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Editorial
August 25, 1937
The Times News
Hendersonville, Henderson County, North Carolina
What is this article about?
Editorial criticizes a political bargain where President Roosevelt secures Farm Bloc support for the AAA bill in exchange for Treasury loans to cotton croppers, calling it a raw deal that burdens the public finances and sets a poor precedent.
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IT SEEMS A RAW DEAL
The bargain struck between the President and the Congressional Farm Bloc by which the cotton croppers get their price-pegging "loans" from the Treasury and Mr. Roosevelt gets a pledge that his new AAA, embodying the ever-normal granary idea, will be passed promptly at the next session, in some ways is the most extraordinary thing that has happened at this session.
For that matter, so far as can be recalled, it is without parallel in any session and establishes a precedent for hard-boiled political horse trading as unique in a Congress as it is in a President.
What it amounts to is a deliberate deal between the White House and an organized sectional minority at the expense of the people as a whole.
As a result, the cotton croppers will get many millions of dollars from the Treasury, which is in no condition to afford the expenditures. To get the money for their section, its representatives had to promise the President to support a bill in which they do not believe and to the principle of which they are opposed.
On the other hand, the President, well knowing that the loans will still further dislocate his badly strained financial situation and dangerously add to an already mountainous national debt, agrees to a distribution of the public funds of which he disapproves and for which the Treasury is wholly unprepared, first, because it is a slick way to escape from being made to do it anyhow; second, because it is the surest method of getting through a legislative proposal to which he is wedded and which otherwise would be rejected, and, third, because it avoids a mean fight which he easily might lose.
-Frank Kent in Charlotte Observer.
The bargain struck between the President and the Congressional Farm Bloc by which the cotton croppers get their price-pegging "loans" from the Treasury and Mr. Roosevelt gets a pledge that his new AAA, embodying the ever-normal granary idea, will be passed promptly at the next session, in some ways is the most extraordinary thing that has happened at this session.
For that matter, so far as can be recalled, it is without parallel in any session and establishes a precedent for hard-boiled political horse trading as unique in a Congress as it is in a President.
What it amounts to is a deliberate deal between the White House and an organized sectional minority at the expense of the people as a whole.
As a result, the cotton croppers will get many millions of dollars from the Treasury, which is in no condition to afford the expenditures. To get the money for their section, its representatives had to promise the President to support a bill in which they do not believe and to the principle of which they are opposed.
On the other hand, the President, well knowing that the loans will still further dislocate his badly strained financial situation and dangerously add to an already mountainous national debt, agrees to a distribution of the public funds of which he disapproves and for which the Treasury is wholly unprepared, first, because it is a slick way to escape from being made to do it anyhow; second, because it is the surest method of getting through a legislative proposal to which he is wedded and which otherwise would be rejected, and, third, because it avoids a mean fight which he easily might lose.
-Frank Kent in Charlotte Observer.
What sub-type of article is it?
Partisan Politics
Economic Policy
Agriculture
What keywords are associated?
Cotton Loans
Aaa Bill
Political Deal
Farm Bloc
Roosevelt
Treasury Expenditure
National Debt
What entities or persons were involved?
President Roosevelt
Congressional Farm Bloc
Cotton Croppers
Frank Kent
Charlotte Observer
Editorial Details
Primary Topic
Critique Of Political Deal Between President Roosevelt And Congressional Farm Bloc On Cotton Loans And Aaa
Stance / Tone
Critical Of The Deal As A Raw Bargain At Public Expense
Key Figures
President Roosevelt
Congressional Farm Bloc
Cotton Croppers
Frank Kent
Charlotte Observer
Key Arguments
The Deal Provides Treasury Loans To Cotton Croppers For Price Pegging
Farm Bloc Pledges Support For President's Aaa Bill Despite Opposition
Deal Is A Precedent For Political Horse Trading
It Burdens The Strained Treasury And National Debt
President Agrees To Disapproved Expenditure To Secure Aaa Passage And Avoid Fight