Show wo S 1 t y y kl TS f ii j national W I 1 L L I 1 RATIONAL rd 4 3 elf washington if the first legislative act of the new congress is to measure its effa p plane and its embargo value as the policy making branch of our gohei ament there is no other conclusion than that our legislative body has sunk to a new low in its history of course congress should not be judged by the mess it made in rushing through a resolution barring further shipment of airplanes and engines to spain but on every side I 1 hear bear criticism of the lack of common sense used in that instance to recall some of the details w when hen congress convened there was a wild and surging wave demanding that the united states remain neutral and avoid entanglement in the spanish crisis everywhere and on a million tongues was heard the cry that the united states should take no chances it should take all of the stitches in time t that h a t are necessary to make certain that we will not get involved in a circumstance on european soil that threatens to become another 1914 it has been and is quite evident that the people of the united states are committed to a policy of peace a policy of neutrality european developments have proceeded so slowly that even the merest tyro has foreseen the ultimate clash between communism and fascism about which I 1 wrote in these columns some weeks ago in other w words the european situation has developed after a manner that would enable preventative plans to be laid on this side of the atlantic ocean but congress in attempting to insure our neutrality did probably the most thing it could have done in so doing I 1 believe the consensus is that both house and senate demonstrated again the in inability characterizing congresses of the last few years to appraise a complete picture it yielded to what it believed to be the public demand giving thought to the future let us analyze briefly what happened the congress convened as I 1 have said with an almost unanimous demand from the country for a definite and workable neutrality policy it convened with two or three individual business units seeking to deliver shipments of airplanes and engines to the so called loyalist troops in spain the exporters of these war material sensed quick action by congress that would destroy their contracts naturally they put on all speed to get the planes and engines out of this country ahead of an embargo congress like so many boys in a college football match fell into the spirit of competition a race well the answer is that robert cuse succeeded in getting his planes and engines 0 on n beats Beat beathem sEm ern board ship a and n d to it away from N new e w york and beat in the race by twelve hours a fact which congressional leaders knew when they enacted the resolution of embargo so it appears to be almost inexcusable cu that men of brains should have rushed a piece of legislation on through its channels containing an entire absence of neutrality in its very language the resolution that was to prevent mr cuse and several others from shipping airplanes and engines to spain not only laid down the embargo which was its purpose but it laid down that embargo specifically against spain now to those not versed in international law it may not bo be immediately evident how dangerous such a precedent is international law requires and it is accepted everywhere among all nations that there shall be no discrimination among nations unless those nations are declared to be belligerents spain has not been so declared the war in spain is a civil war insofar as it relates to any other nation officially of course it is a well known knowli tact fact that troops from communist russia and nearly com eunist france are helping the so called loyalist government in spain it is equally well wel I 1 known that fascist troops from nazi germany and fascist italy are supporting the rebel liberal general franco in spain these facts would seem to make the war in spain something more than a civil war which indeed it is but as far as the united states Is officially concerned the war in spain remains civil strife and yet our congress in the worst display of low grade intelligence witnessed in a long time specifically places spain in the category of a nation at war with another nation and says in a statute that certain commodities may not be shipped to that nation to state this problem another way it would have been exceedingly simple to have made the legislation apply to all nations and thereby to avoid embarrassment there was time after the race with mr cuse was lost to have made the correction of a mistake which should never have been made in the first place but congressional leaders were swept overboard b by y the big wave and as far as I 1 a am m concerned have demonstrated again their lack of abilia ability y to keep their feet on the ground I 1 do not know what it presages in the way of future legislation it may be that after the excitement has died down congress will again debate legislation and work out proper laws but the start certainly has been inauspicious 0 0 attention ought to be called just here to the differences that have arisen and prom some ise to cause dim differences curties between the execute i v e branch of the government and some of the legislators mr roosevelt as president seems to feel that he should have plenty of power to deal with problems like the spanish situation and export of arms without consulting congress A good many new deal leaders in congress feel the same way but there are many who disagree with that idea there is pronounced sentiment at the capitol in favor of legislation that would definitely prohibit the exporting of arms and munitions of war but including definitions and guide lines for those in the executive branch of the government to enforce it is too early yet to tell what form the permanent legislation will take because of the circumstances just outlined with the top heavy new deal majority in congress it would seem the better guess to predict that mr roosevelt will have his way but on the other hand until such an issue becomes clear cut one cannot tell very far in advance how the two schools of thought will solve their problem and whether the united states will be committed further to the one man control that would necessarily result from granting additional des power to the president in a matter of this kind there seems to be no doubt anywhere that sooner or later one of the nations whose troops is participating in the spanish civil strife will commit an overact an act of war some hotheaded hot headed individual in command of a ship or an airplane or troops guarding a border will take a pot shot that will wipe out a life or two and wipe out peace at the same time just as occurred when the comparatively insignificant austrian archduke was shot in 1914 there can be no question that the united states must follow an international policy under these circumstances cum stances that is most cautious 0 0 dr rexford guy tugwell the famous dreaming brain truster no 1 of the roosevelt Tug wells a ministration administration d last act has returned to private life to an executive position with a molasses firm before he left his post as undersecretary of agriculture however the famous professor signed an order that is designed to curb lobbying by former employees of the department in whose administration he had a hand the aim of this order was an obviously worthy one because it was designed to prevent former officials or employees of the department of agriculture from using new connections with commercial groups from obtaining information or using influence not of the best sort from a public standpoint with that order there can be no quarrel I 1 find among astute observers in washington however no serious supposition that the order would operate to deprive dr tugwell himself or any other former official of high standing from access to members of the departments staff 1 it t just does not work out that way it never has and it never will despite the wholesome character of the good professors plans the truth is that while such an order may make lesser officials more cautious and thus put a few obstacles in the way of petty lobbying it Is thoroughly ineffectual in preventing the use of influence or the obtaining of information from that department or any other in the government the difficulty with this situation is ia that government offices are being used as a stepping stone to more lucrative jobs the government does not offer ambitious and able men a security of tenure men who demonstrate on ability in governmental positions sooner or later are offered jobs with great big salary checks attached and they would be less than human if they did not consider such proposition when they know that in the course of human events a great turnover will take place in their own department and they are swept aside by reversal ol 01 public political action 0 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