Evening Star Newspaper, August 5, 1937, Page 11

New Democrat Appeal for Funds Corporation Heads Are Circularized for “Register.” BY DAVID LAWRENCE. HEY may be “economic royalists” when President Roosevelt needs campaign am- munition for speeches, but they apparently are “‘economic angels” when money is needed to pay cam- paign bills. Undeterred by the criticism of the “racket”” whereby the Federal cor- Tupt practices act was violated in : the sale of the Democratic cam- paign book to corporations, there now has arisen another enterprise for the purpose of paving the Democratic party’s bills in the forthcoming congressional & election. The corporations of the Nation are already being solicited with that object frankly admitted Many corporation executives have Just received a letter written on sta- tionery, the letterhead of which reads “The Democratic Register, Official Organ of the Democratie National | Congressional Committee, Room 146, House of Representatives Office Build- ing, Washington, D. C.” The communication reads as fol- lows: “We take the opportunity of writing this letter in order to explain to you about ‘The Democratic Register’ and to express our desire to see your organization amply represented in this exceptional medium 200,000 Circulation Promised. “This publication. Wwhich is the official organ of this committee of the Seventy-fifth Congress, will have a circulation of more than 200.000 copies, each of which will be person- by the 435 Congressmen 1t to influential business men industrial captains throughout the Nation. “The register comes as an answer to the reg received here on Capitol Hill from the country’s busi- ness leaders for a comprehensive catalogue of governmental depart- ments and their functions, the biog- raphy and photographs of every Congressman, excerpts from the Con- gressional Directory, coupled with ex- | ceptionally fine articles written by | cabinet members regarding their de- partments. “We cannot hope to obtain our cam- | paign fund from special interests and must rely upon some such plan as this to supplement aid we had hoped to obtain from another source. Every dollar of the net proceeds derived from the publication of the register goes into this fund and is utilized for no other purpose. ignificant to note that the becoming a gigantic techni- y of the Nation's industry by virtue of the vast amount of rep- resentative advertising carried and in the face of the administration’s vast constructive program which is defi- nitely increasing the individual busi- ness of those organizations recognized by industry and governmental de- partments. Order Is Requested. “We have asked our representative to call on you in the very near future and trust that you will give him your order. It will be noted that, not content to speak on behalf of the Democrats | in Congress, this circular letter boldly | ventures to speak on behalf of the | Republicans, too, for it promises that | the book is to be circulated by 435 | Congressmen, which is the total membership of the House of Rep- Tesentatives. The reference to the fact that the “administration’s vast construction program” is definitely increasing the *“individual business of those organ- dzations recognized by the Govern- ment departments” is a significant one and leads to the impression that the persons who have Government contracts ought to “kick in” with a little of their profit to the Demo- cratic congressional campaign fund. It is not clear from the letter how the sponsors of the project can prom- ise 200,000 circulation, since the copies are certainly not likely to be bought in large quantities by all members of Congress. They would have to buy 460 copies apiece to fulfill the pro- gram. Likewise the letter indicates clearly that much of the information is to be taken bodily from the Congres- ®lonal Directory, which already con- tains biographies of members of Con- gress, and short descriptions of the functions of Government departments, ‘eommissions and bureaus. Job for Justice Department. Just why a campaign solicitation office is opened in the building of the House of Representatives itself and contributions are solicited direct- ly from corporations, who are for- bidden under the Federal corrupt practices act to make any contribu- tions to political campaigns, might ordinarly be interesting to inquire about through the Department of Justice. But since nothing has hap- pened with respect to the actual solicitation of contributions on the Democratic campaign book of 1936, the chances are the Democratic chief- tains figure they can be assured of David Lawrence. ITS SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION NOTHING TO GET OUT OF ORDER ~—combined with its low operat- ing cost, accounts for the pop- ularity of THE— BURNER - * Let this Responsible and De- pendadble Organization install the “U. S in Your Home NOW, and be ready for Winter when Winter comes. ASK US FOR DETAILS MAURICE J. OLBERT 2. Neating Homes for over 30 Years immunity from prosecution for doing the same thing over again. uals, may make contributions to the THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1937. A—11 ——W—“——_————_—’—“'fi“—xfi q'HE opintons of the writers on this page are their own, not What’s Back of It All Dollar Line Ready to Sign Mail Contract—Achieve- ment for Kennedy. BY H. R. BAUKHAGE, KIPPER KENNEDY of the Maritime Commission is just about to bring another big fleet into port. It is only a matter of days until he will be able to announce that the powerful Dollar Line, most important shipping link with the Orient, has signed up. Sixteen American lines have already passed muster as eligible for six-month mail contracts and subsidies from the Government. Capturing the Dollar Line is somewhat of an achievement. For when Stanley Dollar, one-time fair-haired boy of the old Shipping Board under President Hoover, walked out on Mr. Kennedy's ine- spectors, he made a hole in the deck. Mr. Kennedy's merchant marine in the Pacific without a dollar to its name wouldn’t be such great shakes. At the end of June, Mr. Ken- nedy reported: “The adjustment of the Dol- lar steamship claims have been de- layed pending the receipt of es- sential information concerning the company and affiliated corpora- tions and the completion of the arrangements by the company for providing additional capita).” This is the polite way of say- ing that Stanley Dollar, accus- tomed to getting just about what he asked for in the old Shipping Board days, wouldn't talk. * ok k% Since the Dollar Line owed the Maritime Commission :some 15 millions for ships which it had purchased and loans for construction, Mr. Kennedy's boys thought they were entitled to have the details of the line's financing. This, of course, applies to any company asking for a subsidy. The examination by the commission of the financial structure and reorganization plans, when necessary, is routine. These points must be settled to the satisfaction of the commission before a subsidy can be ranted. 3 The other 16 lines were able to get their clean bill of health by July 1, when their temporary six-month subsidies began. But Dollar delayed. At this writing, however, everything but Chair- man Kennedy's okay on the last page of the agreement is written, and within a day or so the Dollar liners will be in line. * k% % On Thursday members of Congress will open a letter which most of them will toss in the waste basket. A few may shed a tear. The letter reveals that, in another sir months, the economic division of the Federal Trade Commission, the only governmental investigatory body that can put real teeth into its investigating, will be dead. The division has been the nemesis of big, bad business, the anathema of most business men, good and bad, and the rock of Gibraltar for the group that believes that, in order to serve the public, you have to let the Government wash dirty linen in public occasionally. Counted among its investigations have been those of meat packing, break making, public utilities, lumber, milk, steel, chain stores, petroleum and grain. The division will end its career because the Bureau of the Budget has decided that, when it has completed investigations it now has under way, there would be nothing more for it to do. On July 1, 1937, the agency received an appropriation for $150,000. It has been running on $300,000 a year. So it can last only six months. * K K K The Supreme court, after 15 years' battle in the lower courts, decided the division's investigators could investigate legally. Those who lament the threat- ened demise of this once energetic organ declare that it is the one body which could, for instance, find the answer to such pertinent questions as why there is a dif- ference between what the farmer N gets for a potato and what you pay for it on the plate. In other words, just who gets how much for your dollar. The appeal for help from Congress for the Ecomomic Division comes, logically enough, from the head of the District of Columbia Consumer Council, a private, non-profit making organization dedi- cated to giving the public a square deal. * kK X While the point has been made and noted that Vice President Garner hasn't been in one recent White House conference with administration