American Notes of the Week
THE NEW SESSION OF CONGRESS.
Congress, convening on January 6th, is faced with a long, arduous and controversial Session. The fight over the Tariff Bill, between regular Republicans and Eastern Industrialists on the one hand, and insurgent Western Republicans and Democrats as spokesmen for the farmer and consumer on the other, seems likely to go on until well into March. To this is now added the violent recrudescence of the controversy between " Wets " and " Drys " on the subject of Prohibition enforcement. Precipitated by a speech in which a member of the Hoover Law Enforcement Commission denounced "Governmental Lawlessness," as seen in the shooting down of citizens on suspicion and the invasion of private homes without warrant by Prohibition officers, the issue indeed dominates all others at the moment. The promised Report from the Law Enforcement Commission, the need to vote appropriations to keep the Commission in being, and a number of pending measures such as the Sheppard Bill to make the buyer of liquor equally punishable with the seller, will all help to keep the controversy going. In addition the Demo- crats and insurgent Republicans threaten an immediate fight in the Senate for Committee appointments to which they believe, in view of their strength, they are entitled in prefer- ence to candidates favoured by the regular Republicans and the Administration. Railroad consolidation, radio control, banking and credit inquiries with particular reference to the stock market collapse, and the proposal to grant independence to the Philippines are among other highly controversial issues likely to make immediate sessions of unusual interest.
Previous page
