Gee & Haw

The people demanded a pay-as-you-go tax. So did a majority of Congressmen. But action was tied up in a Gordian knot.

The man who tied the knot with his own ham-sized hands was North Carolina's stubborn old Congressman Robert L. ("Muley") Doughton, chairman of the Ways & Means Committee. He and his committee stalwarts, their own bill repudiated, now refused to work out a compromise plan.

All week Congressmen pushed, shoved, pulled and prodded at Muley. Nine Republican committee members got up a round-robin petition to whip him into action. Seventy House Democrats goaded him with another petition.

Then House Republican Leader Joe Martin put the most painful burr of all under the harness. All Congressmen, including Muley Doughton, want to get away for a two-week Easter recess. Martin announced flatly that he would prevent the recess unless the House voted a pay-as-you-go compromise first. Old Muley Doughton grew red-faced and smoking hot, but he still balked.

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