| Show W washington ashi le D digest i national topics interpreted by WILLIAM B BRUCKART I 1 NATIONAL PRESS 1100 washington 0 C washington two actions of sections of the congress lately deserve more than 0 ardi r d I 1 congress n nary a r y attention makes news one of these was probably as courageous a position as any group of senators ever has taken the other action by majority of the house was shot through with the utmost cowardice and selfishness lately a group of senators nearly all democrats took their political lives in their hands and delivered to the senate a report from its judiciary committee advising defeat of president Roosevel ts proposal to add six new justices of his own choosing to the supreme court of the united states in my time in washington I 1 believe I 1 can say without qualification there never has been a committee action in the house or sen ate in which the president as the leader of the dominant party received such a castigation on a legislative proposal as was given mr roosevelt by democrats who constituted the majority of the senate judiciary committee they did not mince words in any respect whatever may be the merit of mr roos evelti proposal to add six justices of his own choosing to the highest court the majority report of the judiciary committee left no stone unturned in disclosing objections to the proposal as opponents of the court reorganization scheme see them almost on the same day that senate democrats were in effect breaking or revolting from the presidents leadership the democratic majority in the house killed oft off a proposal for new taxes in the district of columbia that would have resulted in taxing the salaries of representatives and senators and their office staffs they were brazen about it they were not going to vote an income tax upon themselves and they made no effort to conceal their reasons for refusing to accept the recommendations of a special tax subcommittee which was acting for the permanent committee in the house of the district of columbia the district of columbia committee examining the budget for the seat of the federal govern government m ent was confronted with a deficit in the district finances and instructed its tax subcommittee to develop new sources of revenue in order that the district of columbia might not get into debt among the taxes proposed was a tax on income of residents of the district of columbia which is synonymous with washington and it provided for taxing earnings here whether the person who earned the income was a resident of the capital city or not that was too much the majority in the house of representatives just could not take it they voiced their objections openly and being superior in numbers to those who believed that income in the district of columbia should be taxed they forced the tax bill back to the district of columbia committee for revision indeed they went further the line of criticism of an income income tax that would touch t the he sacred salaries of congressmen and senators was such as to have the effect of forcing the committee to bring in a tax bill that would increase the tax on property in the federal area now it is a fact that few members of the house and a very small number of senators have bought residences in washington they usually live in apartments or hotels or lease homes for the period that congress is in session consequently quent ly a real estate tax will not concern most of the representatives and senators 0 0 the indictment brought against the presidents court plan by the s e n a t e judiciary court plan committee was report quite unusual in i n many respects in the first instance it was approximately f fifteen thousand chousa nd words in length being in that regard probably the longest and most comprehensive analysis that any congressional committee ever has made of a piece of legislation certainly it is the most extensive examination aini nation to be included in in a committee report in the last quarter of a century every argument advanced by the administration iri in support of the plan was picked to pieces and held up to public gaze every possible reason for expansion of the court by the addition of six new justices was scrutinized and denounced and then the committee put forth some of its own ideas it applies force to the judiciary the committee said in a sentence that constituted one paragraph and thereby was emphasized the only argument for the increase which survives analysis the report added is that congress should enlarge the court so as to make the policies of this administration effective the bill was found by the seven democrats and three republicans who constituted a majority of the senate judiciary committee to be a needless futile and utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle it charged that the american system of independence of the courts would be violated and that if the bill were to be enacted into law political control over the judiciary branch of th the e government would pass into the hands of the president with the presentation of this terrific attack on the bill to the senate a second unusual circumstance developed ve loped those democrats who were opposed to the presidents proposal decided to go about the job of fighting the measure on the floor in a manner seldom seen in the congress these opponents from the democratic ranks got together and chose senator wheeler of montana as leader of the democratic opposition to the democratic presidents court revision program they gave him full authority to act including the selection of a steering committee a committee on strategy to aid him thus in the senate now we have three major leaders senator wheeler will speak for the court opposition senator robinson of arkansas as the leader of the democratic party in the senate will lead the fight for passage of the court bill and senator mcnary of oregon will head up the republicans as usual since all of the republicans and independents excepting only senator la follette progressive of wisconsin are opposed to the court revision plan senator mcnary and senator wheeler are working hand in glove against the regular democratic lineup line up headed by senator robinson it appears that the president is going to be badly defeated on this piece of legislation but it is too early to be sure mr roosevelt is a powerful figure and he has political knowledge that must be described as remarkable he has with him in the senate some exceedingly able political strategists it is thus a battle of wits mr roosevelt has said several times that he will accept no compromises there is a very definite feeling at the capitol however that the president will be glad to have a compromise if he can get one and save the bill from complete wreckage on the other hand senator wheeler and his strategy committee have announced in no uncertain terms that they will de feat the bill or any compromise that is offered time alone can answer the question of what will come out of the presidents proposal at this writing the odds certainly are against the president on the proposition speaking of taxes and the selfishness that was evident in the house action as men hunt tax tinned earlier evaders evanders calls to mind the investigation b y the joint house and senate committee that is now under w way ay this committee made up of five representatives senta tives and five senators has begun a search to find out how taxpayers avoid taxes or reduce the amounts they would otherwise have to pay by various trick schemes the committee has been given fifty thousand dollars with which to make the investigation and it is receiving able assistance from under secretary roswell magill and other treasury experts on taxation contrary to the outlook when mr roosevelt released a vicious attack on tax dodgers and tax this committee is getting down to real business and there is every reason to believe it will be able to recommend to congress changes in the law that will stop some of the schemes and tricks to which large taxpayers have resorted I 1 have sat in on a number of the hearings thus far including the opening opening session when secretary made the opening statement and disclosed to the satisfaction of every everyone oie that he was not conversant with the problem at hand like the president mr attempted to place the tax problem confronting the government on moral grounds his statement did not click with the committee at all with two or three exceptions the committee members recognized the problem as purely a question of law and senator pat harrison democrat of mississippi vice chairman said that there was no point in making the investigation a roman holiday therefore the thing settled down very quickly to an earnest study of cases where men have resorted to various kinds of subterfuges of law to reduce their tax L liability in this connection it seemed to me that too much credit cannot be given under secretary magill who apparently is anxious to get to the bottom of the problem a 0 western union |
