CONOMY was given a real boost by the senate when It passed the treasury-post office bill, for it inserted into the measure provisions giving the incoming President al- most dictatorial pow- er in reorganizing the structure of the fed- eral government, co- ordinating, consolidat- ing or reducing the number of agencies and eliminating lapping and duplica- tion of duties, “in or der to further reduce expenditures and in- crense efficiency In government" The measure withholds authority to abolish or transfer an executive department in its though Senator Norris urged that this privilege also be given the ‘hief Executive. His proposal was rejected because feared it might lead to the of the army and navy into one department of national! defense, ns has often been suggested. senate gra greater Uk than was President Hoover for the The executive orders will over- Sen. Bratton entirety, senators combining The bill as approved by the n the ich titude by pur pose, not become effective until sixty days after being submitted to unless congress itself provides by law for an earlier Jesides this grant of power to reor- the federal establishment the senate moved toward further econ- omies by adopting an amendment of- fered by Senator Sam G. Bratton of New Mexico, one of the leading Demos crats in the matter of savings. It re- quires all department hends to cut their expenditures for 1034 by 5 per cent, though this must be done with- out cutting wages—this being insisted upon by Senator Costigan of Colorado, Mr. Bratton estimated that his plan would result in the saving of about $140,000,000 In the cost of operating the government during the next fiscal year. Other economy measures at- tached to the bill, It was sald, wonid realize some 20 millions of additional savings. One of these includes the en- listed personnel of the army, navy and marine corps In the present 815 per cent salary cut affecting all other fed eral employees, In the house all kinds of attempts to economize were beaten during con- sideration of supply bills. The rep- resentatives even declined, by an over- whelming vote, to reduce their own salaries to £7.500 or £5,000, opponents of the proposal arguing that they could not afford the cut and that low- ering the pay would make the house a “rich man's club” and make it Im- possible for a poor man to enter con- gress. The proponents of the reduc tion were denounced as demagogues. ts new President m asked Sdine CONSress effective date. ITH grave formality the senate and house met together in the house chamber and watched thelr offi. cial tellers extract from a mahogany chest the reports of state electors on last fall's election. The reading clerk loudly announced the state totals, and when these had been set down on big tally sheets and added up, the con- gress was solemnly Informed that Franklin D. Roosevelt and John N. Gar- ner had been elected President and Vice President of the United States by a vote of 472 against 50 for Hoover and Curtis, ENATORS, despite their rules, can find ways to say some mighty mean things about one another; but an out- sider mustn't cast aspersions on their integrity. David 8S — Barry, who has been ™ sergeant at arms of 3 the senate for 14 years, has found this out and has lost his job, The seventy-three year-old official wrote an article for Al Smith's New Outlook, the opening paragraph of which was: “Contrary, perhaps, to the popular belief, there are not many crooks in congress-—that Is, out and out grafters, or those who are willing to be such; there are not many sen- ntors or representatives who sell their votes for money and It is pretty well known who those few are; but there are many demagogues of the kind that will vote for legislation sole ly because they think that it will help their politienl and social fortunes.” Indignant senators were swift to eall Barry to account. Sitting ns a trinl court, they heard him admit he was unable to prove that there were bribe takers and grafters in congress ; and they refused to consider his pleas that Senator Glass had said about as much concerning the fight against the McFadden banking bill, and that in reality his article was meant to de fend the reputation of congress de spite its Inept wording. By a vote of 52 to 17 the senate deprived Barry of his post on the ground that he had traduced that body and could not prove his charge. D. 8. Barry In the words of Senator David Reed of Pennsylvania, the senate “made 8 holy show of itself.” Barry did not lack defenders, the warmest of these being Senator Otis Glenn of Illinois and Senator M. M. Logan of Kentucky. Mr. Glenn, being a lame duck, was pot afrald to say what he thought, and he had a lot of hot thoughts on the matter, He pointed out that what larry had written was but one small voice in a chorus of criticism of the senate, and continued: “1 cannot distinguish very material ly between attacking a body of this kind, as has been done in the present instance, and the privilege