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Show PlC: t:i;r.alTori Interpreted j by William Bruckart lMm eVe.- ....""L Washington, D. C. rrUlf 1 Tiiack In 1010 before '""Vsi'ites became Involved . ,;rtl k ' in the World war ,r, Debt our government ila'i " had a national toot!,, pants debt wUlch Was .jwlarpe at that time. It I S: ; . HX10iH).00O. but that was -hlcu :'n''"Se d"yS l 0111186 n" lck - ' v, art of July. 10.A the trea-aP'J trea-aP'J . mi a new set of books. resented the beginning of Wt:- 1 Inclal year for the governed govern-ed ! w0ne of the Items It had to L , those books was a pnblic ''h P rl about J2S.800.O0O.O0O. We u'' I'v think that Is a huge debt Su' J; t 3 compared with the D,a,; m obligations of the fed- 'eminent a score of years -s magnitude seems titanic. private business was paying higher Interest rates. In the last live or six years private business has called for very little money. Government securities and the law of supply and demand operated to allow the treasury trea-sury to sell its bonds and notes at much reduced Interest. On the one hand, therefore, the Roosevelt administration has run up the public debt by about $3,000,000,-000 $3,000,000,-000 but has succeeded In actually reducing the carrying charge of this great structure by more than $100,-000,000 $100,-000,000 per year. This Is the situation situa-tion as of today. Restoration of business activity and the resultant demand for capital may change the market for treasury bonds almost overnight but the prospects for such business activity are not Immediate. One of the interesting things that often occurs In government affairs Is the explosive Starts effect of a single Something Incident or a single sin-gle remark by an important official. It is a characteristic charac-teristic of changing conditions and It is a circumstance which causes Washington observers to be on their toes continuously becnuse they never can tell when such an Incident will occur. Thus It was the other day that Representative Brewster, Republican, Re-publican, of Maine, a former governor gov-ernor of that state, arose In his place and charged that the Roosevelt Roose-velt administration was threatening Individual members of the house who declined to support the administration admin-istration view on a particular piece of legislation. Mr. Brewster named one Thomas Corcoran as the administration admin-istration emissary and bearer of the threats. He told of details of the circumstance and Informed the house that the legislation which the administration demanded he should support was the so-called "death sentence" provision in the bill to eliminate utility holding companies.' Suffice It to say that Mr. Brewster did not yield. The point of this incident, however, how-ever, is that immediately there came from many quarters In the house a demand for an investigation of lobbying activities. There had been many charges theretofore that the public utility corporations were overrunning over-running the house with lobbyists In their effort to defeat the "death sentence" section. The real reason back of this sudden outburst, however, how-ever, lies In dissatisfaction among many members of congress with tactics tac-tics employed by the Roosevelt ad ministration. They have taken orders or-ders constantly since March 4, 1933, but apparently they are no longer going to obey. So the Investigation of lobbying is to be started by a house committee and it will be broader than just the public utility lobbyist If the undercurrent under-current of Information proves to be correct, administration representatives representa-tives who have frequented the house chambers during consideration of the holding company bill will be placed on the witness stand to tell their story. In the meantime and maybe as a result of the excitement over the Brewster charge, Look Into Senator Black, an Lobbying Alabama Democrat, Demo-crat, started fireworks fire-works In the senate. He Is prepared to create Investigating machinery In that end of the Capitol to determine what Influence the utility lobbyists have exerted. That investigation also will go beyond the utility lobbyist lobby-ist phase. It is scheduled to dig up dirt on lobbyists for other legislation. legisla-tion. Thus far there has been little mention of administration activities around the senate. But, as In the case of the house Investigation, It appears now that the senate Investigation has a double purpose. It will be recalled that Senator Black fostered a bill requiring requir-ing all lobbyists in Washington to register at the Capitol, to show their connection, to show what salaries or other compensation they receive and to make public certain types of correspondence passing between them and the people whom they represent. rep-resent. The gossip Is that the senator's sen-ator's bill, although it passed the senate without dilliculty, will have hard sledding in the house. Senator Black appears to be proceeding on the theory that the investigation will create