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National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart
National Press Building- Washington, D. C.
iiHiMlJuMiri
Washington. — President Roosevelt
1. s very neatly called the bluff of his
critics that he is
Hot Potato wasting billions from
for Congress th e treasury and do
ing nothing to re-
j ice it. With much less ballyhoo than
ordinarily precedes the presentation of
t ,\ legislation to congress, the Presi
dent sent a message to the Capitol
f a! ng for new tax levies approximat
ing a billion dollars in yield and in
c,i doing dropped into the laps of the
1 .nuse and senate critics one of the
l atest potatoes they have ever been
Cll lled upon to handle. If one were
to characterize the play in the lan-
gn .ge of baseball, since spring is here,
I believe one could say that congress
eitiier must play ball or let the run
ners score.
It was the greatest tax bill ever sub-
i ited in peace time. Whether the
p:oposals the President lias made are
( atomically sound or whether the lev-
; - be thinks advisable will do the job
he xpects of them, of course, remains
to ho seen. I5ut the fact cannot be
b Hired that Mr. Roosevelt has figura
tively settled down around the ears of
those who have constantly challenged
tin- waste inherent in his vast reform
i d recovery program with a straight-
l'rom the-shouldar demand upon con-
gress that it vote new taxes.
It is a most interesting situation,
politically. In nearly a score of years
of Washington reportorial experience,
I cannot recall having seen so much
squirming and wriggling as well as fret
ting and mumbling among represent
atives and senators. It i9 only natural
that they do not wish to go into a cam
paign for re-election when there is the
certainty that here, there and every
where they will be confronted with
heckling as to their vote for new taxes
—assuming they will vote terrifically
heavy levies as the President has sug
gested, and ns present indications seem
to assure. They have no heart for a
tax increase at this time. But, to re
peat, they are faced with a situation
in which they must either vote for
new and heavier taxes or else they
will he forced to swallow many long
winded speeches in condemnation of
the President’s course.
• * *
Whatever the merits of the Roose
velt proposals may be, there is no
course open for his
Force Hands opponents except to
of Opponents support him in the
general move to pay
as you go. Unless they support these
new tax levies, all of the howling and
the shouting and tumult about a reduc
tion In the treasury deficit becomes
just so much belly-wash.
Opponents may differ with the Pres
ident as to the details of his tax plan
but the situation he has created for
them compels that they stand with
him. To do otherwise would be not
only Inconsistent but rather dumb.
Frank Kent, the able news commen
tator, summarized one phase of this
situation the other day by saying:
“It makes no difference that the
situation which compels the imposition
of new and heavy taxes is largely Mr.
Roosevelt’s fault. And It makes no
difference that the move is forced by
the exigencies of his campaign for re-
election and is designed to spike the
most damaging charge against him—
that he lias piled the debt mountain
high an 1 by terrific expenditures men
aced the national solvency. All that
and more may be perfectly true; but
or the Republicans and his non-politi
cal critics, who have been assailing Mr.
Roosevelt for months because of his
failure to balance the budget to either
obstruct or hold back now that the
President urges congress to provide by
taxation the money to pay for the vast
sifts it has voted would be beyond the
limit in political insincerity and hy
pocrisy.”
in other words, there nearly is no
alternative for opponents of the Pres
ident’s policies. They must show their
sincerity by going through with him in
the laying of new taxes. I do not
mean by that statement that it is nec
essary for them to accept without ar
gument the exact levies which he has
proposed. If they were not in accord
th the taxes he proposes, they would
not be serving their constituencies un
less they so stated, but if they object
to the levies he has offered, let them
bring forward substitute proposals
that will produce a revenue yield in
a like amount. They cannot afford
to criticize and then refuse to oLer
constructive propositions in turn.
* * *
On the other hand, it seems to be the
consensus among Washington observ-
_. ers that Mr. Roose-
tiiaines ve it ought not to be
High Court allowed to get away
with one declaration
•'hich he made in submitting his
v proposals to congress. He said
that the necessity for-these new taxes
arose from the Supreme court decision
"Validating the processing taxes upon
•viiioh the Agricultural Adjustment ad-
- nistration and its subsidies to agri-
,, , ure was Predicated. Of course,
- - may be true at the moment, but,
* ne frequently hears pointed out in
adiington conversation, the Presl-
“•»t used the bounties to farmers and
" ’ AAA itself as one of his keystone
IKviieies. The f act that j t was unc0 n-
^-tuiional surely cannot be said to be
‘ault of the Supreme court and yet
that was the implication in the Presi
dent’s message.
Likewise, the President hinted that a
part of the taxes was due to congres
sional action in passing the bonus,
which he vetoed and congress made
operative over that veto. Again, I
hear it questioned that congress is act
ually to blame. It is being said with
great frequency that had Mr. Roose
velt made the fight against payment of
the bonus this year that he did a
year ago, it is almost inconcievable
that congress would have passed it
over his veto.
