The Barnwell people-sentinel. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1925-current, January 24, 1935, Image 2
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News Review of Current
Events the World
TN THE highly dramatized trial at
1 Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnap*
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Supreme Court Takes Up Gold Clause Abrogation
Senate Committee Favors World Court Adherence—
Congress Gets the Budget.
By EDWARD W. PICKARD
C by WMUrn N*w«p«per Union.
Attornay Gen
eral Cumir.inga
U AVINO given the New Deal a slight
gwat by holding the petroleum
control feature of the NIKA uncon
stitutional, the Supreme Court moved
rapidly toward a
judgment as to the
legality of the abro
gation of gold pay
ments. Several cases
challenging this act
were lumped and oral
arguments were
heard. This being a
matter of vast Im
portance, Involving
$100,000,000,000, At
torney General Homer
S. Cummings himself
appeared to present
the case for the government. Mr.
«/uuiiiiiii|;b ts nil CXCtflIPDI InWyer, Dill
not much can be said In praise of the
legal abilities of most of the men whom
the exigencies of politics have shoved
into his office In Washington. So prob
ably he was wise to handle this matter,
himself.
Cummings defended the constitu
tional authority of the President and
congress to adopt the present mone
tary policy as Inherently the right of
the government to preserve Itself.
Id an argument distinguished for
oratorical display as well as for Its
legal aspects, Cummings said an ad
verse decision by the court would:
1. Increase the public and private
debt of the nation by $00,000,000,000.
2. Create a special class that would
be beyond the pale of the general
financial structure, a class composed
of those holding .bo.nds demanding pay
ment In gold.
3. Reduce the balance In the United
States treasury $2„*»00.000,000.
4. Add $17,000,000,000 to the pub
lic debt and Increase the Interest
charge on this debt alone by $2,. r »00,-
000,000 a year.
The latter sum alone, Cummings
said, Is equal to twice the value of the
1934 wheat and cotton crop.
The attorney general referred to the
troubled state of the country In the
spring of 1933 and added, “I contend
and shall show that the congress and
the President of the United States act
ed reasonably in a period of very great
difficulties and that their acts were not
the product of caprice." —
From the questions asked by the
justices, observers gained the impres
sion that there was a sharp division
of opinion among them;
of Industry and regimentation of Amer
ican life.
In the first plank of Its platform the
league pledged Itself “to preserve
American institutions which safeguard
to citizens in all walks of life the
right to liberty and pursuit of happi
ness" and at the same time "to combat
the growth of bureaucracy, the spread
of monopoly, the socialization of In
dustry, and the regimentation of Amer
ican life.”
Invasion of the l&w ihaklhg and law
luterpictlng functions by New Deal ad
ministrators was also rapped by the
league la promising "to uphold the
American principle that laws be made
only the direct representatives of
the peoiile In the congress, and that
the laws be interpreted only by the
-
wt* lira.
Other points in the 10-point declara
tion of policy pledged the league to
fight for government economy, a sound
federal fiscal policy, a stable currency,
protection for investors, and individual
liberties.
York was on his way borne from Eu
rope bringing relatives of the late Isa-
dore FIsch to testify for the state.
Hauptmann claimed in his defense that
the ransom money found in his pos
session was given to him by Fisch, •
business associate in New York. Fisch
later returned to his home in Ger-
nmnv whprp>
B
ECAUSE work relief must be car-
CENATOR JOSEPH T. ROBINSON,
^ majority leader of the senate, be
ing Informed that the foreign rela
tions committee had voted 14 to 7 in
fayor of the project for American ad
herence to the World court, said he
would bring the resolution up on the
floor of the senate as soon as pos
sible. However he recognized the
sentiment against It was strong and
would not predict the outcome of the
fight.
The new resolution as approved by
the committee Is slightly altered to
meet the objections of other nations to
what is kpown as reservation five. Mr.
