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Show National Topics Interpreted n by William Bruckart :S. i; Tashington. Now that the Pres-jl Pres-jl t lias laid before congress his Pi . request for the Rational new appropria-.1 appropria-.1 Dzbt tions, financial ig students are won- ;(:!! more and more when the end j',:nis government spending is to . It will be remembered that Koosevelt said a year ago that total public debt should not ex- $:tl,834.000,(XJ0. and that figure tj.ld be reached around June 30, x(. When it is considered that y present public debt exceeds vAOOO.OWJ, it becomes difficult a the President will succeed tn d ing to hl original assertion to d the national debt at the figure I'd. ll:e Treasury department has released its annual report, a this reveals an Increase In the (ic debt of approximately six Sin dollars since June 30, 1033, rLighteen months' record. It has !e the total cost of the recovery j.illng program aggregate some-; some-; over twelve billion dollars 'II? January 1, 1933, when the ling spree really began. To '4? the vast amount more read-fomprehenslble, read-fomprehenslble, if you take the i'i to figure it out you will find j the government has been filing borrowed money at the of almost twenty-three thou- dollars a minute in the last ( years. To Illustrate further magnitude of this sum a figure Irt here has calculated that '!e has been about one billion iles since the birth of Christ v, therefore, the federal govern-at govern-at In the last four years has add-''iVnit add-''iVnit twelve dollars to the pub-delit pub-delit for each of the minutes ll? Christ came on earth. Tit to get back to the present k presentation of the budget -j Its maximum outlay of around In billion dollars recalled tn Jo leaders the assertion by the .lidnnt respecting the topmost It for the public debt. In the Ir.et message which he present-,linst present-,linst a year ago Mr. Roosevelt "":ly stated hisj belief that "the 'jtrnment should seek to hold the "iic debt" to the figure of $31,- -jvm.ooo. furthermore," he added, "the rnment during the balance of calendar year should plan to . ; its 1030 expenditures in-ng in-ng recovery and relief within revenues expected in the fiscal ' 1930." The fiscal year 1030 S s next July 1. And frequent t nincements from the White ' have made it clear that a "i.iiced budget in that time Is ig' unlikely. In addition the treas- I said in Its annual report that 's always lagged behind in re-Jins re-Jins recovery of the country. 5 example, income taxes to be (ion March 15, 103G, nnd In the "1iuent Installments of that J' will bo the result of levies on 'iiiRS of the current calendar ' !'. No one expects earnings in n to be normal. It is obvious, ''fore, that the balancing of the .lot In the fiscal year beginning il, 1035. becomes almost a phy- jl Impossibility unless the Pres-njl Pres-njl should do the unexpected by 1(jR off every one of the slxty-. slxty-. J nr more recovery nnd relief , ''log and should cut off all federal s for relief of the destitute. ,, 'nit were done, It is estimated 1 seal experts that ordinary re-t re-t s by the treasury would come ' tn meellug the ordinary cost p regularly established govern-r'i govern-r'i ngenclea. A I fro had been frequent conton-, conton-, g ; by avid New Dealers that Mr. itl f Roosevelt's sec- 'Micenf s ond budget recom-lh'wsChange recom-lh'wsChange mendations would ,ll provide a clear ''jirc of ids general fiscal policies. col,, lit 'Mr statements remain true, l ' resulted in setting up one of n. most paradoxical conditions In $ history of this nation. N)"l;lng back over the whole J'"velt period, the thing which :rvors have never been able nd-i nd-i ritfl.v to explain Is who or what !2;m1 the change tn the Presl-l Presl-l views on fundamental flnnn-inestloni. flnnn-inestloni. It is too obvious to ji'H.He nn argument that the , Meat's views have changed. J1 one goes back to his first ; ,!)' ;;e to congress or beyond that ';' 5 campaign speeches nnd to l;it(Yirm upon which he made the for the Presidency, It is futile t'v to reconcile those utterances ' the subsequent spending nnd "ing program in which his addition ad-dition lias indulged. It will r '"billed that Mr. Roosevelt de I in his Inaugural speech an ;in to balance the budget and ' "t the deficit left on his lap 1,1 Hoover administration. lie Imi'on to sny that If congress in " senoroslty voted sums that , Hie budget out of balance 1 1 j , M!r the necessity at the same ; provide taxes to raise the j s expenditures. J,e there can be no dispute tot' Mr. Roosevelt's views have ;1I-Vil and he has acted In :ic-rfl'11 :ic-rfl'11 with hit! new found prin ciples, the interesting thing is who brought about the revision of views on the part of the President. Soroe