It is being said in this connection
that if Mr. Roosevelt really had de
sired to kill the cash payment of the
bonus, his stalwart leaders in the house
and senate could hardly have afforded
to refuse his request to vote against
it. Instead of that situation, the rec
ord shows that such recognized spokes
men as Senator Robinson of Arkansas,
the Democratic leader in the senate,
Senator Harrison of Mississippi, Sena
tor Byrnes of South Carolina and Sen
ator Radcliffe of Maryland, a personal
friend, all voted to pass the bonus
over the President’s veto. I may not
be thoroughly acquainted with the
maneuvers of politicians but I cannot
believe these men would have turned
their backs on the President in the
bonus fight unless they entertained a
feeling that he did not seriously ob
ject.
• • •
So it simmers down that the men
who a year ago and two years ago
voted the President
Taxpayers almost limitless pow-
the Goat erand limitless funds
to deal with an
emergency are now compelled, if
they intend ever to be statesmen, to
stick by, vote the taxes and take it on
the chin if that is to be the reaction
from the voters. After all, it is mere
ly the taxpayers who are the goats and
as usual the taxpayers have not a
great voice in their own defense. As
to the President’s tax proposals them
selves, congress is asked to levy an
unprecedented type of tax on undis
tributed corporation profits. New
processing taxes to replace those out
lawed by the Supreme court, being de
signed to be constitutional, are pro
posed and a tax which the President
described as a “windfall” tax to re
cover a considerable part of the old
processing taxes returned to taxpayers
was suggested. He asked also that
levies be laid on dividends which are
now exempt from normal tax on indi
vidual incomes.
The “windfall” tax is designed to
offset the action of the Supreme court
which ordered the return of the proc
essing taxes as having been illegally
collected. In other words, the admin
istration is attempting to get by one
method what the Supreme court said
it could not get in the manner it em
ployed.
The tax on undistributed profits of
corporations is the center of all kinds
of controversy already. Opponents of
this levy maintain that If the govern
ment forces corporations to pay taxes
on reserve funds they have laid aside
for the proverbial rainy day, such as
we have experienced for the last six
years, none of them can stand the gaff
of another depression. Mr. Roosevelt
contended that his tax proposal in this
direction, which would take away ap
proximately one-third of such reserves,
was designed only to prevent the piling
up of cash by corporations instead of
distribution of those funds to stock
holders.
There will be much hauling and
filling, many charges and counter
charges, much maneuvering and manip
ulation as congress mulls over the new
tax bill. It will pass some kind of new
taxes and citizens will begin early
next year to take out of their pockets
money to pay off the deficits of the
reform and recovery program.
* • •
Some 75 years ago, the government
organized mail service to inland points
without railroad fa-
Star Route cilities, calling thi3
Mail Service new service the Star
route. This service
has been continuously in operation in
scores of communities and it Is con
tinuing to operate exactly on the same
basis as it did three-quarters of a cen
tury ago. So, this is a plea in behalf
of those who carry the mail on the
Star routes and for better service for
Star route patrons.
There is a bill in congress now which
proposes to provide better service for
those carriers and for patrons of those
routes. When one recalls that the
boasted phrase of the Post Office de
partment—“the mails must go through”
—had its origin with the Star route
carriers, it seems that the time is long
since gone by to consider justice for
these faithful servants. It seems, fur
ther, that if there are real “forgotten
men” in this country, they truly are
the carriers on the Star routes and the
patrons of those routes. Even in the
face of all of the hullabaloo that Sen
ator Black, Alabama Democrat, is mak
ing about lobbying, those who desire to
see justice done for the Star route
service, those who believe that the en
tire postal service should be consid
ered, and not just a part of it, shoull
do their utmost to have congress act
on this legislation.
© Western Newspaper Union.
Make These Spring
Accessories Colorful
By WILLIAM C. UTLEY
Y OU are now part owner of
Boulder Dam, the sentinel of
the Colorado, and the biggest
contract construction job ever
completed and turned over to the Unit
ed States government. It was turned
over to the government—which is you
—just five years, minus a few days,
since construction began March 11,
1931.
The ceremony of presentation was
indeed a simple one for the completion
of a task so large and long. Its par
ticipants were two big, husky engineer
ing fellows who met at the dam, near
Boulder City, Nev.
“Take it, it’s yours now,” said Frank
Crowe, construction superintendent of
Dam. The project will regulate Hood
water, control silt, Irrigate the thirsty
valleys, create cheap electric power
and provide a supply of water for the
cities in the southwestern area which
it serves.
