them for the failure things like this have developed before in washington and have died down in due time but I 1 believe that seldom if ever has occurred a situation in which the responsibility was so general and the blame so generally denied by those responsible washington washing ton observers are watching the thel presidents residents latest maneuvers on government must cut finance with con borrowing side rahle interest the president you know already has told agen cles cies of the government that are equipped with borrowing power that they must reduce this borrowing he fie has in effect withdrawn from them authorization that would have permitted the borrowing of about during the next year during the last few weeks the chief executive has been concerned also with reduction in governmental spending and at the same time with plans to raise additional money ile he has presented a tax bill to congress nn an obstinate congress representatives senta tives and senators do not like to campaign after an passing a new tax bill so they frankly do not like the idea of new taxes at this time it Is too early to forecast the full importance of the presidents latest moves there are those who insist that sir mr roosevelt Is making a sincere effort to cut down government and to convince the ratio nation n th that a t he be Is seeking to reduce the waste that Is naturally attendant upon such it volume of disbursements of money as has taken place in the last three years there are others who take the position that the president Is simply building up a picture which can be shown to the voters when election time comes an unbiased conclusion Is that a little of each claim Is true if expenditures tures actually are reduced obviously the action will be welcomed by the taxpayers on the other hand the ballyhoo that went out from the white house bouse and executive departments concerning the withdrawal of borrowing power was rather unjustified it was unjustified for the reason that the move was simply a bookkeeping proposition and further there was even a hint bint that such agencies as the reconstruction st finance corporation and bome owners loan corporation had no plans for borrowing extensively during the forthcoming summer and fall it if one looks into the future in connection with the presidential program of curtailing borrowing anti and cutting expenditures it Is rather difficult to escape the thought that a continuation of policies such a 81 have been sponsored by the new deal in the last three years wilt will force it a renewal of these ex tures ln in due course in other words tile administration course respecting these expenditures is going to depend upon the results of the november election if mr air roosevelt roosevell Is re turned returned to the white bouse anil and lie he continues with a substantial democratic majority in con congress gresA there Is no reason to believe that thai present spending policies will be b entirely abandoned 0 western per unload |