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Show National Topics Interpreted j iKSt r by William Eruckaxt ,-j":nrT Washington. As the federal relief re-lief administration looks forward J?r i r . t0 tlle winter Relief Cost montll3 .hpn the Mounts relief burden obviously ob-viously ts heaviest, heav-iest, Harry L. Hopkins, federal relief re-lief administrator, makes public figures fig-ures showing that the average cost of maintaining a family of four on public relief now is $2:;,09 a month. He says this figure varies materially from section to section, that it is materially higher in the Industrial centers of the South where relief rolls are largest and that, probably, the country may expect a higher average av-erage cost during the forthcoming winter. The statement by Mr. nopkins becomes be-comes exceedingly significant, in the opinion of observers here, especially with reference to the likelihood that there will be an Increase In cost this winter. It reflects two things. First, the administration's drive to bring about increased prices through crop limitation or crop destruction or any of the several methods employed em-ployed not only Is adding to the burden bur-den of those with limited buying power pow-er but it Is compelling Uncle Sam and the states and counties and charitable organizations everywhere to pay an added price to keep people peo-ple from starving. Secondly, the Hopkins statement gives more than an Intimation of how many additions addi-tions to the relief rolls there may be as a result of refusal of some people to accept any kind of jobs. It has been known many months that relief rolls carry a certain percentage per-centage of Individuals who amount to the same thing as parasites, but the mounting cost both ln the average aver-age and in the total figures are being be-ing examined by many experts with the thought in mind that considerable consider-able waste Is ln prospect. The relief administration has been attempting to make surveys of relief rolls in many jurisdictions. The results in some of the cases have been quite disturbing to those in the government who are wholly desirous of lending help wherever help Is necessary, but who obviously obvious-ly are unwilling to see government funds drained off to care for individuals indi-viduals who are refusing to help themselves. How far this condition Is going, none can foretell ; nor can anyone at this time say accurately how extensive has become the list of those who regard relief rolls as their rightful meal ticket. Some of the political leaders have become alarmed because, having hav-ing knowledge of the dole system In England and In some of the other European countries, they know how hard It is to separate individuals from relief after those individuals have lost the pride and morale which causes people to support themselves. them-selves. Hearings before congressional congres-sional committees last winter disclosed dis-closed In numerous cities how some people had declined to do the odd jobs created under the "make work" campaigns for the unemployed and had preferred to make their semi-weekly semi-weekly trips to the relief stores. I have heard several members of congress express the opinion that this phase of the Difficult relief problem is Problem really the most difficult of the whole structure. They want to see the government spend all the money that Is necessary to keep people from starving but they are beginning to demand that some way be found by which the sheep may be separated from the goals and properly fed. Here in Washington a taste of the condition mentioned above lias been exposed as the result of complaints com-plaints by a taxpayers' organization. organiza-tion. The taxpayers' group declared that Us investigators had found many unemployed appearing at relief re-lief headquarters driving their own automobiles, they thought it was paradoxical that a man could afford to maintain his automobile and could not maintain his family. Kelicf authorities in the local offices of-fices denied these charges. The relief re-lief experts stiid some of the destitute des-titute were being transported to relief re-lief headquarters In the cars of friends, but despite the denials there seemed to have been some lire ln all of the smoke. Whatever the facts in the National Na-tional Capital situation may have J)een, the condition Itself nevertheless neverthe-less Is attracting attention for the reason that some of the soft-hearted Individuals who usually do more talking than anything else have risen to the defense of those who called for their doles In their motor cars. The upshot of this and of the veiled charges of waste and sometimes some-times graft in otiier cities Is that this government Is approaching a point where it must become more or less hardboiled In its relief administration. ad-ministration. If It does not, nearly all of the observers agree, the United Unit-ed States will have a relief roll of Six or eight million which will continue to serve as a drain upon the treasuries, both national and local, lo-cal, for a good many years to