Show washington ashington W W a sn snapshots ap shot S some day or other washington Washing tor is going to win itself the name the city of paradoxes it has more cases per square inch of the laft left hand not knowing what the right is doing than any three other cities in the world congressional chiefs are worried about it in private they say the legislators are arc making a habit of voting for things demanded by organized groups regardless of the results take for example the presidents recent remarks about prices rising too fast congress had a lot to do with that b by levying taxes on corporation incomes and payrolls but in less than a week after the presidents warning congress finally passed the gutter coal control act the basic purpose behind that is to raise coal prices As another example look at the budget it was dratted without including bluain cluain 0 funds for tenant farmers or new housing or federal aid to state schools congress applauded attempts tempts to balance the budget yet the farm tenant housing and school aid bills costing a billion dollars each are on the thresh hold of enactment chairman doughton of the house ways and means committee is no slouch at this business of letting his hands do different isings last fall he issued a statement in which he said there would be no new taxes this session he even told a high treasury official that if there there was a bin bill this session to levy new taxes he introduce it his idea is that the way to balance the budget is let the federal income stay where it is and cut expenditures but now he comes along and introduces a bill that will cut by the amount the government expected expect ea to collect the railroad retirement ti act unemployment employment un and its constant companion tor for the last few years re employment offers another of these gleaming paradoxes billions of dollars are being spent upon relief of the unemployed but who are the unemployed how many of them are there are they on farms in white collar fields in professions unskilled labor in tac factory tory no one has the slightest idea but expenditures go forward ifor for maintaining this unknown army the department of laboi makes its guess the american federation of labor presents its statistics so does the national industrial conference board and others senator Vanden beig ol 01 michigan says all are wrong and that the total is far less than supposed pose d and he presents an esti estimate m 1 e that the labor departments alst estimate i has consistently been too high that there are less than unemployed the only answer is to take a census of the unemployed find out what the problem is and then proceed to treat it scientifically but instead the guesses go on the ex tures go on and the only known fact Ts is that there is an almost general shortage of skilled labor in the manufacturing trades one sided the much talked of wagner labor act is another case in point despite public condemnation of sit down strikes congress refused to make an outright condemnation of them the resolution finally decided upon had three paragraphs para graphs in it one condemned sit downs clowns in comparatives mild phrases the other two condemned employers implying that oll ell of them spied on their employees and refused t abide by the law but the wagner act to quote the he t new york times is the most one sided law congress has enacted in years it imposes all sorts of obligations on employers but none on unions the times asks why and then answers that tha t because john L lewis wants no obligations |