Show SEEN and HEAR around tie NATIONAL CAPITAL by carter he field e I 1 d FAMOUS washington correspondent washington most of the efforts of 0 the bigwigs of the united states chamber of commerce were devoted at the annual meeting to soft pedaling the firebrands fire brands probably 90 per cent of the business m men en in attendance were breathing fire and brimstone privately against shenew the new deal and all its works they were bitter against the principles underlying the new tax bill redheaded red headed about tile the seizure of private telegrams by the clack black committee vociferous against government ownership of utilities and government competition with private industry and alarmed about the tren trend d indicated by the lie national labor relations board in fact they like the new deal some of them had bad a few kind words about the reciprocal trade agreements but they were not even united about that but their leaders did not at want the convention to resolve itself into an anti new deal camp meet ing so they put a quiet quietus us on the would be antl anti it was not entirely successful every now and then some fire eater would get over a short speech in ID tune with the real frame of mind of the bus business men present plot hut riot not too often the answer to which Is highly interesting te with the exception of a few of the more optimistic most of the delegates were afraid president roosevelt would be elected reelected re despite what they believe to be the almost unanimous opposition of business not necessarily big business As a matter of fact the united states chamber of commerce Is far from being just big business indeed there has been more than a suspicion from time to time that what Is meant when the average man speaks of big business Is just a little snooty about the chamber it Is even said that J P morgan does not worry about what the chamber will do and Is not even interested hurts little business but tile the average business man of sufficient stature to attend a chamber meeting does docs not like the things the new deal Is doing to business big and little in fact he thinks it Is doing more to hurt little littie business than big business despite constant repetition of the idea that tile the administrations pet economic idea Is tile the drive against bigness which makes the silencing of the more violent critics at the meeting all the more interesting interesting because of the conviction of so many of them that as the cards are now stacked roosevelt Koo sevelt may be reelected that would mean four more years of the same as tl they ey see it and they do not want to put themselves in the position of mice sassing sass ilig the eat cat seabe the cat will get tired of playing with them and let them go before all the life Is choked out but not it if they make the cat real mad some interesting stories of the troubles some of them had been put to already by bureau of internal revenue men pawing over their old tax returns were told at this meeting the stories had a quieting influence they played right into the hands of the leaders seeking to hush too violent open criticism of the administration some of the more optimistic promise that when tile the cleveland and philadelphia conventions are over when the two platforms have b been C e n written and the candidate of at the republicans Is named things may tolie take a different turn hit short sellers within a few days the securities commission Is going to crack down on short sellers plugging an obvious to the trade loophole lop hole which curiously enough had entirely escaped the new dealers until now this Is to increase the margin requirements quire ments on oa short sales to buy shares of stock on the market under onder tile the securities commission ruling the speculator has been required to put up 53 55 per cent of the value put but to sell the same stock he ling has been required to put up only 10 per cent this Is one of the reasons it Is believed here tor for the heavy d decline in american telephone recently rece clillie y which lias has ca caused closed considerable embarrassment barras here as many fair sized holders of tills this stock are very loyal roosevelt men some of them of the tr for roosevelt before chicago variety so highly esteemed by jim farley another important reason for the decline of this stock Is tile the proposal to tax dividends experts on the subject believe the american telephone company would have a very difficult time simplifying its corporate structure if it could absorb the new england bell new york bell chesapeake and potomac southern pacific and all the other operating companies in which it owns practically all the stock and put them into one on big corporation that would avold avoid much of the tax problem as it stands in tile the bill passed by tile the house but there are serious objections to doing tills this among other things lings ti it would make much more difficult i and delicate the matter of local re latious lat latI lons officials of the tha local op crating companies are treated with much more consideration in them the territory in which they operate than tham they would be if they were employees of the big company in tact fact the difference here Is difficult to ex exa ag it would arouse an entirely different feeling toward the local companies on the part of the alie customers the public generally and the city councils and le legislatures l sla onerous 0 nerous alternative yet the alternative paying taxes on the dividends of the subsidiary ca companies would be very onerous indeed and there thera Is riot not too much hope that the senate in rewriting the tax bill will ivil eliminate this ter company dividend tax in fact the idea Is very dear to president Roosevel ts heart it might be termed his pet idea no 2 in the whole tax measure no I 1 being getting the camels nose under the edge of the tent in the drive against bigness what the pro new deal stockholders in telephone who have been squealing about the communications commission probe want to know Is what public purpose Is served by putting the company to the necessity of f revamping its corporate structure what they hope for Is an amendment which would put pat all utilities in a separate classification just as the railroads and banks are put in a separate classification in the house tax bill the railroads simply must be relieved of this tax plan they point out because in many instances they are prevented by laws and leases as well as other difficulties from simplifying their corporate structures fear repercussions department of agriculture officials are just a little nervous over possible repercussions from president Roosevel ts speech in new york especially the presidents laying so much stress on the community of interests between the garment workers in new york and the farmers who produce the food of the nation and his statement that if the people of new york city alone could buy all the food they wanted it would require three million more acres of good land to supply their needs for as agriculture officials sadly ponc point out very privately of course americans bought foreign a agricultural kicul products which had they been grown in the united states would have taken a lot more than three million additional acres to produce brushing aside such products as coffee cocoa beans tapioca sago 11 and arrowroot imports of all of which increased but which are not 9 produced commercially in the united 1 1 states there were imports of foreign foodstuffs which could very easily have been produced in this country thus providing buying power for the products of american industry and achieving the very sort of solidarity on which tile the president laid so much stress for instance in 1033 1935 this country imported bushels of wheat bushels of corn tons of wheat product byproduct by feeds pounds of barley malt head bead of cattle pounds of tallow pounds of butter and quantities n ill s of foreign produced tats fats and oils greater than ever before in filst history oryl I 1 just to give an idea of the increase 1933 1935 butter imports exceeded those of the previous year by 1943 1949 per cent exceeded the fiva fito year average by 1413 per cent blame AAA program part of all this flood of food and feed imports of course was due to the drouth but by far the major portion was due to the AAA program it was right down the very alley the president was talking about keeping prices up department of agriculture officials in their private explanations say that while the drouth upset their plans plang there Is also the inescapable fact that the they y overdid overbid curtailment even lad had there been no drouth on one point the agriculture officials are adamant they do not admit that they overdid overbid the cotton curtailment part of the he program but there are plenty of outside experts who admit it for them As a matter of fact there are senators and representatives from the cotton producing states who saree are extremely worried about the whole cotton situation they are not talking about it in public for it would not be popular back home in the year just past secretary of commerce daniel C roper himself a south carolinian has hail had some apparent justification for his bia contention during the last three years that brazil Is not really I a menace meance for brazil ling has had a crop failure but farmers do not discontinue growing a crop out ol of which aliey hn hae P been making money for several years just because they the I 1 L i have one crop fal failure lure sr arvice vice |