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Show m NATIONAL TOPICS INTERPRETED cCJ Witdiaw BitictfiKt fti PBES5 BLDG. WASHINGTON. D.C. rresment Roose-:x. Roose-:x. s controversy by (i:"t the simple expedi-, expedi-, ent of transferring transfer-ring two men from responsible posl- .lr?ln islands to jobs '"!, He baa taken Paul : from the post of civil ; ,w virgin Islands and - ' a assistant director of "ft interior department i'erred Federal Dlrec-T'ffebber Dlrec-T'ffebber Wilson from :t9 islands to the fed- :toard here In Washing-" Washing-" 'r has accepted his ..gent and In so far as troversy Is concerned, it eloscd. recalled that Governor ;jjnde Wilson long have ! ".-trheads over Virgin Is- iThe battle was bitter. !; (dead when Paul Yates, :ifistant to the governor ' ..er Washington corre-;) corre-;) Signed his Job and came ii-tithe bag full of charges J, .j former chief. The i 'iiioni ranged all the way - ; charges of poor Judg-wss Judg-wss accusations. He !a getting a senate com- Ration and It was at " . 'tat the Pearson-Wilson II ; so openly that admlnls-: admlnls-: : Lais here were dragged had Its start In the Virgin Islands, but It has progressed beyond that point and Is a domestic battle now. It Is safe to say that for IS years, which Is the time the Islands have been under United States rule, there has been a dire need for a plan of government suited to those people. peo-ple. Each year congress has been appropriating thousands of dollars for the Island government and each year there has been miserably little lit-tle In the way of Improvement to show for these funds. Almsst as frequently as congress has appropriated money It has made changes In the administration methods meth-ods In use there. There has never been a long term program laid out and there has been nothing whatsoever whatso-ever done showing the sympathy of a so-called Intellectual people as we claim to be for those downtrodden downtrod-den masses that populate the Vir- gin Islands. All of this, it seems to me, shows the woeful need for careful consideration con-sideration of that situation. It seems to me equally apparent that as long as congress keeps meddling in and as long as politicians from the mainland are sent there purely pure-ly on a political basis we will continue con-tinue to have a pack of trouble bundled up In those Virgin Islands. If congress continues in session nast Au trust 15. and It is now ap- parent that It may Long Session run to September Severe Strain L " wil1 have been in session 225 days, some two weeks longer than the average of the so-called long sessions of congress. Prior to adoption of the "lame duck" amendment amend-ment which did away with sessions of unequal length, the shorter sessions ses-sions of congress averaged about 170 days. The longer terms were around 215 days before final adjournment ad-journment was taken. Thus, the current cur-rent session stands In a fair way to be among the list of hardy sessions. All of which is by way of saying that the current session of congress has worn down Its members both physically and mentally to an extent ex-tent quite unusual. I was talking a few days ago with a veteran senator, sen-ator, a man who has served almost 25 years In the upper house of congress. con-gress. He Is known as a physically strong individual and usually lasts very well through the work that piles up before senators and representatives. I Inquired of him concerning the general health of congress and his reply was: "I regret to say we are Just a bunch of debilitated old men, incapable in-capable of doing the job that Is ex-nected ex-nected of us and everyone Is hoping ' ( whole scope or amer- !!! -1. :.::er of fact there is every 1 ;ji?te that Governor Pear-" Pear-" , ' from a successful ex-s" ex-s" the Islands. He frequent-' frequent-' A the Ire of natives and, 'li i to testimony adduced by i'; :i investigation, had very . i, for the sums of money Id :a In attempting to give i ; Islands a new lease on i i( the Information tends ii that the Islands con- - i "an effectual poorhouse" i .