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Show News1x Behini theNews:- By PaulMallon' Released by Western Newspaper Union. CONGRESS HAS PLENTY TO KEEP IT BUSY WASHINGTON. As this is written writ-ten congressional leaders are planning plan-ning to quit until January, allowing a six or eight-week mid-war vacation vaca-tion for themselves. They have been saying (not very loudly, of course) there is little important im-portant legislation to be handled before be-fore the big appropriation bills come up in January, and that the trouble with the country now is, there are too many laws. No more important work could be done than to have the members of each congressional committee assigned as-signed to meet daily from now until un-til January solely in search of waste in expenditures. An earnest effort might save billions. Example: The Breakers-hotel at Palm Beach, huge, world-famous hostelry, was taken over by the war department a year ago at an annual rental of $350,000. The rent, of course, was not made public, nor has any mention been made of the detailed use to which the hotel has been put, excuse for its acquisition was that it would be used as a hospital. hos-pital. Now, nearly a year later, approximately ap-proximately $900,000 has been spent on it, I understand, but only thnee floors have been occupied and never has the place accommodated more than 150 patients. The waste is obvious, colossal, inexcusable, in-excusable, every cent of that money could have been saved by using us-ing vacant civil hospital space in that area. A week ago, the army site board had a meeting at the Breakers and decided to make this lavish, rich man's hotel into a permanent army hospital, although a few miles away at Boca Raton, the army already is paying $50,000 a year rent for a project which would make an inexpensive inex-pensive and ideal substitute. The Boca Raton club has about 400 rooms, spacious grounds on the ocean, low rental, and is quiet. The army, apparently, always does things the hard way. This incident no doubt can be duplicated a million times in a million mil-lion different phases of the war effort. ef-fort. The details of such waste naturally natu-rally are not publicized by .the army, in fact are covered by supposedly military censorship, although no military information is involved. Only if congressional committees start pursuing inept officials may the truth be known. With taxes nearing the endurable limit and repeated bond drives necessary nec-essary to raise money for the vast expenditures, (amounting to $277,-400,000 $277,-400,000 a day in September), the necessities of economy assume an importance beyond any other pending pend-ing subject. The appropriations committees have hired additional clerical help to sift expenditures for waste, but the drive for economy has lacked the energy necessary to make it mean something substantial. This is a job not for one committee or clerks, but for the whole congress represented on every committee, dealing with civilian as well as military mili-tary expenditures. Other duties will be shirked if congress con-gress slips away. Appearance of CIO's Philip Murray seems to have slowed down or stopped the movement move-ment for a .sales tax, at least temporarily, tem-porarily, but something- should be done about the present incomprehensible incomprehen-sible tax system. Congress cannot just go away and let the tax complexities com-plexities gather dust on the committee commit-tee desk. The question of food subsidies also must be straightened out. A compromise com-promise settlement between congress con-gress and the administration probably prob-ably will have to be made. The lend-lease investigation must be ardently pursued. Congress does not lack business, but rather the will to work out the business it should do. INVASION OF BURMA Our heatfy bombings in Burma have causert a general expectation of invasion. True, the Indians and Chinese hae been training and building armies for some time for the purpose. But invasion will require re-quire an eni'Jmous store of equipment equip-ment which on be accumulated only gradually. Comments from India are apt to be jmore accurate. They suggest our lr activity is directed mainly toward breaking up an expected ex-pected Jap attack on India. The Japs recently moved a considerable force from east to west Burma, as if to threaten an attack. Guiding fact to be remembered about the Stalin-Hull news from Moscow Mos-cow is that the Russian newspapers exist, not primarily for the purpose of giving out news, but to further the interests of the Soviet government. govern-ment. Commenting upon the trend of the talks, therefore, probably will remain quite useless until official announcements an-nouncements are issued afterward by the participants. Mr. Hull is primarily interested in trade, not in military matters, and Russia will need goods of every character char-acter after the war. Politics killed the sales tax and is likely to kill any important tax action before the next election. Congressmen Con-gressmen just figure there is no advantage ad-vantage to be gained by identifying themselves with a sales tax, although many are agreed privately it is about the only remaining feasible method of tapping the source of swollen swol-len war incomes. Congressman Doughton has accused ac-cused the Republicans of playing politics pol-itics because they have been against most tax proposals, but he and his fellow Democrats are no less guilty. |