The Chicago star., November 02, 1946, Star Special Supplement, Page 9, Image 9

About The Chicago star. (Chicago, Ill.) 1946-1948

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
Whom will it serve?
A new Congress is born
I By GEORGE RYAN
p On January 2, 1947, a new Con-
M gress goes on the public payroll.
! Hired by the voters in next
week’s election, the 80th Con
gress has its work cut out for it.
There’s the pile of unfinished
»“ business left over by its predeces
sors. And there’s the blueprint
| left by Franklin D. Roosevelt for
1 — heading off economic chaos, poli
tical Hooverism and the twin
menace of war and fascism.
In addition to the clear-cut out-
S line of what the people want and
1 need, there are large juicy sam
pies from recent history of what
1 they don’t want.
* ■» #
1
1 EVEN schoolchildren will be
g§ struck by the deadly parallel be-
J tween the trends that followed
j World War I, climaxed in the
Hoover fiasco of the early '3o’s,
§| and the similar pattern taking
H shape today.
H In the Wall Street rumblings of
if today can already be heard the
1 overtones of the super-crash.
|§ In the queues of consumers
fj seeking goods that are artificially
fi made scarce can be seen the
1 breadlines of tomorrow.
• * *
1 THE REPUBLICANS have al-
J ready indicated w'hat their plans
B are. They intend to eliminate
1 from the statute books every
1 progressive gain made under
§t Roosevelt.
{Already the axes are being
sharpened for a broadside attack
jj on the Wagner Act, labor’s “Ma
ll na Carta.”
S The GOP has already rung the
g= death knell for rent control.
5 And the top Republicans have
H come out for a2O per cent re-
I~ duction in income taxes which
_ will saddle the national debt and
S the national budget on the shoul
@ ders of the poor.
* # *
| THE NATION is faced by a
jj band of reactionary pirates who
jj have indicated that they will stop
3 at nothing in their drive for pow
jg er and profits. And as rs that pi
ll
1 "Don't vote
| on November 5"
1 Soys
| Mrs. J. Swastika Diily:
“If too many people vote,
| they might be QUITE the
| wrong kind of people! A
1 fuehrer would be so much
I safer.”
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rate band needed tighter organ
ization form, they have now in
corporated under the banner of
American Action, Inc.
Price control by law is dead.
As a substitute, the people have
erected some system of price
control by popular pressure.
However, unless the 80th Con
gress does something to restore
some legal restraints, observers
see the nation headed for a per
iod of “economic cannibalism"
leading to mass impoverishment
such as this country has never
seen.
• # *
THE Wagner - Ellender - Taft
housing bill has now become a
more urgent necessity than it
was when the 79th Congress
abandoned it several months ago.
Low-cost housing construction
is at a standstill. And it will take
federal action to start it moving.
The additional legacy of unfin
ished business left by the 79th
Congress includes:
• The restoration of the Fair
Employment Practices Act. Its
death signalled the return of
wholesale job discrimination,
particularly against the Negro
people.
• The Wagner-Murray-Din
gell health insurance bill,
which died in committee.
• The 65cent minimum wage
bill, which died in the House.
• Appropriations for nur
series under the Lanham Act,
which were discontinued.
• An anti-Iynch bill, made
more vital than ever by the
wave of lynchings and the re
emergence of the Ku Klux
Klan.
• An anti-poll tax bill.
And if the new Congress needs
any further instructions on what
it has to do, there are the eight
points of Roosevelt’s Economic
Bill of Rights.
1. The right to a useful and
remunerative job.
2. The right to earn enough
to provide adequate food and
clothing and recreation.
3. The right of every farmer
to raise and sell his produce
at a return which will give him
and his family a decent living.
4. The right of every busi
nessman to trade in an atmos
phere of freedom from unfair
competition and domination by
monopolies at home and abroad.
5. The right of every family
to a decent home.
6. The right to adequate me
dical care.
7. The right to adequate pro
tection from the economic fears
of old agg, sickness, accident
and unemployment.
8. The right to a good educa
tion.
Most ominous of the congres
sional problems is the war dan
ger, typified by the war-footing
military budget which is now in
effect.
* * •
WILL THE 80th Congress
measure up to these tasks?
The answer to that question
will be given in the balloting
next Tuesday and in the action
taken by the people during the
course of the coming sessions m
keeping their Congress on the
ball.
THE CHICAGO STAR, NOVEMBER 2, 19
>*■*’«*>-*
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