Robinson said:
"The legal Import and effect of res
ervation five has been preserved in
full. It is provided that discussions
may take place under the Root pro
tocol, but In the end the court may not
entertain over the objection of the
United States any request for an
advisory opinion on any dispute or
question In which the United States
has or claims an interest.”
Of the Democrats on the committee
Senators Lewis and Murray voted
against the resolution; Republicans
who favored it were Yundenberg and
Capper.
ried on the federal budget will not
be balanced for the coming fiscal year,
and probably not for several years
thereafter. In present
ing the budget to con
gress, President Roose
velt admitted this, but
without qualms. He
estimated $8,52U,UU0,-
000 as the amount of
money necessary to
carry on the govern
ment’s activities for
the 1936 fiscal year be
ginning July 1 next
The expenses for the
current year, partly
estimated, are $8,581,-
ing and murder of the Lindbergh baby
the state continued to weave a strong
net of circumstantial evidence around
| the defendant Lindbergh first identi
fied his voice as that of the man who
received the ransom; next was Aman
das Hochmuth, eighty-seven-year-old
man who told of seeing Hauptmann
driving a “dirty-green” car with a lad
der in It into-the Lindbergh lane March
L 1932, the day of the kldnaping. Then
John Perrone, Bronx taxi driver. Identi
fied him as the man who paid him $1
to deliver a ransom note to "Jafsle.”
“Jafsie,” otherwise, Dr. John Con
don, the aged Bronx educator who un
dertook the negotiations with the kid
naper, next went on the stand, and In
his garrulous way Identified Bruno as
the man with whom he dealt and to
whom be handed the $50,000 ransom
money.-' His long and somewhat ram
bling story was bitterly assailed In
cross examination by E J. Reilly, chief
of defense counsel, but seemingly the
great value of his evidence was not
much shaken.
Detective Arthur Johnson of New
President
Rooeevelt
990,000.
N APOLOGY to the Canadian gov
ernment and payments of $50,-
660.50 damages is the penalty imposed
on the United States for sinking the
rum running schooner I’m Alone in the
Gulf of Mexico in March of 1929.
This decision was announced by Willis
Van Devanter, associate justice of the
United States Supreme court, and Sir
Lyman Poore Duff, chief Justice of
Canada, who were the commissioners
ol arbitration under the ship liquor
treaty of 1924 between the United
States and Great Britain for control
ling liquor smuggling.
Of the damages awarded, $25,000 is
to be paid as compensation to the
Canadian government and $25,666,50 to
the master and members of the crew
of the. Pm Alone or their families. In
cluded In the latter is $10,185 to the
widow and children of Leon Malnguy,
a French citizen of St Pierre. Mique
lon. who drowned when the schooner
was sunk by the coastguard.
BRISBANE]
THIS WEEK
Nice Lump Sum
The President at Work
Free Tombstone
Button-Pushing Days
Congress will give President Roose-
reit a lump sum, a considerable lump
of four thousand million dollars, to let
him change from the system of doles
and imitation jobs, "picking up leaves
and pieces of paper,” to real Jobs and
useful work.
In bis new White House offices,
President Roosevelt is at work on a
“social security program,” which will
Include unemployment insurance and
old age pensions. The idea is to let
pay rolls contribute to the cost of in
surance ^ and pensions. This might
work well with normal pay rolls.
You hope that the President, in his
wisdom, win include In any ‘‘security’
program security for the nation, in ad
dition to security for individuals, old
or out of a Job.
Unemployment insurance and old age
pensions would do little good If a few
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart
Washington.—Now- that the Presi
dent has laid before congress his re-
, . quest for the new
National appropriations, flnan-
Debt cial students- are
wondering more and
more when the end of this government
spending is to come. It will be re
membered that Mr. \ Roosevelt said a
year ago that the total public debt
should not exceed $31,834,000,000 and
that that figure should he reached
around June 30, 1935. When it is con
sidered that the present public debt
exceeds $28,500,000,000. It becomes
difficult to understand , how the Presi
dent win succeed Jn sticking to his
original assertion to" hold the national
thousand planes came flying from Eu
rope or Asia to bomb our cities and
If thejj
spray them with poison gas.
came now, they could do exactly as’
they pleased. We have no way of in
terfering with them.
