Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart 41 HOal press arc D DC C washington some in e years y ea rs ago ag 0 when reed need smoot of ut utah a h w wag as a member of the smoots smoot s senate where he prophecy enjoyed a long and meritorious service he be yen ventured in red a prophecy it was this the cost of government has increased every year and it will continue to increase I 1 care not what party is in power dower that result will obtain As I 1 recall senator smoots smoot 11 statement tat ement was made about eight years ago and it was made at a time when the republicans of whom the he utah senator was one were in control in the senate his statement came as a result of an immense amount of jibes that were being hurled at the republican majority the democrats were having baving a grand time kidding the republicans publicans public ans who were then in complete control of the government senator smoot recognized that which few in responsible positions in the government recognized or it if they did recognize the tact fact they chose not to admit it IL nevert iless the senators statement Is true today as it was true when he made it and for many years before the smoot prophecy comes to mind now because of the sudden acceleration of moves to curtail government expenses to reorganize the scads of new deal and emergency agencies to eliminate overlapping functions among these agencies and in general to put the house of government in order two such efforts are under way one of them was initiated by senator harry P F byrd virginia democrat who succeeded in obtaining senate recognition of his charges that there was tremendous waste that there were useless agencies and that in addition governmental functions were being generally messed up because none except the old established units of government knew what they were doing the virginia senator obtained adoption of a resolution providing for a general survey and reco recommendations lons for the cleanup clean up it was a situation in which even the most ardent new dealers could not find nn an excuse for objecting to it so the senator took the lead subsequently president roosevelt reached the conclusion that something thin ought to be done in the way of untangling the tangled skein of governmental functions so he proposed a survey under his direction ile he appointed a committee of so called experts to go over the problem thus at the start at least it appears that the taxpayers tax are going to be favored by a break I 1 think it ought to be added however that no one has had bad the temerity to suggest that either the byrd survey or that engineered by mr roosevelt will yield very much the survey promoted by senator byrd will dig up a goodmann good many helpful facts but dig up there Is every helpful facts reason to believe that the virginia senator will find many obstacles placed in his way and that he and his committee will be ba unable to present any comprehensive state ment on their findings to the country in advance of the november elections the same Is true concerning the survey directed by the president only more so the cold fact Is that there Is no chance nt at all for the presidents committee to even approach the stage of 0 making recommendations from their survey until long after the elections are held frankly each of these surveys Is permeated with politics so much so that a straightforward accounting or general description of the affairs of government will not be allowed to become public property and thereby become a campaign issue of the two senator byrn proposal has the better chance but that Is rather small adverting to the smoot prophecy it Is therefore of no great importance whether a thorough thoroughgoing going examination of the governmental structure that has grown up in the last three years under president roosevelt la Is made in advance of 0 the elections these new deal agencies have been created and these new deal agencies like many of the old deal agencies are with us to stay and suck up taxpayers money for quite some time I 1 need only remind you that we still have in existence the war finance corporation and the railroad administration that were created as wartime war time agencies not to mention a dozen other similar units it Is possible indeed I 1 think it Is probable that there will be ft a trimming of pay rolls in many of the new deal agencies immediately after election there certainly ought to be important curtailment of expenses and of the list of employees ill plo but accod accomplishing peishing shing that Is a matter much more easily described than done so I 1 feel safe in saying that all of this ado about a reduction in governmental swell ang ing ft amounts aunts to nothing more thau than J just at a ado in making the statement above that the outcry about reducing the new deal government p pay a y roll and spirits rise gling filing the f functions unc tiona Is just so much ballyhoo I 1 think it ought to be said at the same time that new deal spirits are rising there waa a time a few months ago when the national trend was decidedly against mr roosevelt it even went so far as to cause many individuals to say that mr ROos roosevelt eielt would be defeated for reelection election re the picture around the first of april was quite different there is in washington quite a general feeling that the roosevelt noo sevelt reelection election re have improved and are continuing to improve this condition Is quite evident to observers continuously on the job here for even in the personal manner of the president himself there Is an outward appearance that he believes the situation Is well in hand As far a as I 1 can discover one rea son athy by the new dealers feel so much better Is that events leading up to the national democratic convention seem to be cleared of any ally harassing possibilities I 1 am sure that it will be recalled how bow something like the blues overcame many new deal stalwarts stal warts after former gov alfred E smith of new york 1028 1923 democratic presidential candidate let loose a blast at the new deal in his liberty league dinner speech I 1 hap bened to be in a position to know that the smith speech caused all kinds of commotion and fear amoni among new deal leaders they know A as everyone else knows that at al smith has a big following when he threatened to take a walk he let loose a declaration that was charged with dynamite and the new dealers could not calculate how bow much dynamite now however it appears quite certain that much of the danger inherent in the smith declaration has been eliminated ing the smith indictment of the president for repudiation of platform promises and his description of the roosevelt policies as a national menace there Is going to be a pitifully small number of antl anti new deal democrats in the philadelphia convention the number will be so small in fact that however vociferous they become their shouts will be heard beard no inore than the wall of a child in a storm it was to be expected as I 1 have reported to you before that the routine type of democratic politician WIN will forget any differences he has with the new deal and be reg regular u at convention time and during most of the campaign that type of politician be lie he republican or democratic cannot afford to bolt it if he bolts he cuts off his own nose and most politicians do not enjoy being de nosed for that is tantamount to being politically de horned so while the philadelphia convention contention of the democrats may have some seething underneath the surface it Is without the realm of possibility lity that there can be any important revolt against remolina tion lion of mr roosevelt inasmuch as the new dealers can properly regard their situation pretty well in a f 0 f P D u hand they an fn a hole aurally can feel a bit cocky over the difficulties in the republican ranks first the republicans are at a disadvantage in that their convention in cleveland Is to be held at an earlier date than the democrats meet this however Is more real than apparent it Is thus because of the intra party battles that appear certain to come to the surface burrace at cleveland the republicans are not together not unified on anything A half dozen candidates with appreciable followings are snapping at each other and two or three factions are announcing almost simultaneously what the platform Is going to say it just cannot help leading into a beautiful mess mesa at cleveland unless the republican leaders show more intelligence than they have shown thus far in the meantime the democrats are making note of the various battle charges you can be sure they will use them whoever the republicans nominate at cleveland necessarily faces a big fight but as the situation now stands I 1 think the democrats will be able to make it an offensive campaign whereas ordinarily the party in power must give over much of its campaigning to a defense this Is true unless the republicans can get together and take the offensive them themselves selve by criticizing and attacking on a united front of course much water can run under the bridge before the november election it Is always possible that the party in power laske mistakes can be led into alley under the political guns of its if opposition ew 6 estero nirla Nir lr |