Work Done

The Senate: C, Passed a routine bill granting a number of Army, Navy & Marine Corps men, including Lieut. Colonel James Roosevelt, Volunteer Marine Corps Reserve, permission to accept decorations proffered by unnamed foreign governments; sent it to Lieut. Colonel Roosevelt's father.

P:Having previously killed an anti-Sit-Down rider on the Guffey-Vinson Coal Control Bill (TIME, April 12), passed (75 to 3) a resolution that began by declaring the Sit-Down "illegal and contrary to sound public policy" and continued with three times as many words condemning employers who use industrial spies, deny collective bargaining, foster company unions, engage in any other unfair labor practices as defined in the Wagner Labor Relations Act. Sent it to the House.

The House:

P: Passed the Sumners bill which would give the U. S. Attorney General power to intervene in Federal District Courts in private law suits where the constitutionality of acts of Congress is challenged, and appeal directly to the U. S. Supreme Court, skipping the Circuit Court of Appeals. Although this method of expediting tests of U. S. laws was included in President Roosevelt's Court message, it was effectively overshadowed by his proposals for retiring members of the Federal judiciary. Last week less than one-third of the House membership cast its vote (122 to 14) for the bill and sent it on to the Senate.

P: Killed (257 to 122) the anti-lynching bill introduced by Chicago's Arthur W. Mitchell, only Negro in the U. S. Congress. After a day during which Negroes crowded into the gallery to witness the first filibustering of the present session, southern Representatives, opposed to any kind of anti-lynching legislation, became strange legislative bedfellows of Representatives who wanted more drastic penalties than the Mitchell bill provided. This week, when the House considers the drastic anti-lynching bill sponsored by New York's Joseph A. Gavagan, southern members will have to seek other bedfellows. Negro Arthur Mitchell, whose bill provided only for the prosecution of law officers who allowed prisoners to be taken away from them and lynched, announced after his defeat that he would support the Gavagan bill, which provides for Federal prosecution of members of lynch mobs as well as officers.

P: Passed a bill extending until Dec. 31, 1941 the authority of the Government to make benefit payments direct to farmers in connection with its soil conservation program. Under provisions of the Soil Conservation Act individual States would administer such Federal funds and make direct disbursements to farmers after next Dec. 31. Last week's bill, passed without a roll call under a suspension of House rules and sent to the Senate, was considered necessary by farm leaders because an insufficient number of States had set up legislative machinery to handle the funds.

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