which Is exercised nearly every day in commit. tee rooms of the senate of browbeat ing a witness, accusing him, attacking him as he sifs there, called in response to a summons, “I do not distinguish the attacks made upon this body and the attacks made In this body day after day by distinguished members of this body, attacking, abusing. condemning, blackening people's names and reputa tions, knowing that the next upon the front pages of the responsi ble newspapers of this country those charges, unsustained, will be broadcast to the world.” The debate was lively and rather vituperative, and was immensely Joyed by the occupants of the galleries. One was heard to quote: **The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.” between morning en of hese V HILE the President-Elect was rruising about the Caribbean try- 40g to catch fish the amateur cabinet builders kept right on working. Late gossip was that Wil lam H. Woodin of New York would be secretary of com- merce ; Henry L. Stev- ens of North Carolina, former commander of the American Legion, secretary of war, and Archibald MeNell of Connecticut or O, Max Gardner of North Carolina secretary of the navy, Jesse IL Straus, New York merchant, also was put in the running for the commerce portfolio. More definite than these rumors was the report that Jesse H. Jones, eminent Democrat and business man of Houston, Texas, would be made head of the Reconstruction Fi nance corporation. He would succeed Atlee Pomerene, whose appointment as chairman by President Hoover was blocked, with all other nominations, In the senate. Mr. Roosevelt will rely greatly on the Reconstruction Finance corporation and its vast credit in ear rying out his plans in the "new deal” and would receive strong and able support from Mr. Jones as its chair man. Jesse H. Jones LENTY of expert advice on ways of pulling the nation out of the slough of despond is to be offered soon. First the senate finance commit- tee invited more than half a hundred of the nation’s leading men in all lines to present thelr views on the causes of the economic depression and the needed legisiative remedies, and those views presumably are now being for mulated. Then President-Elect Roose. velt sent to the governors of the 48 states Invitations to meet him in the White House on March 6 to discuss means of solving national problems in which the governments of the states and the nation have a common vital interest, In his letter Mr. Roosevelt sald: “It 1s my thought that we should discuss for our mutual benefit certain subjects, such as: “(a) Conflicting taxation by federal and state governments: *(b) Federal ald for unemployment relief; *“{c) Mortgage foreclosures, especial ly on farm lands, and “(d) Better land use by afforesta- tion, elimination of marginal agricul tural land, flood prevention, ete.: *{e) Reorganization and consolida. tion of local government to decrease tax costa” It Is belleved all or nearly all of the governors will accept Mr. Roose velt's Invitation gladly: All but ten of them are Democrats and might be expected to be In Washington for the inangural ceremonies, ITH considerable Democratic support, the government's pro- gram for ald to the unemployed was greatly broadened. It provides, among other things, for an additional £300, 000,000 direct rellef loans to states, and In Washington there was n hellef that It had a good chance of passage during the present session. The bill as drafted also would liberalize the law under which the R. F. C. makes loans for self-liquidating construction proj ects; and it makes provision for loans to private corporations for the devel opment of community farming and ocean alr transportation If guch proj ects are self-liquidating, HAT flurry over he activities of William C, Bullitt, who wa. report ed In Europe as being a secret repre sentative of ir. Roosevelt to deal with ernments of that owe war debts to the United States, probably has blown over for good. Bulli, who wns a State de partment representa. tive under Woodrow Wilson, Wis thought French an emissary of Col Edward M. House. lle visited London, Paris and other capitals and conferred with Sent over the gov nations niso by WwW. C. Bullitt department called Ambnssador Edge for inforiwtion. The dor replied that Bullitt was acting on his own respons'bility writer in terested In foreign affairs and was representing in the Uni States, Mr. Edge, It 18 understood that this Is only one of many intidents, nomination, the emhnssy has on pmbnssn ns n no one reports d simliinr I's re [loaseve hind Ever since Mr succesion of ports of a long such “em issaries”™ JARIOUS plans f¢ of the Republica discussed, started. This Is the Nationul Republic: Vice I'resident (‘harles head and headquarters In Washingt and one curtis st been nan Rhode Three vice chairmen have —Renntors Hebert of Innd and Daniel O. Hastings of Ik ware and former Representative John Q. Tilson of Connecticut, he } of the Ik regular Republican The