leaders, his opinion still commands plenty of respect at the White House. The “eleven man court” bill, still all dressed up and ready to march on the scene, won't appear at this time if the man from Uvalde definitely and emphatically says “no.” This bill was the “compromise” which Mr. Garner was supposed to have offered when he arrived on the Washington scene after Senator Robinson’s death. (Copyright, 1937.) H. 0. L. C. EXTENSION ASKED BY VETERANS Corporation executives, as individ- campaign fund either by buying books or by direct gifts. But it is & violation of the statute to solicit any campaign | contribution from a corporation. In the case of the Democratic register the purpose to which the funds are to be put, namely, to “obtain our cam- paign fund,” is plainly confessed on its face. Representative Snell, Republican leader, has received copies of the new solicitation letter, but since the Dem- ocrats have squelched committee ac- tion on his resolution of inquiry with respect to the 1936 campaign book put out by the Democratic Na- tional Committee, he is not expect- ing any attention will be paid by Democratic congressional leaders to this new enterprise. As a matter of fact, it isn't a subject for congres- sional inquiry at all, but for United States attorneys, who represent the law enforcement branch of the Gov- ernment of the United States, and whose duty it is to prosecute all offenders, rich or poor, Democrats or Republicans, who violate the laws of the land. (Copyright, 1937.) Seat Used as Life Belt. The giant four-engined flying boats of Britain's leading aviation com- pany are being fitted with a new kind of cushion that may be used as a life belt. At London headquarters it is claimed that for simplicity, lightness and efficiency these seat cushions have no equal. Within 10 seconds of an alarm they can be converted into life preservers to keep any one afloat for hours. SEE THE !D. A. V. Unit Offers Resolution | to Convention Urging Bill Passage. By the Associated Press. abled American Veterans of the World War presented to the national con- vention here last night a resolution asking indorsement of a bill before Congress to extend Home Owners’ Loan Corp. loans from 15 to 30 years by moratorium at & low interest rate. ‘The veterans intensified campaign- ing for the post of national command- er, to be decided Friday. Candidates included John Rainey of Pittsburgh, Clifford P. Doherty of Revere, Mass.; Maple T. Harle of Denver, Colo.; John T. Wims of Brooklyn, N. Y.; Mrs. Julia M. Hammill McGinty of Hag- ley, Pa.; Joe Ashi of Washington, and Thomas A. Furlong of Georgia. Brig. Gen. Frank T. Hines, Fed- eral administrator of veterans' af- fairs, told the convention that there was & noticeable improvement in employment among veterans, with fewer than 300,000 jobless veterans registered with the United States Em- ployment Service. He also reported material advance- ment in the Veterans' Administra- tion's goal of 77,600 beds for veterans in need of treatment by July, 1938. Hall for Foreigners. Buenos Aires, Argentina, has opened a hall for foreigners with six inter- preters, each master of at least four languages, in constant attendance. NEw 1938 RCA VICTOR RADIO MODEL 811K With Electric Tuning and “Sonic Arc” Magic Voice COMPLETE STOCK OF NEW 1938 MODELS RCA Victor Radios 24.95 to $215 CONVENIENT TERMS 1508 M St. N.W. . . Dist, 3626_ DROOP’S | COLUMBUS, Ohio, August 5.—The | New York Department of the Dis- « 1300 G necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions ma% themselves and directly opposed to T be contradictory among e Star’s. “Snow-Ball” Laws Tendency to Self-Expansion, Is Inherent in Some Kinds of Legislation. BY MARK SULLIVAN. HAT form the wage and hour bill will be in when enacted, no one can tell yet. Whether it will be enacted at all is not completely cer- tain, though it is likely some form of measure will be enacted at this session of Congress. If the act were * in the simplest form possible, it would merely say that no one any- where shall work for a smaller wage than 40 cents an hour, or more than 40 hours a week. ‘That might pos- sibly work—so far as any one Na- tion-wide stand- ard for all sec- tions can work. The most practicable minimum wage law would be one passed by each State for itself, with a Federal law to supplement the State ones. If the pending act at Washington, when enacted, goes beyond one simple standard, then we're off. If the law gives discretion to a presidential board to make one standard for one section, with different ones for other sections, and one standard for one industr with a different one