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Show Washington. "The best laid plans of mice and men" will go off at a tangent, it seems, Congress even when one po-Is po-Is Balky litical party is numerically nu-merically in supreme su-preme control of the national government. gov-ernment. President Roosevelt called congress into extra session with . very definite objectives outlined, and he repeated them in his regular message on the state of the Union. He wanted crop control legislation for relief of agriculture and he wanted wages and hours controlled by iederal statute for the relief of labor. But congress, or a part of it, has turned out to be a balky mule. It has one foot out of the traces already and the driver is having a lot of trouble to keep the animal hitched. The above is by way of saying that scores of Democratic members of the house and many senators with seats on the majority side have come back from a summer on the hustings quite convinced that it is not popular with the voters to be a rubber stamp. J do not mean by that statement that the President has lost control of his party machinery, machin-ery, or that he can not crack the whip and get things done; I mean that instead of having a few recalcitrants recalci-trants within his own party to deal with, he now has many, and members mem-bers of congress are about like coyotes coy-otes their courage increases as their number increases. It might be mentioned in passing that at least half a dozen Democratic Demo-cratic members of the house have come back from home with plans to run for their party's nomination to the senate next year. The reason rea-son given by those with whom I have talked is almost the same in each instance. The incumbent senator sen-ator who is up for re-election has been too much of a New Dealer. "Our people are calling for something some-thing besides rubber stamps." These potential senatorial candidates candi-dates have records showing opposition opposi-tion to the President in some vitally important New Deal policies while supporting him whole-heartedly in other phases of his program. No one can say how far this movement will get, but anyone whe has observed congresses perform in other cases where the President was in his second term can not dismiss dis-miss the circumstance as without significance. It is the usual practice prac-tice for sitting members of the house and senate to stick close to the President, as party leader, in his first term because they must seek re-election with his support. But now many of them regard President Pres-ident Roosevelt as through and they are starting early to make their record' look good to the voters whom they will canvass next year. These few paragraphs above must serve to introduce evidence of a much deeper fact. In many important impor-tant places and among many powerful power-ful or influential men in congress one hears frequent references and observations to this effect: If Mr. Roosevelt is going to retain his control con-trol of the party and carry through on the propositions which he will make from time to time, he must cast aside a part, at least, of his radical advisers and the schemes they concoct. As I reiated, the President outlined out-lined his objectives for the special session. Two or Different three years ago, Now tney would have been received by the representatives and senators with loud acclaim, with ballyh'oo. But in the first few weeks of the extra ex-tra session, there has been just as much condemnation as there has been approval. Nor can we overlook another phase of the situation. Not only have many of the men at the capi-tol capi-tol declined to affirm the President's propositions; they have gone in the other direction. They have offered programs of their own. They are prepared to battle for them. In politics, pol-itics, that sort of a thing often has proved fatal to the plans of the man who then occupied the White House. It may not turn out that way this time but there are many observers are sure the President is going to be forced into accepting some things he did not want or does not want just now. Take the question of taxes, for Instance. Rightly or wrongly, the President is being blamed for the current business depression and criticism of this sort is rolling up like a snowball going down hill, it is being said that two tax levies which were forced through congress are largely responsible. The tax on Undivided profits of corporations and the capital gains tax are used as horrible examples of these unsound policies fostered by Mr. Roosevelt. Well, the President is responsible to the extent that he approved of them. They were the product, however, how-ever, of some of the dozen or so peek-a-boo artists to whom the I'roiiklerit frequently has liutened as pdvlr.ors. I think It has been generally dem onstrated that the two taxes in question ques-tion have been ruinous, especially to the small business. It is equally true, I believe, that business must be given some consideration if it ever is to get on a sound basis again and that it ought to share attention at-tention of legislators with labor leaders even though business has fewer votes. In any event, the burdens bur-dens which the New Deal admittedly has' placed on business are serving as the springboard for a part of the Democratic majority. They can properly fight for these things and easily be too busy to push the President's Presi-dent's program through. So the President's plans have gone astray. They may remain that way, or they may go even further, depending de-pending upon how long the backward back-ward slide of business continues. Of one thing, you may be sure. Partly through his own fault and partly through the fault of the type of advisors ad-visors with which he has surrounded himself, Mr. Roosevelt does not have the confidence of as many members of the legislative branch as he formerly held. It is a little early to attempt a report re-port on prospects for the regulai session of con-Looking con-Looking gress that con-Forward con-Forward venes in January, Yet, since it is quite evident there will be nothing in the current extra session beyond crop control legislation if even that I believe we might look forward a bit. One of the things now evident is the position congress will take on relief for destitute and unemployed. I believe I see a battle coming in that direction. It has been apparent during the last two years that congress was dissatisfied with the relief system built up by Secretary Ickes and the professional reliever, Harry Hopkins, Hop-kins, works progress administrator. The requirements, especially for the Hopkins machine, have been met with what has come to be called "blank check" appropriations. That is, congress has passed a bill appropriating ap-propriating two billions or three billions bil-lions or whatever was thought necessary nec-essary by Mr. Hopkins. It was just as simple as that. Congress had no strings on the money, seldom was told a great deal of the details. It was money to feed and clothe the destitute. .Now, however, some observers think they detect a change. They believe they see signs that congress will put an end to the "blank check" method of handling relief. As far as anyone knows now, the President again will ask for a huge sum to be distributed for relief through Mr. Hopkins and that is when the battle bat-tle lines will form. Congress, therefore, will be faced again with appropriation demands to provide food Money . and clothing and for Relief likely the request for the funds will come from Mr. Roosevelt as heretofore here-tofore for a lump sum. If the number favoring the dole grows to any considerable extent, there may be a reversal of policy whether the President wants it that way or not. You see, in an election year (and all house members and 30-odd senators sena-tors face election canvasses again next year) it is nice to be able to say to the voters that they are receiving re-ceiving something at the hands of their representative or their senator. sena-tor. The candidates can justify a break with the President easily, and with business sliding backward as is the case now, there will be plenty of relief needed for unemployed again. The voters can be told that they are being given charge of these relief expenditures and that they no longer will have to watch Washington Washing-ton bureaucrats waste the taxpayers taxpay-ers money. On the horizon, therefore, there-fore, it is possible to see the line of cleavage between the New Deal and the old line Democrats leading to elimination of the dangerous lump-sum appropriation and a restoration res-toration of relief ministration into the hands of local authorities. There is one further consideration in the general relief situation that attracts attention. I think it is reasonable rea-sonable to assume that the far-flung relief machine which Mr. Hopkins has built up is permeated to the core with political appointments. It is only the usual political procedure and is not conlied to the present national administration. Assuming, therefore, that there is such a political politi-cal machine, it is hardly open to question that it is a Roosevelt machine, ma-chine, The picture then becomes clear: since numerous members of the house and seriate want to control con-trol their own political destinies, they want control of the organizations organiza-tions for relief in their own jurisdictions. juris-dictions. Further, if Mr. Roosevelt should want to seek a third term nomination, those Democrats who want to oppose him would be quite powerless if they had to sit idly by and witness RooscvcH delegates picked from their own stronghold, (ft Wcdtcrn Newauuucr Union. |