new organlz John A. Camp! Y.. who will to carry on Felix gue not only in dential election but in gressional iy neither for nor agn of any one candi The senate Reputl seems determined to continue In good comeback next year s cor races also. It is professed nest the interests lean organization standing In the party caucus the insur gents fall. who supported Roosevelt Inst Senator Charles [.. McNary of Oregon, the probable y ican lender of the senate, lared that a proposal to read out of the party Sen ators George W lobert M. la Follette of Wisconsin Hiram Johnson of California, and ronson Cutting of New Mexico, had “not & ¢ the world” to sue ceed, Suggestions were heard that Secretary of the Treasury would be made chairman of the publican national committee, but sald he would not accept the place “I've had a lot of polities In the last 25 years and 1 don’t Intend to step out of here into the chairmanship of any political committee,” Mills said. Norris of Nebraska, hance in recently Mills He he REAT BRITAIN'S eabinet in three sessions gave final approval te the British policy for negotiations with Mr. Roosevelt in the debt conference to be held in Washington, Of course the cabinet's conclusions were not made public, but It was understood Ambassador Sir Ronald Lindsay would bring back a plan providing for a lump sum payment of between £1,250, 000,000 and 220000000) as settle ment for the entire debt of about $11. 000,000,000 which the European na- tions owe the United States. This, the debtor nations think, would be In accord with their own Lausanne agree ment on German reparations, Representative Rainey of lilinnis de clared: "The United States will not accept any such slash,” and opinion In congressional circles upheld this view, Moreover, Mr. Rooseveit's plan of dealing with each nation separately will give the British small opportu. nity to put forward a proposal for all of them, ERMANY'S new government un- der Chancellor Hitler Is not to have smooth salling by any means and The Socialists and Communists were trying strenuously to lay aside thelr differences and join In the fight agninst the Nazis, and it seemed likely they would succeed In this Vice Chancellor Von Papen, armed with a decree signed by President Von Hindenberg, assumed the premiership of Prussia, dissolved the diet of that state and ordered new elections on March 5. Premier Braun and the other old Prussian ministers were summarily ousted. The government also issued a new set of severe laws curtalling the right of assembly and of free speech and gagging the press, REMIER DALADIER postponed the downfall of his new French government for a time by temporarily abandoning the attempt to balance the budget. The cabinet rejected a pro posal to reduce the pay of employees of the state, and approved menstures which would slightly Increase the taxes on gasoline and bank checks, All told, It approved measures de signed to provide $232.000,000, half of which woald be In new taxes and half resulting from economies in elvil ex. penditures. This measure will be op erative until another budget projeet ean be drafted, ECENT denths of note were those of Dr. Lawrence F. Abbott, for mer president and publisher of the Outlook and close friend of Theodore Roosevelt ; and Count Albert Apponyi of Hungary, the oldest statesman of the League of Nations and a powerful political figure In his country. @ 1933, Wasters Newspaper Union, Washington. ~The second session of the Seventy-Second congress, now pass. ing into history A DO-NOTHING as the last “lame CONGRESS duck” sessions is crowning itself new-found glory. Short ses- congress, In advance of a administration, are never gions of change In «<urrent edition Is by all odds the win. ner when the race {8 run towards the zero, Indeed, quired-—not to sit In the geniate and the those of us who are re- privileged—by our duties press galleries of the house day after day have indulged in a little game of at- tempting to some legislation which might have been killed but was allowed to pass, It “just ain't” And to make the thing more ridicu- lous, Were hearings on this bili or that right up to the finish line, taking testimony (on account of there Is always a tremendous to the printing charges of thousands of dol itnegses from here, There a chance for those bills to be enacted and the bulk members admitted pri- But for the he “rec. they joined with others of their particular co ittee and went right nn locate genate and house committees excitedly bolding which stenographie bill In addition lars) aud inviting w there and everywhere wns not into law of the toe f BhEe OF vately ord." £ fy a of tility ahead on thelr and err futility. T1 of the hearings jus. he proponents th statement ita upon legisiation later. bulk of the leg or other L pry Ope el program of lifting tify thelr con that now which They islation | ire w the they have the ds io argue ad somet fashion that the hing to do with the whole the country out of the mire