come. Some of the authorities are grow-'tng grow-'tng fearful, too, of what may hap pen should the parasitic element be separated from its meal ticket. With winter coming on radicals can make a fine case out of a refusal by relief managers to feed this or that "starving family." I have even heard suggestions that the coming winter may see some riots of a character char-acter more severe than anything we have yet known. But If they do come it seems to be agreed they will not be due entirely to lack of food but to agitation on the part of some of those who have desires only to wreck our present structure of government. With the return of the winter session ses-sion of the Supreme Court of the r i t t Dnited States, Mew Veal Up New Dealers a to High Court wel1 as o!d dealers may have some ground for belief that questions respecting re-specting their acts in the last year soon will be answered. In this country, coun-try, we have always looked to the courts as the last resort to tell us when our legislative bodies as well as executive officers of our governments, govern-ments, state or national, have gone beyond bounds. All through the summer there has been the mounting mount-ing demand for judicial construction construc-tion of New Deal acts. It appears we are about to get them in numbers num-bers from the highest court In the land. There are sufficient petitions before the Supreme court to provide pro-vide a rather accurate delimitation of the New Deal scope In Its constitutional constitu-tional aspects. Expert legal opinion here seems to lean toward substantiation of most of the New Deal activities by the high court. But at the same time some of the best legal minds ln the country are maintaining that while part of the New Deal props look good, they are outside of what has hitherto been regarded as constitutional con-stitutional acts on the part of government gov-ernment and so the consensus Is that there will be many five-to-four decisions forthcoming from the Supreme Su-preme court before it lays aside its robes this spring. As the Supreme court now is constituted, con-stituted, I think It Is generally regarded re-garded as leaning to the conservative conserva-tive side. While the court is not supposed to be influenced by economic eco-nomic phases, the economy of the New Deal Is so entwined with law that many astute observers tell me there can be no segregation of those two elements when It comes to ruling rul-ing on constitutional phases of the New Deal. The best available figures show that the government has instituted about 140 cases charging violation of NliA codes. It has won about 37 of these, and has lost about 15 of those coming to a decision. Private litigants have brought action against the NRA in i!0 cases and the government gov-ernment has won 20 of these. Similarly, there have been something some-thing like 20 cases in the courts involving Agricultural Adjustment administration rules and regulations. regula-tions. Of those that have gone through to a decision the government govern-ment has won seven and lost three. A situation somewhat unique ln American politics is developing in Wisconsin, where Wisconsin the LaFolette Politics brothers are undertaking un-dertaking to continue con-tinue the family dynasty by marching march-ing under the banner of a new organization, or-ganization, the Progressive party. It is all being done very quetly, but the facts seep through the national political headquarters here in Washington. Wash-ington. The regular Republican organization organiza-tion sees an opportunity to "knock oil" the LaFollettes by throwing their support to John M. Callahan, the Democratic candidate for the senate. Apparently they have little or no hope of electing their own senatorial sen-atorial candidate, the Wisconsin publisher, John B. Chapelle, who ended the political career of former for-mer Senator John J. Blaine In the primaries of lfK'2. If Mr. Callahan does poll a sizeable size-able Republican vote the question is whether this will offset the defections defec-tions In the Democratic party. He was one of the leading supporters of Alfred E. Smith at the 1932 convention, con-vention, and neither the President nor his lieutenants have forgotten that it was the present Democratio senatorial candidate In Wisconsin who gave publicity to charges that Mr. Roosevelt's early campaign ln the South for Presidential nomination nomina-tion was in part financed and supported sup-ported by the ofiicers of the Ku-Ivfux Ku-Ivfux Klan In Georgia. All of which leads to the observation ob-servation that political leaders sometimes do very strange things. They have been known to throw their own candidates overboard when the occasion required If they were to hold their own control of the party machinery, state or national. na-tional. Consequently, It Is not par"-ticularly par"-ticularly strange that the Republicans Repub-licans will support a Democrat for the senate If it would mean the removal re-moval of the thorn in their sides which the LaFollette family has proven for several decades. . Western NewaDarer Unia |