Show 0 national topics interpreted by willeata Will iata Bruc bruckart bruckert kirt Nati national press building wait hington D C washington the presidents Cs latest ines message sage to congress asking more than a billion and a thunder half in new money over relief to spend d on relief as he sees fit has caused political thunder to rumble again it has brought out in the open much of the undercurrent of gossip that has been going on about political racketeering with federal funds and it has brought into sharp relief just ahead of the spring campaigning pai gning the fact that the federal government has used something like under the guise of relief since president roosevelt took office naturally the situation Is immersed in politics all of the charges that were flung at mr roosevelt during previous sessions of congress had requested that he be given as he was given blank checks on the treasury have bare been revived la in addition new accusations and disclosures of petty graft and political machinations have been dug up and flaunted in the face of the new deal leaders more and more of these are coming to the surface and there Is no longer any question that throughout the relief organization there Is pol politics liles this Is true notwithstanding the strongly worded statement by sir mr roosevelt that politics was not to figure la in the administration of relief in any way all of this lends leads up to the conclusion that whenever the federal government horns in on administrative affairs of states counties or municipalities the organization becomes so extensive that it Is impossible for those at the top in washington to know what goes on it Is but another way of saying that the federal government ought to confine itself to federal affairs matters of national scope instead of attempting to supersede the local governments in any function since we are heading into a campaign in which mr roosevelt Is seeking in reelection election re his charge opposition Is making waste much of two phases of the spending and relief situations they are stressing the waite that they charge has permeated every phase of the relief effort in the last three years as well as the waste that has taken place in the countless alphabetical agencies that mr roosevelt hns has built up in the th e federal government the relief machinery roosevelt opponents claim has been converted into a gigantic political machine the chief object of which Is to reelect re elect mr roosevelt they claim as well that there has been created a bureaucracy us as individuals responsible toa to a thousand little dictators who act as prosecution judge and jury over our every coming and going all of these are harsh accusations but there Is enough evidence available now to make it appear that there Is at least some truth upon abich such charges can be based of course politicians will magnify all phases olevery of every subject which they discuss the opposition will make the crimes look heinous and the administration spokesmen will make everything look pure neither either one Is justified in going quite to the extent of the indicated trend it seems to me that voters ought not be fully convinced by either side but that they ought to examine the picture from the local viewpoint where the evidence Is firsthand and where tile the people who did a good job or who were v ere guilty of fraud or corruption are known to the voters then it if in november the election results for the whole country show a preponderance one way or another the voters will have established their will as being either in favor of or definitely opposed to manag management emerit of such things from washington there are counties in the united states stales in ID nearly every one of them there are a more republican and a politics democratic county chairman in many of the counties the democratic county chairmen are trying to use the and its relief setup for political advantage in an equal number of counties republican county cha chairmen irwen are watching tor for and reporting irregularities there can be no doubt therefore that the charges about relief being used politically will increase in number as the campaign progresses if there isi Is ground for the charges so it la Is made to appear that the local voters will have a complete picture of conditions upon which to base their judgment two recent instances where important individuals have called attention to alleged corruption and political maneuvering under guidance of relief leaders serve to support the contention I 1 have just advanced that the local communities will have complete facts before them I 1 refer to the charges by senator holt democrat of west virginia that the whole relief organization in hla his state Is honeycombed with politics and the bitter attack by governor pinchot pennsylvania republican upon what he called the manhandling man handling of relief administration in the state in ID which he formerly was the chief executive relief ad laW hopkins with the aid ol of politicians has denied these charges in toto senator holt called the he hop kalns denial a whitewash of his own appointees and mr turned loose a fresh fire this sort of thing probably will develop in every state in the union I 1 referred to the presidential message sn ge asking an additional billion and a half for relief and asks this would not have new taxes created q quite u I 1 t e so much of a storm had it not followed closely on the heels of the white house request for new taxes the combination of taxes and an additional appropriation to be used its as previous blank checks have been used by mr roosevelt has enabled those who are opposed to the president and those who while they may support him for reelection election re are not in accord with some of his policies to make public if statements of their positions to a better advantage than was possible before it if they had been able only to oppose relief administration supporters could have accused them of being opposed to the relief of destitute T to 0 put taxes and a blank check together simply offers additional ammunition and a good many members of congress will use it before the new relief appropriation Is voted I 1 think there Is no doubt that mr roosevelt will get wk the money but there will be a great deal of accusing and denying respectively before the vote Is taken that will be necessity necess necessary iry in order to make a record upon which senators and representatives can seek reelection election re when mr roosevelt was voted 4 a year ago his opponents threw up their hands and said that you cant beat for reelection now one hears observations frequently expressed that while you cant beat for re elec tion it Is entirely possible that plus almost that much more mora may bent beat itself in other words I 1 have attempted here to present a comprehensive analysis of the pros proa and cons in order to show that since politics has crept in has permeated the relief setup the AAA organization and other new deal agencies it Is entirely possible for a reaction to develop whereby the vast sum slim of money would be the cause of defeat rather than the cause of reelection election re for mr roosevelt roosevell I 1 am am making no election prediction that would be utterly foolish what I 1 have sought to do however plainly and simply Is to show how local communities muni ties are going to rule the roost to a greater extent in the 1030 election than usually Is the case 0 much Is being made of the presidents proposal to tax the surpluses of corporations I 1 split on have hitherto report tax plan ed to aou ia something I 1 of the nature of the tax proposals but there have been developments that bring the subject again to the fore one of these perhaps the most interesting one 1 Is differences feren ces that have arisen between men who are supposed to be the presidents li closest advisers Prof professor essof raymond molcy now a magazine editor lately criticized the tax plan most vigorously in his publication at the same time attention was directed here to the recorded attitude of prof rexford guy tugwell professor tugwell published a book called the industrial decline not so long ago and in that volume he advocated tile the control of capital by the driving of corporate surpluses into the open investment market by taxation these two views simply cannot be reconciled and yet they came from two individuals who have been very close to mr roosevelt in an advisory way ever since mr stoos roosevelt velt entered the white louse house professor moley takes the position editorially that if during the depression american industry had been stripped of all surpluses few of even the greatest corporations could have survived ile he regards surpluses lie aa life insurance policies for corporations and holds the conviction that unless a corporation Is permitted to retain funds as it sees tit fit it cannot protect itself when our economic structure goes into a tailspin such as that through which we have been passing the difference in viewpoint of these two men shows a sad state of confusion among the economic planners of the more abundant life and demonstrates among other things that professor tugwell still has very great influence witt with the while we have not heard beard many of professor Tug wells speeches lately and it la Is probably true as publicly stated abated by the opposition that professor tugwell has been muzzled tor for the period of the campaign there are many things being done under presidential orders that have their origin in the tugwell brain lie he la Is proceeding merrily on his bis way with the resettlement administration program of which he Is head bead and has haa 1400 employees on his pay roll all of which seems to indicate that while professor tugwell will not dot make any more speeches calling upon open farmers and laborers to ally themselves against bour our common enemy he la Is still a very effective member of the new deal administration 0 western diw ul |