of the President's virulent critics have asserted in the opening days of congress that Mr. Rooesvelt was wholly uninformed as1 to the needs with which he was confronted when he was making his campaign speeches. They say he found his original promise to be all wet and he took the only alternative to stave off a bitter row in his own party, offering much money for congress to spend. Among the President's friends, 1 have heard private expressions that Mr. Roosevelt had been misled by some of the group who held his ear at the start of the administration. These men referred to a number of the so-called Progressive Republicans Republic-ans like the LaFollettes, Norris, Hiram Johnson of California, and Bronson Cutting of New Mexico. Several of these were so well liked by the President that they were invited in-vited to enter his cabinet. Consequently, Conse-quently, there are those wdio believe that Mr. Roosevelt followed the advice ad-vice of the Progressive Republican group much more closely than leaders lead-ers among the old-time Democrats. Most of the Progressive Republicans Republic-ans are spenders at heart, according accord-ing to the general view here. And they are also men who regard a balanced budget as not very important. impor-tant. So, while no one can say definitely what influences altered the President's stand, it certainly is regarded among observers here as being a situation in which the wind makes the straws point toward to-ward the so-called progressives as having joined hands with the President Presi-dent in initiating what has come to be the greatest outpouring, of taxpayers' tax-payers' money, except in war time, since our government was established. estab-lished. 1 Organization of the new congress has resulted In a new cry, in reality a very old "South in cry, but It is new, the Saddle" since we have not heard it In fifteen years. The cry we are hearing now j from Republicans and from northern north-ern Democrats is the wail that "the South Is in the saddle." While there certainly can be nothing criminal about the South being in the saddle, it provides a grand political issue both within the Democratic ranks and between the Democratic party and what is left of the Republicans In congress. It also touches a question that has been discussed many times, namely, the wisdom of the seniority rule in congress. The seniority rule provides pro-vides that the oldest members in the point of service shall Inherit committee chairmanships and shall have other positions of honor In the house and senate. Out of the G9 Democratic senators sena-tors only 24 come from what Is known as the solid South. Of the 317 Democratic members of the house, only about 100 are thoroughly thorough-ly acquainted with the yell of the Confederacy. Yet In the face of this tremendous growth of Democratic Demo-cratic membership coming out of the North and the West, the South is In the saddle more solidly than ever. The speakership of the house went to Representative Byrns of Tennessee, who succeeded to the place made vacant by the late Henry Hen-ry T. Rainey of Illinois. In the senate we see Vice President Presi-dent Garner, the presiding officer, a Texan. The majority leader is Senator Sen-ator Koblnson of Arkansas. Democratic leaders in the house have made certain that they will not be erabar-Checking erabar-Checking rassed this year Radicals na tnp? wcre In the first New Deal congress. In that session they were constantly harassed by the radicals who sought to force votes on legislation legis-lation which the President nnd his advisers did not want and which for the same reason the Democratic Democrat-ic leaders did not want. The radicals rad-icals accomplished their purposes by use of what is called the rule of discharge of committees. But that rule has boon amended so that to Invoke it now, actually a majority major-ity of the house will have to sign a petition. Under the previous rule, the signature sig-nature of 1-15 members of the house was sufficient to compel the discharge dis-charge of- n committee from consideration con-sideration of any piece of legislation legisla-tion referred to It for action. The necessary number of signatures was obtained In three embarrassing cases hist year. The soldiers' bonus bill was brought out by that method; the Frazier I.emke farm mortgage Inflation bill was released for a vote In the same manner. The new house organization, however, is determined not to be embarrassed in that manner. It succeeded suc-ceeded in Democratic caucus bind lug on nil Democrats in having the original rule amended so that now there must be a majority of all house members affixing their signatures signa-tures to the discharge petition before be-fore it becomes operative. , Western Nwtiaiier L'nlon. |