Show n f ya in y y v t 1 bruck washington digest 1 W if C it i three pan VT to ar ems I 1 f for congress s to t 0 consider r f t 4 national defense relief and the railroads are i pressing questions this congress V swill not vote money aloney just to please the president i by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press washington D C washington if it were possible bl to close ones eyes to the tragedy of the scene and forget all about the sadness of the world one might produce a masterpiece of humor concerning the situation in the nations capital this week after the manner of the circus hawker one might shout that the greatest show on earth is about to op enone might call attention to the fact act that this show is unlike most others because it has two big tops and one might without stretching the imagination suggest that if you want to understand what is happening or is about to happen you had best keep your you reyes eyes trained on both tents yes in all seriousness there are two shows this winter one of them has many actors many voices it is to be found in the halls balls cf congress on capitol hill the man on the flying trapeze never excelled by comparison with members of of the house and senate never were there better clownish acts than are staged annually in those charn chambers bers instead of vocal applause and much clapping of hands however the actors in the capitol hill circus want applause in the shape of votes they want to have the home folks approve now concerning the other tent there Is only one actor but he controls many charlie chaille mccarthys McCar thys he used to in operate a puppet show he made his actors perform so well that they became known as rubber stamps but an election has r some som e of the strings figs that controlled puppets have been broken others have become knotted and the master actor probably has somewhat more critics in his audience than he formerly had bad I 1 i I 1 national defense and the i railroads rail coads serious problems and so we get down to cases president roosevelt will offer to congress in a few days his program tor for building up the national defense he will tell Ibon congress gress as well what the needs of the destitute are and how he conceives that they must be met As a third great problem and proba blythe most difficult as well as of con concern ern to every one of us th ereis the question of what to do to save the railroads of the country no official seems to have found a proper or sarie solution butto me it appears th that atthe the time has come when national a clion action is called for in a much aluch more concrete torm form than the intellectual liberals surrounding the white house are accustomed to advance in bringing about the more abundant life trains run on money as well as steel and it if the owners do not get some money very soon there wont be more than half a dozen rail lines in the country that have escaped bankruptcy in addition to these problems we are likely to see competition between the two shows for or some very juicy jobs ot of course these concern largely the north ring of 0 the capitol hill circus nat namely abely the senate which aich must confirm presidential appointments before the act is completed it is noti not too much to expect that there will be considerable difference of opinion between the white house and the senate over a good many of these selections there is always the annual mess of appropriation bills work has been started on many of them by committees w which aich have charge but it should be remarked that the work has been only started it is by no means finished for in these money bills this year there are tons and tons tong of hot air there are not enough rubber stamps to bring a majority vote it if as and when wanted like it has been tor for the last several eril sessions in other words in the forthcoming session unless all signs fall fail there will be close scrutiny of appropriation bills congress wont vote money just to please the president from present indications I 1 be lieve it may be said that th at mr roose velt veil will get money out of the current session of congress only when the congress decides it desires to vote money it will not vote money just because the president says money shall be voted further it appears certain that there will be no more blank check appropriations the end has come for that sort of thing hereafter one may expect that congress will have its say as to what is done with the money where and now how it will be spent in other words there is such intense hatred of professional reliever harry hopkins that the bulk of the congressional member membership shii is awaiting an opportunity to clip harrys wings as the worlds greatest spender and it might be bd added just here too that there are certain senators and nd representatives who would would rather rather welcome a chance to take a slap at the whole new deal relief setup not to mention aside a side wise smearing that thereby would be given the president lt it must be remembered that mr hopkins la Is mt mf roosevelt 1 closes and adv adviser ser I 1 this national defense defence program about which the administration has been doing so much talking has its merits I 1 believe belaev e As taras fhate talked with officials with students of international affairs with foreign representatives I 1 find none who Is happy about the prospect cU it is a straight out challenge to the democracies of the world that has been waved by hitler mussolini and the others dictatorship is feeling eeling its oats with communism on the one hand and fascism on the other there surely Is need tor for preparedness and that is what mr roosevelt is proposing big navy helps to keep foreign statesmen rational it looks like a tremendous waste of money because hundreds upon hundreds of millions will be spent for ships tor for aircraft tor for eions I 1 always have felt that a big navy the mere presence of III helped keep some greedy and aggressive gres sive foreign statesmen in their right senses the change tn in war methods that has come about from development of the airplane requires that our air force orce be strengthened AU all of these things must be considered but bui if they were not to be considered I 1 have two other reasons tor for believing the p resident president is on the right track I 1 witnessed the terrific waste in the attempt to build a war machine in 1917 and 1918 if it is built up according to plans plane without haste by people who know their business we will at least get something fo or r our money which we in 1917 those who have ever visited the james river in virginia surely will agree with that statement after they have seen several thousand boats built for war purposes purpose rotting to the waters edge without ever having been used the second reason to be mentioned is that expenditure of money for this type of construction is going to mean jobs it will take many people off of relief again surely it is worth more to have something substantial built than to have strong men raking up leave s or building aprivie privies s I 1 railroad picture important As Is the defense program the railroad picture is as important in a domestic way as is the defense program indeed I 1 can not help wondering what pur our defense program would be like if the rail lines liner break down I 1 am told that the war department has figures showing that if the railroads were called upon to haul 25 per cent more traffic now than they hauled in 1937 some of the freight trains would be taking short cuts across corn fields and trying to leap over creeks some of the senators and some administration officials want to pro vide additional government loans to the rail tines lines to help them build up their rights of way that sounds foolish to me to loan them more money is simply to break their backs with added debt they have all of the debt that they can stand now I 1 have about reached the conclusion that an actual subsidy to the railroads may be the best and the cheapest thing to do give them cash treat them as other means of transportation have been treated there is no use denying it for the government has subsidized waterways it is giving cold cash to the merchant marine it has subsidized highway construction which in turn enabled the sale of motor cars it has given funds for or airport construction st and has construction lighted airways for planes each and every one of these is a subsidy and calling them by any other name does not change the fact it would seem to me therefore that mat it if the administration and con gress were to vote a plain sub sidy ot a couple ot of nuri hundred dred million dollars a year tor say three years they would be rebuilding ao an industry we must have for or peace as well as war rhe fhe ands could oe be granted tor ter use on roadbeds and buildings 4 western newspaper union |