Bruno Hauptmann's musings on,
fate’s vagaries were interrupted the
other day by a strange offer from Mr.
Standlsh Hartman, who owns the old
Flemington stone works, manufactur
ing tombstones. Just opposite the
Hauptmann jail.
Hauptmann was told, "If you are
sent to the electric chair I will let you
pick out your own tombstone, ( free,
and help you write the epitaph, i will
make it a work of art that people will
go a long way to see, oner that any man
would be proud to have."
It should take genius to devise a
tombstone that “any man would be
proud to have” if he got It after being
executed for murder.
A day is coming when no man will
do any work harder than pressing a
If one wishes to know who spends ; master and members of the crew were
all these huge sums, an Idea may be j not parties to a liquor smuggling con-
obtained from these figures showing splracy.
The commissioners found that the bU “ 0D ’ T d f Ie , nce ’ will
make crime obsolete.
the estimated expenditures for the fis
cal year 1936:
S6.595,000
704,885.500
1. Legislative, Judicial
and executive ......
5. Civil departments and
agencies 788,057,169
8. National defense ... 792,484.265
4. Veterans' pensions
and benefits
t. DetJt charges!
Interest ...
Retirements
6. Refunds :.....
7. Recovery and relief
I. Supplemental Items
(for above groups 1
to 4 Inclusive)
T H
in
HERE were huge sighs of relief
the chancelleries of Europe
» e • e e • e i
875,000,000
636,434,000
64,946.200
4,582,011,475
40,000,000 *
Total expenditures. .18.520.413.601
when the success of the conversations
in Rome between Foreign Minister
Pierre Laval of France
and Premier Musso
lini was announced In-
fbnnaltyr
t^or'TWTr
days the two states
men dlscuxsed the
points at Issue between
their nations and con
ditions In general. In
central Europe Emerg
ing from the last of
For instance, the Joliet (Ilf.) Jailer
sent a fat “trusty” outdoors for a
cigar, and the automatic “electric eye”
at the gate saw him, flashed a light
and the innocent fat “trusty" was
searched- A small metal shoehorn was
found In his big loose shoe.
The electric eye flashes when any
body passing the gate has any sort of
metal In bis possession. No prisoner’s
fpiend hereafter can take 4»^a-pistol.
debt at the figure named.
The Treasury department has Just
released ita annual report and this re
veals an Increase in the public debt of
approximately six billion dollars since
June 30, 1933, an eighteen months’ rec
ord. It has made the total cost of the
recovery'spending program aggregate
file or steel saw.
Total receipts for the same perlud m n T^r"i
are put at $3,991,904,639. so the estl-. Pi « rr « Laval 8 „ f ^ ^ ?
mated deficit will be S4 528 508 970 ! 8 fcroup of French
* , 6 cu WUI ^ , ,y , U ; and Ita,,an "ar veterans.
Of the recovery and relief fund tie ..i arn „i q j » r. .
President asked that KUUO.UUO.WX) l.e ‘ t ?** Pre ”'? r
’ ’ Mussolini and I are now in complete
placed at his disposal to be allocated
by him "principally for giving work
accord.”
Without waiting for an official com-
to tho* unemployed on to. relief raunlque , , hoK VsT InfoS sato
P ETROLEUM control provisions of
!
rolls"
Here are some other vital things
disclosed by the message:
The national debt will increase from
$31,000,009,000 at the close of this fis
cal year to $34,239,000,000.
No new taxes are requested. Con
gress is asked to continue the so-called
nuisance taxes which expire soon and
the 3-cent stamp rate.