for another— then most assuredly we're off on our way to a destination that will surprise the Nation when it gets there. Within a year or two we shall be in a course which today we would reject con- temptuously, a course toward fixing wages generally and fixing prices of goods generally. Quality of Self-Expansion. What few understand is the snow- ball quality, the tendency toward self- expansion, which is inherent in certain kinds of legislation. It is practically as inevitable as a law of physics. It has been put in words by Prof. Lionel Robbins of the University of London: “There is a sort of snow-ball ten- dency about this kind of interven- tionism which has no limit but com- plete control of all trade and industry Mark Sullivan. * * * Once governments start to control | important branches of industry, if they are not willing at some point definitely to reverse their whole line of policy, there is no stop to this process short of complete socialism.” How this natural law works, how the first step forces the second and the second forces the third was illustrated by A. A. A. Observe what happened there: Triple-A, in its original conception, contemplated control of four crops; and it contemplated voluntary control only. The plan in the beginning was merely for the Government to offer the farmer cash for restricting his crop—the farmer could take it or leave it. It did not intend compulsory con- trol. But hardly was Triple-A put on the statute books in March, 1933, when the natural law of expansion began. Because cotton farmers, with their cotton limited, put their idle acres into peanuts, peanuts must be controlled. On February 12, 1934, Secretary of Agriculture Wallace was saying: “In view of the reduction in cotton acre- age * * * it will be necessary to take definite steps to discourage undue ex- pansion in peanut acreage.” And when acreage of cotton and peanuts was reduced, farmers planted their idle acres in potatoes—and then came potato control. Controlled 17 Crops by 1936. By 1936, when the Supreme Court declared Triple-A unconstitutional, the number of crops it controlled, one way or another, was 17. And Senator King of Utah, just before the law was inval- idated, had said: *“We may expect at the next session of Congress to find measures offered to bring other com- modities, perhaps carrots and cab- bages and lettuce and tomatoes, under similar control.” Not only did Triple-A expand as to the number of crops it controlled. It expanded also from voluntary to com- pulsory. By two and a half years after Triple-A was enacted, three crops were limited by criminal statutes. A farmer raising and selling more than the Government said he should plant of cotton, tobacco or potatoes found himself faced by threat of jail. The last crop added by Triple-A to its growing list was potatoes. And it was made a crime not only for a farmer to sell bootleg potatoes but for a con- sumer to buy them. That is where Triple-A had arrived when the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Unless now the wage and hour bill is rigidly restricted to the greatest possible simplicity, and rigidly kept that way, we shall see the same natural law of expansion begin to operate there. And we shall be on a course of which the natural end would be fixing of all wages, and after that fixing of all prices of goods. Planned Economy Still Aim. This is the more likely because fundamentally this is what the New Dealers want. The New Dealers are still intent on “planned economy.” President Roosevelt has not abandoned it at all. To his newspaper con- ference this week he stated plainly and emphatically that there must be control of farm crops, that Triple- A must be brought back. It is be- cause he wants Triple-A back, and similar control in other fields be- sides agriculture, that Mr, Roosevelt wants & changed Supreme Court. If he is to get Triple-A back and make it stick, either he must have a Supreme Court diluted by six ad- ditional justices, as he at first pro- posed, or he must harass some of the older justices into resigning or he must be able to intimidate the existing court into giving him what he wants. While the court's decision against the old Triple-A was 6 to 3, that decision was on a collateral aspect of Triple-A. Probably the exist- ing court, if it were deciding directly on Triple-A, would have rejected it with the same unanimity with which it rejected N. R. A. If Mr. Roosevelt is to get Triple-A back, or to get N. R. A. back con- cealed as a complex and sweeping wage and hour law, he will have to do something about the court. (Copyright, 1957.) e Drink Drives Many Mad. In an effort to stamp out a traffic in illicit liquor which is sending the natives of Natal and Zululand raving mad, the South African Sugar Associ- ation has placed a close guard over all treacle supplies. A Pietermaritz- burg report says the liquor made from treacle, popularly known as “gavini,” is so strong that it can easily be ig- nited by a match. EISEMAN’S F STREET AT SEVENTH Air_Cooled FRIDAY BARGAINS All Sales Final. No Exchanges. 