Cause & Cure

"The greatest of all the bottlenecks in Washington," said Pundit Walter Lippmann last week, "is the bottleneck at the White House."

Primary cause of the disease, said Dr. Lippmann, is the obstructionism of Congress. Unlimited debate in the Senate can be shut off only by a two-thirds vote. This is a valuable rule, but its abuse in a period of emergency may force the U.S., to all intents & purposes, to get along without Congress. The President then has to get things done by proclamation, by persuasion, by the use of his prestige, by indirection, subterfuge, circumvention. How to save Congress? Said Lippmann: by a gentleman's agreement to abandon the filibuster on questions of national defense and foreign policy during the emergency. "All that is required is that Senator Wheeler and Senator Nye and two or three others agree to debate their views on the floor of the Senate and then--without filibustering ... let the Senate vote on the question."

A sign that the President may be willing to work with Congress was his handling last week of the "draft property" bill, dubbed by Washington the "seize-send" bill for its sweeping provisions. The bill gave the President the right to take over permanently or temporarily any property of any kind which could be used to further national defense. (Compensation would be fixed by the President; an owner could sue, if displeased, would be paid 75% of the President's price, pending the outcome of the suit.)

Said Republican House Leader Joe Martin: "The Administration wants the power to take the watch out of your pocket."

Said California's Senator Johnson: "It's the damnedest piece of legislation I have ever seen."

President Roosevelt said he had not read the bill before it was submitted, thought its language too broad, indicated that he had primarily wanted a measure to deal with strike-bound plants. He talked long with leaders of Congress, and Administration spokesmen announced that the bill would be greatly modified. Excitement about it disappeared.

Last week the President also:

> Let it be known that he was dropping many a routine duty, delegating authority in order to deal more with major defense problems and war policies.

> Sent a message to Congress, urging immediate development of his old pet, the St. Lawrence seaway and power project, in spite of the fact that it would now have to compete for labor and materials with defense industries. Said he: "The enemies of democracy are developing hydro-electric resource and every waterway from Norway to the Dardanelles. Are we to allow this continent to be outmatched? . . . Your action on this project will either make available or withhold 2,200,000 horsepower of low-cost electric power for the joint defense of North America. . . ."

> Signed the ship-seizure bill that authorized the Government to take over and operate foreign ships laid up in U.S. ports (see p. 20). Immediately the Emergency Shipping Division of the Maritime Commission announced that it was ready to requisition 84 vessels, would allocate them "to services which will be most useful in the interest of national defense."

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