of the de wression, and a survey shows this to aid. of hear. ings in the sho »=uion was in prepa- that mrings al regardless of therefore, that the 1 ’ ’ be true in all respects. It could be f orgy y ration for greater things, the Ways except records reveal new h have held, nspired before, introduced fIZTress, been when the ! Is in a new session of o« Whenever a on the house business die all bills and senate calendars of So the expiration of the also the expiration and every bill that was before either house or In any committee of either house became null and void, - * » congress ends, second session Is of the Reventy-Second congress, the hands of No was so much activity of seems to know why there among the com and house In the session, It was apparent at the start, and became more so as Decem. ber und January passed and February in, that it would be a do-noth- ing session, Senators recognized the situation, From the Republican side came threats and jibes and jests that the Democrats were blocking anything and everything. From the Democratic side of the senate chamber came the same tune with just a slight variation in the chorus, It was to the effect that the Republicans control, one mittees the senate rolled had which they did If one counted as Re. publicans those who had deserted the Republican candidate In the 1932 elec. tion for the support of Mr. Roosevelt, And so It was, In the house, there was a clear Democratic majority. But something else was wrong In that body. The plans of the leadership did not always carry, and if they did, the legisiation was passed only to run into the log jam In the senate. Some of the house Democrats even went so far as to say their majority would not have held to pass some of the legislation put through except for the knowledge that senate, A Washington correspondent for one “the American con because thére has been no more fitting description of the situation come to my attention, . * » After all, It seems to me the coir that the short session has done nothing. I have inquired among a very great number of senators and representatives, from leaders down to the newest and Intest additions to the membership. Their answers to my question concerning the lack of ae complishment varied so widely that 1 concluded they must reflect minutely the feeling throughout the country, Every one, or nearly every one, has had worries through the last three years and these worries have been ac. centuated In the last year. The own. ers of these worries, whether they are important worries or just individual worries, looked around for some one to solve thelr problems, Suddenly, they thought: “Why, there Is our con. gressman,” or Senator Soand-8o. His mall from home has increased as the troubles have grown, Not that he ean do anything about most of the cases, yet he Is one point upon which the spotlight focuses, Consequently, It 1s made to appear that senators and representatives hear so much about the sad state of af. fairs, the suffering. the foreclosures,’ the closed banks, the bankrupt corpo WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN rations, the low price of wheat, cotton, of cattle and hogs and dairy products, that they are actually “going in all directions at the same time” I do not know whether that excuses them for their fallure to get things done, but assuredly it is one of the factors In the situation which has been overlooked to a considerable extent. ® . » But from a8 President the Of Hoover national it is worth to iook for a moment, Wash- ohservers nre i usion that passes picture control, while HOOVER'S TOUGH JOB back ington of around all of op conc shades inion to ever may have been | had the 1: 5 his hands that eve was faced by 8 Presi. this con one of su rhest r dent, Especially was the last During that t gress made up of a Demoeratie and a wns a majority question; 1 conld be coun wis forced, of trading. able to get his as far under absolutely two years of his ads tion me, he hae senna there country and which he As A matt for “unbroken the all of that BE reg group antly Peds men on const er 12 a few skated back loss dictated, casualty While dition, the bles and would cept for the i ; ity of the late Nicholas L So it becomes rather obvious whatever Mr. Hoove yu BOCK {lity © en: what in stakes extra in political abl ever were his craft, or made by refusing concessions, the fact still ren that he held job as President in a period when few men state. however he ins the coeeded, For, coupled Was would have su all of and Is no measure within the power of the federal governn to satisfy all of the elements of these The has ex- perience of bs years useless as the proverbial the farm wagon, with these factors, there ent diverse made times, depression pone as of fifth wheel - » * srefore, it a cheering prospect for Mr In view of these facts th ought to be Roosevelt to NICE PROSPECT just a FOR ROOSEVELT working major ity but a in the con- get see not big party gressional