A national defense appropriation of
$899,948,065—the greatest in the his
tory of the country—is requested.-.
A total of 137,134 federal worker*
are to be dismissed.
Veterans pensions in 1936 will reai h
the staggering total of $704,000,000.
The accumulated New Deal deth.lt
for three years on June 30, 1936, wdl
total $11,700,000,000.
While the trend of recovery and re
lief expenditures is downward, regular
federal expenses will increase.
the National Industrial Recovery
act, specifically section 9 <c), are held
by the Supreme Court of the United
States to be Invalid as unconstitu-
M UtY PICKFORp went
_ befofe
Judge Ben Lindsey In Los An
geles and obtained a decree of divorce
from Douglas Fairbanks; and thus
etsvnrtl ■ ||» iiviu r uu Utllma t UI1U inilS
to the i»hp«n .nT PI ht g S f n fh Ve 4 p ™' er i came to an end the union of the “royai
nnttaA - 0 ^„V. 1 !.. J ” St l Ce - 3 I couple” of moviedom, who for ten years
were regarded as the model wedded
united in rendering this decision, Jus
tice Cardozo alone dissenting, and the
opinion was read by Chief Justice
Hughes.
The section declared void authorized
the President to ban Interstate ship-
pair so far as happiness and worldly
success went.
Mary’s suit, filed more than a year
ago, charged Doug with mental cruelty,
indifference and neglect. She told
Laval and II duce had reached a full
agreement, the principal features of
which are a Joint declaration to pre
serve the Independence of Austria, a
five or six powerjiact.of noninterfer
ence, and provisions for colonial con
cessions in Africa. The pact agreeing
not to Interfere with one another's In
ternal affairs presumably will Include
Italy. Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, Aus
tria, and Hungary; and later Eng
land, France and Rumania may be
asked to adhere to 1L
If you buy alcoholic drinks, buy from
dealers In whom you have confidence.
The federal government has seized one
million one hundred thousand empty
whisky, wine and liquor bottles to pre
vent bootleggers refilling thenf with
bootleg supplies.
empty, whisky bottle, bought for
two cents, fllied with eight cents’ worth
of bootleg whisky, may mean profit for
the bootlegger and mean poison for the
consumer. Buy from a retailer whom
you trust, who buys from those who
manufacture legally, and buy brands
that you know.
something over twelve billion dollars
since January 1, 1931. when the spend
ing spree really began. To make, the
vast amount—-mere readily compre
hensible, If you take the time to figure
It out you will find that the govern
ment has been spending borrowed
money at the rate of almost twenty-
three thousand dollars a minute in the
last four years. To illustrate further
the magnitude of this sum a figure ex
pert here has calculated that there has
been about one billion minutes since
the birth of Christ and, therefore, the
federal government In the last four
years has added about twelve dollars
to the public debt for each of the mln-
•utes since Christ came on earth.
But to get back to the present plan,
presentation of the budget with Its
maximum outlay of around seven bil
lion dollars recalled to some leaders
the assertion by the President respect
ing the topmost limit for the public
debt. In the budget message which he
presented Just a year ago Mr. Roose
velt boldly stated bis belief that “the
government should seek to hold the
public debt” to the figure of $31,834,*
000,000.
“Furthermore." he added, “the gov
ernment during the balance of this
calendar year should plan to bring its
1936 expenditures including recovery
and relief within the revenues expect
ed In the fiscal year 1036.” The fiscal
year 1936 begins next July 1. And
frequent pronouncements from the
White Honac have made It elear--tbftt
g ENA TOR HUEY P.J^ONO, after
attacking the administration on the
floor of the senate, betook himself to
the radio and continued the assault.
He declared the Roosevelt policies
were hopeless, arid summoned all the
people to flock to his banner and help
wipe out all fortunes above three or
making every man a
four millions,
king.”
Meantime the revolt against the told him to alt atlll. and Mrtneri” the
wwxnt rxf •‘K^a*** |i .i. . i J6L ti IUUI • I vl v IlL “ <11111 It C« Oll6 lO-lQ
ment of not oil—that Is; oil nro- * i ., . ,
p ' Judge Lindsey the charges were true
duced In excess of state quotas. 1 , « , r , . « »
. . ,> arid that a fair and -just property set
- k * e 0,> # n °u d ^ DOt deH W tlement had been made; and after Ella-
other phases of the recover, act. It ..i*,,. | Mlss rick ford's secretary,
aroused widespread apecola.lon a. to „ ad testllM Ulc llecree am ^
n T . T " T “" d M “ r ' t >"* courtroom almost
the first major “New Deal” case to in tearg
come before the court. Fairbanks, in St. Moritz. Switzerland.
Emergency legislat on by congress wag informed of the divorce but de-
to remedy the situation and to meet | cllned t0 comment.
the objection of the court was re- |
ported to be an Immediate likelihood.
ER bus been elected a director of
klngfish in Louisiana was growing.
Citizens by the hundreds were joining
the Square Deal association which is
pledged' to march on the capltol in
Baton Rouge iviless the legislature re
peals certain of Huey’s dictatorial
laws. v
P UBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATOR
IC1
T HOSE Democrats and Republicans,
eminent and otherwise, who are
banded together as the American Lib
erty league are now really getting into
ifeem the jad-
■ "im
action against what the? A .
leal featurei" of the administration’!
program, and their executive council
has put out a ten-point platfdrm. It
declares the league’s opposition to such
practices as sweeping delegations of
tegtslative authority to the President,
lump sum appropriations to be doled
out by the White House, socialisation
• '
the New York Life Insurance com
pany, at the instance of Alfred E.
Smith. He was first offered the place
two years ago when the death of Cal-
.?ln Coolldge created a vacancy. Mr.
Hoover said: “1 have accepted in the
hope of contributing something to the
protection and advancement of the in
terests of millions of^ policy holders,
one of the most vital of personal
curltiea to the women and children
of the country.”
KES has resumed his contest with
Arizona over the building of the Par
ker dam in the Colorado river and
wants the Supreme court to keep that
state and Its “navy,” consisting of one
scow, from Interfering with the Job.
Solicitor General Biggs' asked permis
sion of the court to file suit for an In
junction.
The governor of Arizona recently
called out his militia and his navy to
keep the public administration .from
completing the dam. He held that It
would Interfere with the distribution
of irrigation water in his state.
JUEMIER R. B. BENNETT of Can
ada, appealing for support for his
administration, promises to give the
Dominion a “New Deal” that bears a
close resemblance to President Roose
velt’s economic and social program.
He outlined his proposals In a speech
-- In which he demanded “an end to the
^ ” u,u .«pl°ltattoo of bumoo r»
sources and the trafficking In thi
health and hap^pess 'of Canadian
ten r '
To comfort # those appropriating' and
spending large sums of public money
fighting the depression it can be said,
quite reasonably, that there Would be
no danger In spending $100,000,000,000
more, considering that the normal In
come of the United States, In really
good times, is close to $100,000,000,000.
If a man spent one or even two years’
income to settle all his troubles you’d
think the price reasonable.
It would be a silly mistake, of
course, to Issue the $100 000,000,000
In bonds and pay out another $100,-
000,000,000 for Interest, unnecessarily.
That needs to be said and will be said
quite often.
To read that Harry MacCracken,
seventy-flve-year-old retired cattla
puncher, Jumped up when a bandit
bandit through the shoulder, is mildly
interesting. It is more interesting to
read that it happened In a “subur*
ban liquor store” of Colorado, where
MacCracken spends his time sitting* by
the stove, “whittling.” To sit whit
tling by a liquor store stove seems a
strange ^occupation fore’Hne seventy-
five years old, who knows that time la
whittling away his’ few remaining
days.
a balanced budget In that time Is quite
unlikely. In addition, the treasury
said In Its annual report that taxes
always lagged behind In"reflecting re
covery of the country. For example,
income taxes to be paid on March 15.
1936, and In the subsequent install
ments of that year will be the result
of levies on earnings , of the current
calendar year. No one exacts earn
ings In 1935 to ne normal. It Is ob
vious, therefore, that the balancing of
the budget In the fiscal year begin
ning July 1, 1935. becomes almost a
physical Impossibility unless the Pres
ident should do the unexpected . by
cqttlng off every one of the sixty-five
or more recovery and relief agencies
and should cut off all federal funds
for relief of the destitute. If that
were done. It Is estimated by fiscal ex
perts that ordinary receipts by the
treasury would come close, to meeting
the ordinary cost of the regularly es
tablished governmental agenrl«*.
off a bitter row In.’ his own party,
offering much money for congress to
■pend.
Among the Presideut’ii friends, 1.
have heard private expressions that*
Mr. Roosevelt had been misled by some
of the group who held his. ear at the
start of the administration. These
men referred to a number of the so-
called Progressive Republicans like the
LaFollettes, Norris, Hiram-Johnson of
California, a!nd Bronson Cutting of
New Mexico. Several of these were
so well diked by the President that
they were Invited to enter his cabinet.
Consequently, there are those whp be
lieve that Mr. Roosevelt followed
JhjL
advice of the Progressive Republican
group much more closely than leaders
among the old-time Democrats. Most
of the Progressive Republicans are
spenders at heart, according to the
general view here. And they are also
men who regard a balanced budget as
not very Important So, while no one
can say definitely what influences al-
tered the President’s stand, it certain
ly Is regarded among observers here
ns being a situation In which the wind
makes the straws point toward the so-
called progressives as having joined
hands with the President in Initiating
what has come to be the greatest out
pouring of taxpayers’ money, except in
war time, since our government waa
established. .....
Organization of the new congress
has resulted In a new cry, in reality a
very old cry, but it is
South in mew, since we have
the Saddle** not heard It in fifteen
years. The cry w*
are hearing now from Republicans and
from northern Democrats Is the wall
that "the South is In the saddle.”
While there certainly can be nothing
criminal about the South being In the
saddle, it provides a grand political Is
sue both within the Democratic ranks
and between the Democratic party and
what Is left of the Republicans In
congress. It also touches a question
that has been discussed many times,
namely, the wisdom of the seniority
rule In congress. The seniority rule pro
vides that the oldest members In the
point of service shall inherit commit
tee chairmanships and shall have oth
er positions of honor In the house and
senate.
'Out of the 69 Democratic senators
only 24 come from what is known as
the solid South. Of the 317 Democrat-
tr Tnembere of the-trmree. xmly about
There bad been frequent contentions
by avid‘‘New Dealers that Mr. Roose
velt’s second budget
Pre$ident*$ recommendation s
ViewtChange «’ould provide a clear
picture of his gener
al fiscal policies. If their statements
remain true, they resulted In setting
up one of the most paradoxical condi
tions in the history of. this nation.
^7obkrng bact'*oVer The ’ whole Roose^
velt period, the thing which observ
ers have never been able adequately
to explain Is who or what effected the
change in the President s views on
fundamental financial questions. It Is
The AAA asks congress for com
plete authority over all crops, all farm
activities, and for $40,000,000 to $60,-
000,000 to move farmers from poor
farms to better farms.
It Is all benevolently planned, but
many a farmer would prefer to stamp
his foot and clap his hands In the old
Independent wtiy.
The end of prohibition has not yield
ed all that was promised, and hoped
for, lu reform and In cash. Two-
thirds of all the whisky sold la still
bootleg whisky. That cheats Uncle
Bern, and poisons many with bad
whisky.
In big New York city, many went to
hospitals after a “gay” New fear’s
ere, 4t It little consolation to know
that the number of alcoholism cases
was somewhat smaller ' than during
prphlbftlon years.
4k Kina Pawturw SyndlMt* la*.
WNU Strvloa
too obvious to precipitate an argu
ment that the President’s views have
changed. When one goes back to bis
first message to congress or beyond
that to his campaign speeches and the
platform upon which he made the race
for the Presidency. It Is futile to at
tempt to reconcile ..tbps* 1 uiterances
with the subsequent spendinj; and bor
rowing program in which his adminis
tration has Indulged. It will be re
called that Mr. Roosevelt declared in
his Inaugural speech an intention to
balance the budget and wipe o\£j the
deficit left on his lap by the Hoover
administration. He went. on to say
that If congress In Us generosity voted
sums that placed the budget out of
balance It was under the necessity at
the same time to. provide taxes to
raise the excess expenditures.
Since there can be no dispute that
Mr. Roosevelt’s views have changed
and'he has. acted In accordance with
his. new. found principles, the Interest
ing thing is who brought about the re
vision of views on the part of the
President Some of the President’s
virulent critics have asserted In the
opening dayj^of'congress that Mr.
Roosevelt wim wboiiy uninformed as
to the needs with which he was con
fronted' when he'was making his cam
paign speeches. They say he found
his original promise to be all pet and
be took the only alteitiatlve ‘ to stave
IjOO are thoroughly acquainted with the
yell of the Confederacy.'Yet In the face
of this tremendous growth of Demo
cratic membership coming out of the
North and the West, the South Is
In the saddle more solidly than ever.
The speakership of the house went
to Representative Byrns of Tennes
see, who succeeded to the place made
vacant by the late Henry T. Rainey of
Illinois. Mr. Byrns had been Demo
cratic leader and his promotion left a
vacancy to which Representative Will
Bankhead Of Alabama was elected,
thus moving leadership further to the
South. The only plum. If It be m
plum, that went north of the Mason
and Dixon line was the selection of
Representative.O’Connor of New York,
as chairman 4of the rules committee.
In the senate we see Vice President
Garner, the presiding officer, a Texan.
The majority leader Is Senator Rob
inson of Arkansas. The powerful com
mittee on finance is presided over by
Harrison of Mississippi; the senate
committee on banking and currency Is
controlled by Fletcher of Florida ; and
the committee on agriculture is head
ed by Smith of South Carolina. One
could go on and name many others al
though I believe the consensus Is that
the seniority rule has not worked to
produce as many duds for senate com
mittee chairmanships as has occurred
In the house.
. —— • • * -
Democratic leaders In the house have
made certain that they will not be em%
barrassed this year
■Cheeking ns they were In the
Radicals first New Deal con-
-- gress. In that ses
sion they were constantly harassed by
the radicals who sought Jo force votes
on legislation which the President and
his advisers did not want and which
for the same reason the Democratic
leaders did not want. The radicals ac
complished their purposes by • use of
what Is called the rule of discharge of
committees. But that rule has been
amended so that to iiWoke It now, ac
tually a majority of the house will
have fo sign a petition. '
Under the previous rule, the signa
ture of 145 membere of the house was
sufficient to compel the discharge of a
committee from consideration of any
piece of legislation referred to it for
action. The necessary number of sig
natures was obtained In three embar
rassing cases last year. The soldiers’ -
bonus bin was brought out by that „
method; the Frazier-I^emke farm mort
gage Inflation bill was released for •
bouse vote In the same manner.
The new house organization, how
ever. la determined not to be embar
rassed in that manner. It succeeded
tn Democratic caucus—binding on all
Democrats—In having the origins)
rule amended so that now there must
he a majority, of all ’bouse members
affixing their signatures to the dls
charge .petition before ft becomes op
erative.
* WMUra K*wapft»*r VaiM. -
si-
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