It will be about six weeks before the
power generated at the plant will be
used. The power plant, which will be
operated by the city of Los Angeles
and the Southern California Edison
company, will eventually generate
6,000,000,(RX) kilowatt hours of energy
every year. The installed capacity will
be 1,835,000 horsepower, which may be
compared with the 575,500 horsepower
which the United States generates at
Niagara Falls.
It is expected that the city of Los
Boulder City, Nev.—Here’s the latest air picture of the Boulder dam since
the completion of pouring at the top. Photograph taken from upstream angle.
the Six Companies, Inc., the contrac
tors on the job. “It’s a great dam,
Ralph.”
“Well, you ought to know, Frank,”
replied Ralph Lowry, engineer of the
United States reclamation service. And
that brief remark was Uncle Sam’s
speech of acceptance.
Boulder Dam was completed two and
one-half years ahead of schedule. It
cost the government $105,000,000, in
cluding both the dam itself and the
power stations. Of this amount $54,-
700,000 will represent the gross earn
ings of the Six Companies, Inc. After
reductions have been made for services
like the supplying of power to the con
tractor, and rentals at Boulder City,
the actual amount of money paid for
the construction job will be about $52,-
000,000. Other projects associated
with Boulder Dam will cost approxi
mately $230,000,000 when completed.
Is 727 Feet High.
The great mass of concrete towers
727 feet from the bottom of the canyon,
making it about the same height as the
Eiffel tower in Paris. Into the gigan
tic molds which shaped the great gate
that will hold nature prisoner in her
own wildest and most fearful lair
have been poured 4,500,000 cubic yards
of concrete, made from 5,500,000 bar
rels of cement. This vast quantity of
material could have built a standard
highway across the entire continent.
Instead, it has built a great wall 1,180
feet long, 653 feet thick at the base
and 45 feet thick at the top.
The finish of construction was
hailed by Secretary of the Interior
Harold L. Ickes in WashThgton, D. C.,
as "another milestone” in the history
of the West.
“Man has asserted his mastery over
a great and dangerous river, one which
endangered tens of thousands while it
was unregulated, but which will be an
active benefit to millions, now that it
has been harnessed,” said Ickes.
“The people of southern California,
Arizona and Nevada are to be congrat
ulated, for the security of their futures
has been vastly Increased. Water sup
plies have been guaranteed for their
farms and cities. A source of a tre
mendous amount of cheap power has
been provided for use in increasing
their comforts and developing their in
dustries.”
Worth Found Already.
In more than one instance, the im
portance of Ickes’ statements has been
demonstrated already. It was only a
few months after the diversion tunnels
were first closed that Boulder Dam as
serted its supremacy over the most
dangerous river in America; that was
In February of 1935, when it caught
and stored the waters of what would
have been a devastating flood. During
the summer of 1935, the dam worked
the other way, and used some of the
stored-up flood waters to prevent a dis
astrous drouth in the irrigated valleys
along the lower Colorado. With the
water stored above the dam in Mead
lake, which is already the world's larg
est artificial lake, despite the fact
that it is only one-sixth full, it was
possible to release more water than
the river carried last summer and fall.
In 1934, a drouth like that which was
averted cost the valley $10,000,000.
There are five purposes, in reality,
behiid the construction of Boulder
Angelo* will take over operation of the
generating plant May 1, but it will
probably be more than a year before
all the power required by the city will
be generated there. About May 1 the
Southern Nevada Power company will
begin serving cheap Boulder Dam pow
er to Las Vegas and the adjoining ter
ritory in Nevada. The company has
contracted with the state of Nevada
for 4,000,000 kilowatt hours per year,
at rates which will begin at 2.0 mills
per kilowatt hour. It is expected that
these rates will be decreased as time
goes on.
Cost of Making Power.
The primary cost of generating pow
er at the dam is estimated at 1.03 mills
per kilowatt hour, and secondary pow
er at .5 mill per kilowatt hour. Capac
ity is 750,000 horsepower primary and
750,000 horsepower secondary. Towers
109 feet high carry the electricity 275
miles from the dam into California,
Nevada and Arizona.
The most expensive of the addition
al projects in connection with the dam
is the aqueduct which will carry
drinking water to the city of Los An
geles. The great duct, when complet
ed, will be more than 200 miles long
and will cost $220,000,000. An ambitious
undertaking, it is intended to care for
the needs of water of the greatly in-
done. There still remains the work of
plugging up one of the diversion tun
nels. but until the power plant Is placed
in operation this tunnel will be used to
regulate irrigation water. When the
time is right, the bureau of reclama
tion will have it plugged up by day
laborers.
Uncle Sam Cleans Up
in ordinary cases the construction
company would remain on the job to
perform all the cleanlng-up operations
and to remove all equipment no long
er needed, but in this instance the bu
reau of reclamation has agreed to take
over the work. The bureau will occu
py the administration buildings of the
Six Companies, Inc., until October 1
to facilitate the installation of the
equipment in the power house.