membership when they together, The American government always has been a party government, It thus has had to have a satisfactory ma- jority of each house of congress of the sama party as the President In order to work well. Mr. Roosevelt's first two years In the White House are assured of such a working con- trol if all who are labelled as Demo- crats turn out to be Democrats, On the face of things, it appears that Mr. Roosevelt ought to be able to get whatever he wants from the extra session and the succeeding ses- gions. It is a sitnation Ideal for ae tion. There will be so few Republicans that observers here fall to see how they can start any trouble, even with the ald of progressives, * . * There have been suggestions floating around to the effect that quite a num- ber of “trial SENDS UP TRIAL balloons” have BALLOONS been sent up in the congres- glonal atmosphere by Mr. Roosevelt. While there is no methed of confir- mation available, there has been one condition existing during the last three months that seems to confirm the opin- fon that the incoming President was testing out sentiment. Ths condition is this: Mr. Roosevelt has hands off Insofar as telling leaders of his party in congress what he wanted to have done in the short session. He could have made his own path- way easier to travel after becoming President had he confided some of his views to the Democratic leaders of the house and senate. With reference to the suggestions of “trial balloons,” however, it is pos. gible Mr. Roosevelt did tell a few of his friends some of his ideas, It has been observed here, for example, that possibly his suggestions were respon- sible for the consistently busy commit. tees. By Introducing various and sun. dry pleces of legislation and holding hearings on them In committees, It would be possible obviously to gain a perspective of the public attitude. In- deed, such a period of experimenta- tion would provide the new President with a most definite outdne of what he could expect In the way of a recep tion for his plans when they are for mally offered to his own congress, © 1938, Western Newspaper Union. Howe About: Sid- The Conservative Waterloo Idealism By ED HOWE KNOW a widow who has long been poor, and very bitter and unfair in denunciations of the wrongs of the poor. At the last a farmer for a little (but still to dishonest election office big enough provide a promised her the deputyship. Bhe at once plunged Into the cum- paign and did her best to rob the poor i in the raolibery, That the women § the trout gnld he | ths when yon life and have equipm Everyone who belie supports it actly just in to, which make fanatie, servatism, looking sition nr iy too. but Ic nge Writers i bold things now; 1 note that makes fun of that old sob about what a boy That is are dolr ng usually one his mother's knee one of the sob stories I have always respected, * = * Most men, and all women, say 1deal- ism is the first standard by which men may judge their action and enterprise. . but actually Idealism m 8 visionary: the opposite of rea . The worst mistakes of men have heen due to neglecting the that may be ac complished in attempting good far be- thelr powers. Our first stand. ard of endeavor should be intelligent selection of the best of two This is pleasant soundin foolish, good do God's work. to I have lately had occasion to visit two neighboring towns. In both of them are being built school houses pa- unnecessary. Both include restaurants, athletic fields, music departments, ete, that would pression in history. . Have you not noted that lately indignation in- extravagant and unnecessary England has nev- er been half as wasteful in this respect ns we are, but has called a halt, ® >» People usually tell lies not because automobile or doctrine they are trying to trade or raffle. . . . What we need is not more belief In Christ, but more appreciation of the simple truth, at- tested by long experience, that we should be more truthful, honorable, polite, economical and industrious for our own sakes. It happens every day that a man ean go out and get a thing he needs and is entitled to while praying for it, or arguing he is entitled to It. "0 Some say that one who would ae quire the art of writing should read Addison. . . . 1 think Macaulay a better teacher. Addison wrote of trifling things too much, whereas Ma. canlay wrote of the French revolution; of the trial of Lord Hastings—of events of first importance, In reading one should get education as well as entertainment out of it * . » Everyone admires children who are respectful to parents, . | And it may be added that parents to whom such respect Is shown have much to do with it; children are always impa- tient with weak parents, . " » People have so many natural tron. bles they cannot possibly get rid of that the greatest crime is a congress i troubles on them totally une © 1935, Ball Byndieate —~WNU Serviea ¥ & \
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers