Thirteen Hours

One bright morning last week five Senators and five Representatives marched into the flag-draped room of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs,* banged the door behind them, locked it. Then they took off their coats & waistcoats, rolled up their sleeves, loosened their collars. Cigars were lighted, green cuspidors adjusted as the ten legislators sat down around a big mahogany table and spread out a mass of papers before them. When the same Senators and Congressmen emerged 13 hours later they had finished writing the heaviest tax law the nation has ever had to shoulder in peace time. Practically every man, woman & child in the land will contribute something toward the $1,115,000,000 in new revenue which will start coming in 15 days after its enactment. The ten conferees chorused: "We've balanced the Budget."

A day prior the Senate had finally passed (72-to-11) the measure after President Hoover's spectacular dash to the Capitol (TIME. June 6). His belated and ambiguous recommendation for a "general manufacturers' excise" tax the Senate impatiently brushed aside. Long after his return to the White House, Senators orated angrily against his sudden visit to their chamber, called it an unnecessary publicity stunt.

The Conference in the Military Affairs Committee room was to iron out differences between the bill as passed by the House and by the Senate. There was drafted the law as taxpayers will actually feel it. In the trading across the table, Utah's grey old Reed Smoot, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and leading Senate conferee outargued all five Representatives. For his side he won higher normal and surtax rates on income (TIME, June 6), tariffs on copper and lumber as well as coal and oil (TIME, May 30), excise on tires, a levy on bank checks, a cut in the stock transfer tax--all Senate items. In all, 52 disputed provisions in the big bill were compromised in the continuous 13-hour conference.

The House ranted and raged because it was asked to accept a revenue bill which looked much more like the Senate's measure than its own. But it finally accepted. So did the Senate. Signed by Speaker Garner and Vice President Curtis. H. R. 10236, An Act to Provide Revenue, Equalize Taxation and for other purposes, was .rushed to the White House for President Hoover's signature. After six turbulent months Congress had completed its major task of the session. If followed by a real economy bill and no emergency bills without their own revenue features, the tax bill made the Budget approximately safe for another year.

*This committee room was used because it is only a dozen paces from the Senate Chamber.

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