The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN put congress on the At last there is something that I can really boost. On August IS Senator Pepper had the bright ids*. He introduced into the Senate a joint...
...Men like nilgore, Truman and Veorhi* really applied their mind* and gav* evidence of research aad thought...
...But my main point is thst during these psst two months there has been a good desl of fairly decent discussion...
...Louis Ludlow of Indiana both spend the good money of citixehs to record in the immortal pages of . the Record two anti Hillman columns by Westbrook Pegler...
...The daily press quits property disregards this sort ef verbal ragweed...
...Lew Mi.ds la Miff) pi.ee* You would think that being oehoed by wall, wklck heard Jean Qwincy Adams and Henry Clay would fire* some dignity aa the astat lew-down sort of chap...
...The peppery statesman does not favor .a nationalised radio chain...
...Bat if the maimed minds of some Congressmen respond st all to their dignified sorreendlngs, the results ar* imperceptible...
...On August 10 so dignified a solon as Senator Van-denberg stooped to besmirch himself...
...J. Res...
...One man will get up and deliver a carefully considered argument on some piece of legislation...
...Lee* of the Record T 1 HE only journal which I receive free ef charge is the Congressional Record...
...146) "authorising the broadcasting of the proceedings of the Senate and the House of Representatives...
...Yoq can think of all sorts of difficulties...
...jj*f the radio eeuld de it justice—such justice that in th* ond the vaudeville legislator might be drive* back t* wild* whence h* came...
...It is in showing up such discrepancies that the radio would prove its worth...
...If th* sweet* listen te their representatives for eae year, pabilc »plni*a will enforce important changes...
...If you want to serve your nation and save the world write or wire—now—to the alert and high-minded Senator and offer your support to this proposal...
...In fact...
...there is hardly ever a mean, low punch at labor, or at any project for promoting the welfare of ordinary people, that is not reproduced on the floor of the upper or lower house—it is sometimes difficult to say hoe much up the upper is...
...This indecent exposure of meanness was so appreciated in Congress that it was rolled round and round on legislstivt tongues...
...But here I have come to the end of my space and I have not given you one quotation from Pappy O'Daniel...
...But they seem to me honest...
...They think that if ws let everything slide there will be plenty of jobs after the war...
...The people are interested in the democratic process...
...They really believe that the federal government ought to keep out of reconversion...
...My good friend Henry Haxlitt has been writing for years about reorganising Congress aad reforming its djnt»s...
...Lucky Strikes or Ivory Soap or Weil Perfumes might well sponsor the programs in / a wsy that would go materially toward the reduction of the national debt...
...On* was Sidney Hill-man and th* CIO political Action Committee Th* other was the provision of the Kilgore Bill for unemployment insurance...
...They know little about history And nothing about economics...
...To furnish myself some idee of what the American people are miaeing over the air-waves...
...On August 9 Arthur Krock rather heavily attempted to make fun of unemployment insurance...
...dure...
...The love of dirt in certain legislative circles is really psychopathic...
...Senator Vandenberg put it in the Rerord so that it could be freely franked far and wide...
...The nest man may start an oration that would be laughed at if It war* spoken before a Grange meeting at Sour Apple Corners...
...I have jest loafed through the iaaaas af the past two months...
...The men who opposed them seemed te me mere respectable after I had read their statement* word for word...
...William Lembertson of Kansas and th* Hon...
...for example, th* perfectly Irrational tendency te pick up any piece of dirt and use It over and over again—merely growing a bit more bet every time the mud is remolded and rethrown...
...It is all about the subversive telephone calls to government offices snd about how wicked it was of the Hillman forces to knock out Martin Dies and Joe Starnes...
...There are, ia fact, definite *ign* of mob psychology in Washington...
...This inspired notion has been referred to the Rules Committee...
...But in the regular verbal debates it is repeated over and over again...
...Another impression is of the tremendous unevennesa of talent among our legislators...
...The resolution merely offers to the broadcasting companies the aid of public officials in setting up their facilities...
...From there it was but a hop, skip and jump for an agile mind like the Senator's to the great project If the people "could by the marvel ef the radij be brought, as it wert, as the visitors in tbe gallery are privileged to be, to be witnesses of the deliberations of their Senators and Representatives, I believe it would be in furtherance of the democratic process...
...Nothing immoral or revolutionary like that...
...Funny paper* like Th, Ssm Yorker new aad then divert us with hot hick press which emanates from the Bshmto...
...But do not* think that I take this matter lightly...
...There is...
...From the point ef view of serious discussion, this was en* ef our federal legislature's best periods...
...He be* aoseas ef geed argument* ea his aid*, but no one pay* much atteetioa...
...One point was neglected...
...The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN put congress on the At last there is something that I can really boost...
...I cam* up with the conviction that they ar* sincere...
...They are ignorant men...
...But the implication is that a man with a family who might receive a maximum of %'Sb a week would live in ridiculous luxury...
...As mighty oaks from little acorns grow, so that great thought sprang from our experience in connection with the recent national conventions...
...Speaking of tbe Kilgor* Bill he admitted: "There are some safeguards in th* bill to prevent the United State* from being the seen* of an unending paid vacation and fish fry, with ths fish limited to caviar and pompano, and champagne substituted for beer...
...Yet the twO performers receive the same • salaries and cast vctes which weigh the asms when great matters ar* at stake...
...Tho heart of the ststesman from Florida was touched by the sight of the American people with ears glued to the receiving sets while eloquence and sweat overflowed the Chicago, Stadium...
...In th* appendix to the Record of June 23 the Hon...
...It is in these effusions that Pegler uses the stuff which was pipelined to him from the Dies Committee...
...He introduced into the Senate a joint resolution (S...
...I think the whole country was very much iiiAueaced and delighted," he reported when he returned to Washington, "by being at.l to bear over the radio the proceedings of the two great national conventions...
...We hove had two themes which led to this sort of thing during these past Week...
...This stuff appears here in the "extension of remarks...
...1 am willing te bet any modest sum that Sena tor Pepper'* rosolatiea would prove te be the key to reform...
...I came up for air with real respect for a good many men who participated in discussion of the George Bill and the Kilgore-Murray Bill...
Vol. 27 • August 1944 • No. 35