For nearly thirty years irrigation
and Hood control projects on the Colo
rado river have been talked about In
the circle's of government. In 1857 an
army officer sent out to find the head
of navigation of the Colorado wrote:
“It seems intended by nature that the
Colorado river along the greater por
tion of its lone and majestic way shall
be forever unvisited and unmolested.”
And not until 1907 was the first note
of defiance to this attitude sounded—by
President Theodore Roosevelt.
Then In 1918 Arthur P. Davis, a civil
engineer, conceived the* idea of build
ing the world’s largest dam to stem
the Colorado. Herbert Hoover, as
secretary of commerce, in 1921 created
the Colorado river commission. On
November 24, 1922, the states of Cali
fornia, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico,
Wyoming and Utah signed a compact.
A survey authorized by congress se
lected Black Canyon as the site. Two
years later the bureau of reclamation
recommended Boulder Canyon as a bet
ter site, and this site was accepted in
the Boulder Canyon act passed by both
houses and signed by President Coo-
lidge in 1928. President Hoover’s proc
lamation in 192!) declared the act in ef
fect.
In 1930 contracts to deliver water
and provide electric power were
signed. On September 17 of that year,
Ray Lyman Wilbur, secretary of the
interior, drove the first spike In the
construction of a railroad to the dam
site, then and there giving the project
the name “Hoover Dam.” This name
it bore, in honor of the man who had
had more to do with its realization
Tnmri
A
Former President Herbert Hoover,
for whom the dam was originally
named.
creased populations which are expect
ed in Los Angeles and other southern
California cities in the future.
It is through the sale of power that
the government expects to get back all
of the taxpayers’ money which will
have been spent on Boulder Dam. Ac
cording to Secretary Ickes, it will be
repaid to the federal government with
4 per cent interest in 50 years. Esti
mates have it that the sale of electric
ity will bring an average of $7,000,000
a year. This would be a total of $361,-
000,000 in fifty years, with an operat
ing surplus of $160,000,000.
Having accepted the dam, the gov
ernment now operates and maintains
It, as well as the reservoir, the pres
sure tunnels, the outlet works and pen
stocks to the valves at the inlets to
the turbine cases in the power plant.
The dam has really not all been com
pleted, but it is nearly so. At least the
work of the construction company Is
Harold L. Ickes, secretary of the in
terior, changed the name of the dam
from “Hoover” to “Boulder.”
than any other, until the present sec
retary of the interior re-named it
“Boulder Dam” on May 4, 1933.
President Dedicates Dam.
Construction contracts were awarded
to the Six Companies, Inc., in 1931,
and the actual work began on March
11 of that year. Diversion of the river
was completed the following year, and
the first concrete placed in the dam in
1933. PWA funds were allotted to the
project in 1934, to make possible its
completion two years ahead of sched
uled time. ’The dam was completed
and the storage of water begun last
year, and on September 30 President)
Roosevelt dedicated it.
A pleasant result incidental to the
construction of the dam will be the
opening up of a vast recreational and
scenic wonderland along the waters of
the artificial lake and the river above
it. The lake is excellent for fishing,
boating and swimming, and added to
the attraction of the dam for curi
osity seekers are the presence nearby
of the Grand, Zion and Bryce canyons.
Already visitors are arriving in con
siderable number. The average is
about 1,0<X1 a day. Last year’s total
was approximately 400,000, and dam
officials estimate that It will not bd
long before they increase to half a
million a year.
The dam, although in a far-removed
spot, is actually pretty easy of access
to the tourist. The highway from
Kingman, Ariz., to Las Vegas, Nev.,
which crosses it, Is now open several
hours every day, and will soon be open
all the time. This fine road may bo
reached easily from principal trans 1
continental and southern highways.
Vast Playground Opened.
Until the great artificial lake at
Boulder Dam was built, the waters of
the Colorado, lined by rugged, colorful
mountains, had been navigated only a
few times, by bold explorers. No one
had even so much as tried an upstream
passage. Now the lake has smoothed
out the cataracts for 90 miles, and
when completed will make it easy sail
ing for another 25 miles. There will
be countless canyons and sub-canyons
accessible as the water fills them.
© Western Newspaper Union.
\
PATTERN 1132
Just as soon ns you complete one
of this smart pair you can begin us
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Spring. Both are very easy to do, for
the greater part is just plain crochet,
with a simple shell stitch for con
trast in hat brim, and on the purse,.
The rayon and wool mixture so pop
ular now is an attractive yarn to use.
Pattern 1132 comes to you with di
rections for making the set; an illus
tration of it and of all stitches need
ed; material requirements.
Send 15 cents in stamps or coins
(coins preferred) to The Sewing Cir
cle, Needlecraft Dept., 82 Eighth
Ave., New York, N. Y.
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