The Seventy-First

Two hours were required for the 71st Congress formally to get seated in the capitol last week and prepare itself for work. Called by President Hoover because Idaho's Senator Borah induced him during the presidential campaign to promise quick legislative action on farm relief and tariff revision, the session, an "extraordinary" one, was to prove a testing ground of the President's potency as a political leader.

In the Senate, Vice President Curtis banged his gavel until the muttering chamber was as quiet as a schoolroom, before he would permit Chaplain E. Barney Thorne Phillips to pray. The President's call was read, four Senators were sworn in. Ohio's Burton delivered a long, moving eulogy of the late ambassador to France, Myron Timothy Herrick. Then Indiana's Watson, now officially the majority leader, uncrossed his legs, swung himself out of his seat, moved adjournment, thus postponing commencement of the Senate's work until another day.

The House, called to order by Clerk William Tyler Page, promptly chose Nicholas Longworth as its Speaker for a third time. With 267 members in the majority and 163 in the minority, Republican Congressmen overflowed their side of the chamber. The air bumbled and rumbled with greetings and good cheer.

Always a timesaver, Speaker Longworth reduced to less than a minute the ceremony of swearing in the whole House membership. Heretofore the oath was administered to groups of 20. This time all members stood together. Each raised his right hand. The Speaker carefully read the oath. A thunderous "I do" rolled solemnly through the chamber as 402 members swore all at once.

Sharp eyes picked out famed newcomers: Illinois's Mrs. Ruth Hanna McCormick, in sheer white; New York's Mrs. Ruth Pratt next to her swart Manhattan colleague, Mr. La Guardia; Florida's Mrs. Ruth Bryan Owen, resplendent in solid black with a rope of pearls; dark Oscar de Priest, the grey-wooled Negro from Illinois, far in the rear.

The Speaker then told the members that he would be ready for the session to end in a month. Thereupon the House adjourned, to hear the President's message on the morrow.

Farm. One-half of the total number of U. S. farmers make less than $800 a year. The profits of only one-quarter exceed $1,200 per year, the Department of Agriculture's "minimum wage" for a farm family. Reason for low income: For every dollar the consumer pays for food, about 30 cents gets back to the farmer, 70 cents going for transportation, marketing, etc. The fanner gets no more because, ambitious, he grows too much, puts it up for sale. With all farmers doing this, a surplus is created, depressing prices. The farmer markets his goods individually, thus entrenching a sloppy fluctuating marketing system. Congress is now called to remedy this situation, to provide "relief." The remedy as contained in the House farm bill: A new Federal Board with $500,000,000 in credits. Farm producers would join in cooperative associations to which the Federal Board would loan money at 4%. With this money the cooperatives would buy and hold enough of the crop to keep the supply down to the demand, thus eliminating a surplus, keeping up prices. Off-season they would dribble out for sale their crop holdings at a steady price. Likewise, to get more of the consumer's dollar, they would market their own produce and thereby squeeze out haphazard, wasteful methods of independent middlemen.

Objection is made to this system of relief on the ground that the farmer in the cooperative association risks a loss, whereas the farmer who stays out profits by higher prices gained through the association's activities but risks no loss.

Reaction to farm relief: In Nodaway County, Mo., President Hoover owns an 80-acre farm, valued by the board of equalization at $85 per acre. Said a board member: "With farm relief in sight, the President's farm ought to be more valuable." Its valuation was then moved up to $125 per acre.

Tariff. Still in committee, this legislation promised to furnish prime excitement for the session. That rates on agricultural products should go higher no one denied. Whether rates on raw materials and manufactured goods would be likewise increased, contrary to the wishes of President Hoover, remained the major uncertainty.

Other Legislation. Being new, the 71st Congress sought to undertake many another task than those for which it was called. Plans were laid for legislation to repeal the national origins provision of the immigration law, effective July 1, to reapportion the House of Representatives, to provide for the 1930 census. Demand was also heard for measures on flood control, prohibition, conservation, Wall Street speculation. Ambitious House members had hopefully prepared more than 300 bills for introduction.