3-PC. WOOL SUITS Reduced from $24.75 and $30 You'd better be here bright and early at 9:15 A.M. tomorrow for these fine suits won't last very Note the long at this price. savings! 10 Regulars Shorts 42 WHITE SUMMER SUITS Reduced from $13 to $16.50 A selection of fine quality Summer suits reduced more than a third from their original price. Excellently tai- lored. 3 9 Sizes 34 to 42 Regulars—34 to 39 Shorts—40 to 44 Longs $19.75 TROPICAL WORSTEDS 1, PRICE ¢ 48 Genuine tropical worsted suits reduced Y, price mediate clearance. patterns and colors. for im- Choice of Sizes 35 to 42 Regulars—Also for Shorts and Stouts. ‘40 AND 8” MEETS AUG. 6 D. C. Members to Attend Mary- the Forty and Eight division of the We, the People Reasons for Senate’s Existence Held to Have Dis- appeared Long Ago. BY JAY FRANKLIN, GENTLEMAN writes me from the Philadelphia Stock Exchange: “You consider it is the duty of the Senate to approve everything the President proposes, without the use of their own minds. In other words, you approve the doctrine, ‘The King can do no wrong.' Then why have a Senate?” ‘Why have a Senate? is a very good question. Why, indeed? Will some one please tell me on what theory of self-government this distinguished institution can be justified? When the founding fathers established the Constitution, State sov- ereignty was an existing fact. The independent colonies had set up customs houses on their borders, ‘were printing their own money and squabbling about the lands of the West, much like the members of the present League of Nations in Europe. So long as State sev- ereignty was a reality, the Senate was a sort of council of ambassa- dors, whose duties were largely son- fined to the confirmation of execu- tive appointments, the ratification of treaties, and other functions of an advisory nature. The Civil War destroyed the political reality of State sovereignty. Appomattox ended the right of secession, the national banking act ended the States’ financial independence, the fourteenth amendment, robhed them of their judicial and economic independence. Henceforth, the Senate became a non-representative body and an abuse of democratic institutions. Worst of all, the Senate became a legislative body, using the unrestricted power of amendment to rewrite tariff acts and other tax and revenue measures which the founding fathers had assigned to the House of Repre- sentatives. The Senate became a body of privilege, defining economic policy for the Nation. So grave were the abuses which resulted that shortly before the World War we put through an amendment to the Constitution, pro- viding for the popular election of Senators instead of their appoint- ment by the various State Legislatures, hoping thus to break the power of such princes of political privilege as Aldrich of Rhode Island and Penrose of Pennsylvania. The plain fact is that the Senate has became the most unrepresentative legislative body in the world. It has lost its old reasonable character as a legislative safety valve. It is not even a cud-chewing device for perfecting and refining hastily drafted laws. It has usurped powers properly belonging to the representatives of the American people, and is seeking powers properly belonging to the executive. By what theory of democracy can we justify a legislative system which assigns to Wyoming, Montana, Idaho or Nevada—sparsely set- tled areas which are especially vulnerable to control by Wall Street's absentee corporations—an equal voice with the millions of Americans who inhabdit States like New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Teras or California? As for the Senate’s duty to follow the President, that is not the issue. The issue is the duty of Democratic Senators to follow the election returns of 1932, 1934 and 1936, in support of the program and policies advocated by Roosevelt, their chosen leader. I do not believe that even a United States Senator has the right to take other people's votes om false pre- tenses or to embezzle the resuits of an election which was a mandate for the published purposes of the New Deal. So far as concerns the judi- ciary reform bill of 1937, what jus- tification is there for a