Check to President Roosevelt President Roosevelt has received a severe
check in his national reconstruction plans by an obstructive vote of the Senate. In the Work-Relief Bill he was asking for control of some £1,000,000,000 for the em- p loyment of labour on public works. The Senate amended it by a stipulation that all relief work must be paid for at the " prevailing rate " of wages and not at the lower rate contemplated by the Administration. This would impose an impossible burden on the finance of the scheme; on any estimate it is colossal. The Senate is courting popularity with organized labour, which is opposed to any scale of pay less than the prevailing rate. The President has, however, more cards than one that he can play to bring the Senate to his view. He may appeal to the country, as he has done before, over the wireless. And he can bring pressure to bear upon the States by withholding schemes of public work which they have been eagerly awaiting. The conflict may prove more long and difficult than others which the President has had to face ; for on this occasion the Senate has contrived to mobilize the forces of trade unionism on its side.
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