Show W national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington the political situation waxes warmer it is seldom in ill our history where ulgere the records disclose so much heat client in the campal qu sn ri fights abts as has already been developed it may die down some but the lie wiseacres wise acres la in politics are predicting dic Irei ting ing red hot battles over the issues and mud slinging and muck raking ff among individuals there is the speech by secretary of the treasury an at tempt to show that campaign the lie new deal lias Mate material not been so costly as critics of the administration claim there Is the victory of the socialist upton sinclair who captured the democratic nomination for governor co vernor of california californi a and there Is a growing list of social reform proposals among administration advisers which provide moat meat and drink for the politicians on oil the opposing team one can mention also the row among cabinet and emergency boffl bials over the future course of NKA and the test that Is being made in the district of columbia courts to determine whether a business firm can be made to comply with a code which it has definitely and continuously refused to sign there Is the ship fight among the democrats of the house of representatives and the bitter attacks that are being leveled at the treasury by some of the senators and representatives from agricultural areas on account of administration management of processing taxes efforts of the american liberty league for protection of constitutional rights are being ex expanded all the while new deal p planners lanners ore are engaged in development of new schemes such as a program designed to result in federal ownership of the r railroads all roads to say that the situation is confusing is to use the mildest sort of language observers in washington who have watched political maneuvers for a quarter of a century ami more insist that at no time in their recollection have they seen anything similar to present conditions take the upton sinclair victory itself as an example I 1 am told few times in modern politics has it occurred that a man so affiliated with another partisan group has bored his way in and seized titular control of a major political party the observers insist that the result of if the california primaries has placed the roosevelt administration on a decidedly hot spot unless as it has been charged president roosevelt Is willing to commit the democratic party which he heads to the socialist doctrines publicized for a quarter of a century by mr sinclair some political leaders here are whispering that the sinclair victory will strengthen the ban hand d of the american liberty league and enable the sponsors A al smith jouett shouse john AV davis former senator wadsworth and others to go about the country and obtain fe recruits for their defense of constitutional rights active efforts of this kind of course are likely to catalog the league as definitely antl ariti adain admin Istrati ont but league leaders apparently do not entertain such a fear at this time the processing tax question Is another that political observers insist Is due to cause processing t r 0 u b I 1 e for the troubles president T they b e y point out that heretofore such criticisms as have come of the processing taxes have centered on secretary wallace and the agricultural adjustment administration now however the attacks are being leveled at the bureau of internal revenue which Is a part of the treasury and therefore the fire has swerved from one department part ment to the other it Is to be remembered that both secretary and commissioner alel vering of the bureau of internal revenue are personal appointments of the president republican campaigners are using this as a vehicle to carry their assault on the president himself whatever the political implications may be it remains a fact that such baich new deal supporters as aa senator james P pope of idaho have taken mr helvering Uel vering to task for his administration of the processing taxes senator pope has written to mr helvering Uel vering with particular respect to the processing tax on hogs which he charged wa was b being alrig collected from farieri farmer far meri ox who slaughtered and sold pork produced on their own farms the idaho senator forced a bill through congress in the closing days of the last session which he believed would free the farmer of this tax and provide a refund of tax which he claimed was waa illegally collected at this writing senator pope reports the bureau of internal revenue has not even enen dratted the forms upon which farmers ruay may make inalie application for refund of taxes already P paid lid and it amounts to lo approximately two and one halt half cents per pound it takes no of the imagination to figure how much tax has been taken from farmers in this wy way republican wheel horses borses claim they now have ammunition in tile 8 shape hape of sir mor u gent gelthaus gen thaus hails speech under fire on the cost ot of the new deal for which they long ion have awaited tile the treasury secretary spoke over the radio ills his purpose obviously wn was s to get as wide distribution as possible for the new deal thua far lias bas cost only despite the fact that the tretis treasury ury daily statements sho show an addition of approximately eight billion to the national debt tiie the secretary was able to show to his way of thinking that while the public debt ha has been increased by tile the amount stated nearly all of these funds eventually will coma came back bach into the governments money chest ite ile admitted however that there may bli be losses sustained by some of the emergency agencies and that these losses naturally will affect the total as he fie had calculated it I 1 talked with a democratic senator concerning mr Morgen thaus speech and he be told me of his intention later to make a similar speech on the subject lie he was somewhat disturbed however as to how he could explain the receipt by the treasury of which Is the amount of profit rained gained by the government as a result of devaluation of the dollar to tile the point where it la Is worth only in gold ile he appeared to be afraid that opposing campaigners were going to say th that at the federal government had no way of obtaining revenue or money of any kind other than by taxation and borrowing lie ile suggested that alint the profit of devaluation could hardly be described as money borrowed nor could it properly be called receipts from taxation when I 1 last talked with him he had not found a term which would cover these receipts e which are scheduled to include also profits from changes in the value of silver the republicans are using M sir r Morgen thaus own figures in an argument ament that the assets of wholly government owned agencies such as the reconstruction finance corporation por po ration atlon are so far only bookkeeping items it appears to he be irrefutable that no one can foretell what the value of these assets are going to he be one two or three years hence therefore without discussing the merits of the argument on either side itcan it can be said definitely that the republicans will he be doing a lot of figuring figurin just as mr mor genth genthe tu did fig figuring aring to reach the conclusions lie he wanted to reach and disseminate among the voters in some quarters I 1 hear expressions of commendation for the pronouncement no hy by sir air MorRen thau strangely these commendations do not relate to the total which he contended the new deal had cost thus far but to the fact that the administration was going to remain falta ful to its pledge that the deficit would not exceed eight billion dollars in the period covered washington has received numerous reactions from business interests regarding this particular phrase of the speech and business seems to regard that much of it as reassuring As regards the controversy that Is raging in the administration its se eaf I 1 f observers real battle believe there Is in in offing every reason to expect an eventual explosion general johnson the administrator on the one land hand find and miss perkins ns the secretary of labor and donald chberg Rl secretary of the presidents executive council on the other are all individuals divi duals dunis of the temperamental makeup required as requisite to a real battle their differences grow out of the plans as to the future of the which the president has said la is to continue as a permanent vart part of the new deal structure washington ashington lV has not quite made up its mind concerning the delimata dons laid down by the two factions but it Is apparent even now that miss perkins and mr r Rl achber chberg contend for expansion of the NIZA control beyond the limits to which the bombastic general johnson Is willing to go also it Is made to appear that miss perkins perking and mr prefer to see under tinder the domination of an individual whose mental slants are in line with their own which Is to say in the opinion of most observers that they favor a radical tendency beyond general johnsons program the general having been a business executive seems to realize that it Is better to proceed cautiously in e expanding supervision and Is holding out tor for that course the differences between these individuals divi duals are tile first to reach proportions requiring white louiee intervention tion whether mr air roosevelt has salved calved the feelings of each lq riot not completely established although it seems now that general johnson linson Jo will continue to manage NIZA NHA and that miss aliss perkins will in effect he be sent back to her department of labor to give her attention to that job 0 western newspaper union |