-Mident Hoover described j he occasion of a visit dur-8 dur-8 as Chief Executive. . Ttrnor Pearson had his ) 'i In the administration. u" : ng these was Secretary department is responsl-" responsl-" liinlnlstration of the 1s- - iUhj Mr. Ickes has been H .Mastic about Governor i regime Is not fully dis-,i dis-,i : inj evidence here except - 'Lterlor secretary has cer- : About social reform that ?r., .ml critics refer to as pure j. ,.rtlch Governor Pearson (tempting to Impose upon (1 1 Inhabitants. Governor , ' i expended vast sums of mi Is In the Islands in his .: carry out the Ickes prc- against hope that we can live through this work and this heat." As a result of that conversation the thought came to me that here was an answer to the oft repeated declaration that members of congress con-gress failed to earn their salaries of $10,000 a year. I have observed congressional proceedings almost a score of years and it is my mature conviction that few times in that period has congress failed to earn its salt. , There is another reason why congressional con-gressional sessions should not run so long and should When Solons not be carried on Are Tired ' lnAenf heat of a Washington Wash-ington summer. One condition nearly always has obtained near the close of a long session. As the days drag by, persons with axes to grind and individual Interests to serve have a way of digging up questionable question-able bills that theretofore had been side-tracked and assumed to be dead. With resistance low, the average senator or representative Is unable to fight off legislation which he knows to be bad with the same spirit that accompanied his activities activi-ties earlier In the session. This condition opens the way for a revival of lobbies. They are back In Washington in numbers now despite de-spite the disclosures being made by the two congressional committees that are investigating the lobbies that operated to defeat, temporarily at least, the legislation killing utility util-ity holding companies. One would (firamtlon. It seems, how-rs how-rs " : ilie schemes were not as 1; llioy might have been Dti noble started In a rather x ,; Iislilon. ff' 'hHent stnyed outside of 8"' 'Mil In the course of the ,l" i;lrj Senator Tydings, a ' ' ' bi'inocrat and usually an " -iflt Democrat, received a .. Mr, ickes. Mr. Ickes ac-" ac-" ' Investigating chairman j ;! whitewashed a witness v :raon; was all anti-Ickes !rson. The senator flared 1 Sswy at that letter. His KES ! ;'('J to become a classic 3.M- : correspondence, ne did 1 ' Ms words. After voicing il conception of the at-ailej at-ailej by Mr. Ickes and rif iim of attempting to ln-Jl, ln-Jl, 1 the investigation, Sena-,l' Sena-,l' '-"J Informed the interior "at he may as well at-- at-- '-n the Department of the let the senators run r tie used just about j,,1,'18 the signal for Mr. ;,. : ts take a hand. It was that a few outbursts of 11 ; , iJl Mr. Idtes might have ! lfln a splendid position J,"' m the cabinet. So the i'lk' M the feudists Into his - J of course, and when ih.-.- m were over the sen-,1c-: ;'Jtln Into the Virgin ls-(,; ls-(,; w;is suspended for s,ir ' ' The transfer of Govor- !'a "nil jUuge wilson re- . . hare assumed justly wim uia imes-tlgatlons imes-tlgatlons under way after the utility legislation was passed that lobbyists lobby-ists and self-serving representatives would have been frightened away from Washington. Such was not the case. They are here in such numbers num-bers that some observers believe Mr. Roosevelt has made a mlstakf in dtinaiuling that congress staj W'1 .r- 1 Properly inquire why " 1 'station has occurred Cl", Hi abuut tlle Virgin , e Islands. They are t -on? many hundreds of ft. v miles from Wash- llj' lle In the Caribbean j (' 0Ht of the usua, i , "'Ids; they are popu- 22,000 Individuals, " of whom are negroes, . l.fy be described as a . ; Nace, IS 1 i''' aome military and ' V ,. never been .; Crated. But the fact re-jr- i sessions of the ,1, a If our govern-JP' govern-JP' to Protector, it is r ane adminlstra- "fairs. 'Shir,., bt9n fight may have until It has euilcted the share-the-wealth rax bill and the legislation which will prohibit lawsuits against the government for damages resulting re-sulting from abrogation of the promise In government honds to pay them In gold. Mr. Roosevelt Is Insisting In-sisting on these laws. He will get them. But in the opinion of many authorities he stands a fair chance also of getting some other leglsla Uon which he may not want C Western Newspaper Unlo |