legislative body which devotes six months of the time for which we hire them to a furious effort to avoid voting on a major measure submitted for its consideration? To any one but & Fascist or Communist, it is far less serious that judicial reform should be defeated by open vote than that the members of the Senate should abuse their position so as to block any legislative action which could compel them to take a position on the measure before them. There is no issue of “crowning Roosevelt” or asserting that he can do no wrong. That is childish rubbish. The Question is: Why have an unrepresentative Senate which asserts the powers and shirks the duties of & legislative assembly? Oh, sure, it's “in the Constitution,” but so is the Electoral College “in the Constitution,” and it's over a century since we let the Electoral College stand in the way of democratic choice of our Presidents. We simply pledge its members in advance. WLy not pledge our Senators in advance, as well? o' HAVE TOWAIT) sorry. 80T hEs I CONFERENCE S orgarization August 6 at Hagerstown, it was announced today. In charge of the group, which is scheduled to leave by bus from the Continental Hotel at 5 pm., are Ferdinand G. Fraser, grand commis- saire intendant, and R. Jess Chaillet, grand chef de gare of the local chap- ter. Fraser is also a candidate for Legion will attend the |the national office of chef de chemin State convention of their | de fer. land Bessions at Hagerstown. District of Columbia members of American Maryland An American You Should Know Basil Manly Instigated First National Power Survey. BY DELIA PYNCHON. N 1933 the President appointed Basil Manly a member of the Federal Power Commission for five years. Vice chairman for a term, Manly instigated a national power survey, the first engineering in- vestigation of the electric light and power industry ever attempted in the United States, Rates for elec tricity in soma 20,000 communie ties were coma piled. Reductions in power rates to consumers, as a consequence, have tumbled pleasantly aboug the Nation's me« ters Manly has had a record of com= petence, effic ency, continuity. Born at Greenv: S. C.. the son and grandson of twn famous reverends, both college presi dents, Manly has consistently hewed to the line of economic social prob- lems by inheritance, inclination, edi~ cation. Educated at the Universities of Missouri, Washington and Lee, with post-graduate work in political economy at the University of Chicago, Manly came to subsequent ‘Washington appointments f Since 1908, during the administra« tions of six Presidents, Manly Basil Manly. for ma economic ailments. B! alert, aggressive, with a penetrating mind, a perspective of changing polie cies. Fi . he is old enough to note the evolution, to evaluate the T in terms of permanency. iticdlly he has always heen a Demo= crat. He admits that the strain in 1924 as between two ultra-conservatives, John Davis and Calvin Coolidge, ree ted in his supporting Progrese United Manly turned i tion made to C rst recommenda« ess for the abolie v week, 12-hour During Presie as director of the Urited mission on Industrial Relations. Hear~ ings with the gre alists of those days, A W egie, John D. Rockefeller and others, aired for the first time relations between capi= tal and labor. Washington representative of tha Power Authority, f New York, as of 1930 to 1 participated in negoti ion with the St. Lawrence treaty. The groundwork has been laid. Manly hopes for fayor able results. Since ‘he creation of the Federal Power Commission in 1920, 1,420 ap- plications for power licenses have been filed. Work embraces mainly the granting of power licenses on navigae ble streams in the public domain, reg« ulation of utilities engaged in inter« state transmission of electric energy. Two-thirds of the 350 employes in the five regional offices are either engi~ neers or accountants. Rate reductions are for the benefit of both producer and consumer, Manly said. Decreases in rates have inevitably produced in- creases in consumer use, PUTS YOU AT THE RINGSIDE | cket Good at Every Show on Earth! Yes, the cream of the world’s best shows is yours with a Zenith. And at every show you have a "best’’ seat—equal to ringside, press-stand or stage box! Zenith's Personalized Perfected Acoustic ZENITH 982629 Tubss, Tunes Amer. ican and Foreign Brosdeasts. Police, Amateur, Aviation. Ships, 12" Speaker, Complete *“Robot™ Dial with Electrie Autematic Tuning and Tell T trols, Acoustic Adapter. Kiloeycle Cov- erage. (840.1782 K. C.. 1740-330 K. C... $490-18.400 K. C.), 43" high. 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