Work Undone

When the first session of the 75th Congress adjourned last August, Franklin Roosevelt pointedly omitted to thank the members for their 229 days of work. They had killed his Supreme Court bill. They had left undone many things he thought they ought to have done. He called them back for a special session in November. Except for some legislative spadework accomplished in committee, the 37-day special session was a farce. The third session, which began on January 3, and ran 154 days until one sultry evening last week, was the most productive period of the 75th Congress. As the end approached, Franklin Roosevelt felt kindly enough toward the members to scribble each chamber a note on his private green letter paper. ". . . Much constructive legislation for the benefit of the people. Definitely, we are making progress. . . ."

The business slump of last fall, (the Roosevelt Recession), had by winter weakened President Roosevelt's hold upon Congress to the slipping point. Entering an election year, no Congress obeys a second-term President whose popularity is on the skids. But the Recession gave Franklin Roosevelt a reason for thinking about other things besides reforms, and a long, windy, fruitless digression by Congress on the subject of lynching gave him time to calculate. In late January, he created a diversion by calling for a Big Navy. In February, he called for $250,000,000 extra money for Relief. In April, he called Congress to fight the Roosevelt Recession with $3,000,000,000 for public lending & spending.

In an election year, no Congress continues bucking a President who wants to spend big money. In May, when Senator Claude Pepper of Florida was renominated on a straight pro-Roosevelt ticket, Congress hastily set about giving Franklin Roosevelt what he wanted (see col. 2). Result was that although the session had maundered futilely along for months, it closed with such a burst of legislation that it left an unusually brief score of work undone. Its chief omissions:

Railroads. Because Labor insisted that the railroad industry give up its demand for a 15% wage cut if a bill for railroad relief was allowed to pass Congress, the session closed without anything being done for the railroads. Result: unless the Interstate Commerce Commission closes its eyes to the facts, and certifies to the RFC that the hard-pressed roads can repay loans made to them (the necessary requisite for RFC loans), it is highly likely that within a few months most U. S. railroads will be bankrupt.

Reorganization, Representatives with their ears to the ground, sensing that the President's plan for reorganizing the executive branch of the Government, was one of. his few unpopular proposals (see p. 14), shelved it, went home without doing or attempting to do anything about it.

Regional Planning. The creation of seven "little TVA's" throughout the land is the dream of Senator Norris of Nebraska, who sired big TVA. The President put this program on his Must list for the special session last fall, let it be forgotten when the ruckus within TVA broke out. Last bill on the subject submitted was "National Planning Act of 1938" by Representative Joseph Mansfield of Texas, which proposed to curb floods, improve navigation, conserve water, soil, forests, etc., did not mention Power.

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