additional atmosphere and public demand for passage of the lobbyist registration measure. Actually, I believe that the Investigation In-vestigation will do no more than ruin reputations of some few people. peo-ple. Such aa Inquiry will not stop lobbying. It will not even curb or reduce lobbying. As long as Individuals Indi-viduals have property the value of which may be affected one way or the other by federal legislation, Just so long will individuals seek to In-fluence In-fluence their representatives and senators in congress. It seems to Tl': ...a He treasury closed the cs-,!, cs-,!, ,' '. a books on June 30 and count-e count-e e.l -e cost of the preceding 12 0f government It was found ,ei1 .e had been expended rough- the -5;000O,OOO. In the. same pe-Bal pe-Bal ; .vad collected through Income ' !'.v'er forms of taxes, including lsrt laid at the customs houses, !aV -'of approximately $3,S0O,0OO,-"are $3,S0O,0OO,-"are "ibis means that In the last 12 use ! the government operated j. .deficit of something over ?3,- ,i,(H). In other words, its ophite op-hite i! costs were virtually double Pnev.. -aunt of revenue It received, igid', !eMt together with the deficit i . ':as created during the earlier slid' -is of the Roosevelt adminlstra-eoot adminlstra-eoot something like $S,0(K),-ls $S,0(K),-ls a'; " lo the national debt. Presl-lerj. Presl-lerj. :: Hf'(,ver wh"e ln mce added is, a : R0,000,00O to the national dilj-; irough deficits in the last two of.. of his administration. So beat i are two outstanding phases In : on ; .awial affairs of the federal aifai"-" .mm' as 11 starts the fiscal i tit of 1936, which began July L lDda:: '..'( Is bred these questions: r long can the federal govern- - : continue to spend money like and thus Increase Its public and how long will the Ameri-II Ameri-II i. : people continue to permit ex-larti ex-larti inures by their government In j I: '-a of the revenues It collects? I's are related questions. Neith-e Neith-e happen without the other. :g3 rit seems to me that the time e : tome for taxpayers and voters nost 'ally to take note of the condl-ave. condl-ave. ' the government's finances. " Roosevelt justifies these heavy s ;)3 under the necessities of an iers. : ':ency. He contends that when net I'rity returns and business is lift: Jl, citizens will pay their taxes am: "A complaint and that these ilur; -i will be sufficiently large in sat- ' total production to whittle allie gigiintlc outstanding debt, he l "e there is at this moment an rule :t need for examination of the il f" e lax structure. This Is neces-itt!: neces-itt!: V to maintain the credit of the I fc. -1 Stales. If people doubt or d, i 'faith In government bonds, the a: ; it of the government can be said Impaired. No nation of self-i self-i r ''Hog people desires that thing heir' Wn. It has long been a recog-tn: recog-tn: 'truism that if a United States nut' -'anient bond was not worth its "hie, the money wa have and - 'Wits we exercise as citizens ;ise become Impaired In value 'benefit ; , . . . ireful analysis of government p.; In the last 12 months shows dances ul, """ces enues were Ruffl- tt Analyzed dent to cover t,r what Mr. Roose-J Roose-J maraetorizes as ordinary gov-;.;'t gov-;.;'t costs. He means by that )er .j1'"503 f the regular estab-,, estab-,, , ,.f"ls of government and ex-(l ex-(l . ;;rs all of the so-called emer-o emer-o , , l? agencies, of which there are sixty-odd. This condition j;:.' h i at fcdcral taxes are about ,' '? Hem in governmental af-,r. af-,r. ,.; or In private business thnt t-: Completely recovered from de-pf- - on effects. Recovery has been ' .... nt to make the total revenues . Ihe snne as those received 9 : -.I"? nnver administration In ir" f )'ear of 1920-1030. It shows ' : .,, ', Mr- Roosevelt has not re-!' re-!' ... '"e cost of ordinary running . sps of the government as he I! . "ed when he became Tresi-i Tresi-i V ..'"tinned earlier a comparison (" .. nl "''bile- debt now and In 1016. iP iij'i, nnntl,or date, namely, '' : ; J lhl,t time the outstanding ., Kfi.r.0-1.000,000. The an-, an-, ,.. , ,l'st cmrge on that debt r" t'Wrt f "e l""n dollars, t-"1 -ilehf " m"ch IarKr outstand-1" outstand-1" ':,., ,lle aniuial interest charge ' t0 on'y $SO,000.000 per U' !'aiiSSWmS almost Paradoxical but V "..,,. Vr lios In the Interest rnte " :f .,(.!",mcnt 18 Piiylns- In 1921 , i ; 8e rate of Interest Calais' Calai-s' "liferent types of gov-' gov-' "! iier SfC"riUcs outstanding was :' 'lessM1"" At the nrescnt tlme i ' ;si L n 3 Per cent. So credit ?'' d ,tj. arded the treasury for 'i;(s "lal reduction ln interest ti,e to e" year3 aS an effort was i'lr lo,vmilrliet securities at gradu- ! Merest rates. It did not 5ss WaU y because private busi-demanding busi-demanding capital and me to be a perfectly natural and normal .hlng, and without defending the slimy type of lobbying and the raw or crooked deals that may come from lobbying, the voters have a right to express their views to their representatives. Western Newspaper Union r |