2722 Congressional .Record-House . House Of
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2722 CONGRESSIONAL .RECORD-HOUSE. MARCH 14 Shiras Morris, Jr., of Connecticut. lution 76, to authorize the Postmaster General to withhold the George W. Renchard, of Michigan. awarding of star-route contracts for a period of 45 days. Paul J. Reveley, of Connecticut. I may say that the Committee on the Post Office and Post W. Garland Richardson, of Virginia. Roads have had this under consideration and are unanimous Halleck L. Rose, of Nebraska. in their conclusion. Livingston Satterthwaite, of Pennsylvania. The SPEAKER. The Chair is informed that this joint reso- Francis Bowden Stevens, of New York. lution is somewhat in the nature of an emergency matter. Tyler Thompson, of New York. Mr. WHELCHEL . It is, Mr. Speaker. Robert F. Woodward, of Minnesota. The SPEAKER. The Clerk will report the joint resolution. The Clerk read as follows: CONFIRMATION Senate Joint Resolution 76 Resolved, etc., That the Postmaster General is authorized and Executive nomination confirmed by the Senate March 14 directed to withhold the awarding of star-route contracts for which (legislative day of March 13), 1939 bids have been received in the third contract section for a period CIVIL AERONAUTICS AUTHORITY of 45 days after March 7, 1939. C: B. Allen to be a member of the Air Safety Board within Mr. MASON. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, the Civil Aeronautics Authority. and I shall not, because I was in the committee when the bill was ordered out, will not the gentleman give us a brief ex planation of what constitutes the emergency? HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES · Mr; WHELCHEL; - I shall be glad to. Mr. Speaker, in 1937 a bill was presented to the Congress TUESDAY, MARCH 14, . 1939 permitting the · Post Office Department at its discretion to The House met at 12 o'clock noon. continue star-route contracts beyond the period of their ter Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes, senior bishop of the Methodist mination. This bill passed both Houses of Congress in 1937, Episcopal Church in the United States, . Washington, D. c., but I believe it was vetoed by the President. This ..same offered the following prayer: question again presents itself. As appears from the face of the resolution the time on these contracts has expired. God, be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to This resolution simply directs that 45 days be granted for shine upon us, that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy the purpose of going into this question and giving it proper saving health among all nations. Let the people praise Thee, consideration. 0 God; let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth A similar House resolution calls for 60 days. The Senate yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. resohition calls for 45 days. I ask that the Senate resolution God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear be substituted for the House resolution and that it be him. adopted. · 0 Lord, make our country a blessing to itself, a blessing to The SPEAKER. .Is there objection to the request of the all the men and women and children that dwell within its gentleman from Georgia for the immediate consideration of borders, a blessing· to ·men everyWhere, so that the statue the Senate resolution? called Liberty Enlightening the World may be not only a There was no objection. symbol but a glorious fact. Make our Jerusalem to be "the The joint resolution was read a third time and passed, and joy of the whole earth." To this end and to all the purposes a motion to reconsider and a similar House resolution <H. J. that meet Thy holy will, bless Thou these lawmakers ·on this Res. 184) were laid on the table. day. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. EXTENSION OF REMARKS The Journal of the proceedings of yesterday was read and Mr. PETERSON of Georgia; Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous approved. consent to extend my own remarks in the RECORD and to MESSAGE FROM THE P-RESIDENT include therein· an article on the cotton problem prepared by A message in writing from the President of the· United Hon. H. W. Nalley, of Alamo, Ga. States was communicated to the House by Mr. Hess, one of The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the his secretaries. gentleman from Georgia? MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE There was no objection. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Frazier, its legislative MONETARY SYSTEM clerk, announced ·that the Senate had passed with amend The SPEAKER. In view of the fact that a point of no ments, in which the concurrence of the House is requested, a quorum is pending, the Chair cannot recognize Members bill of the House of the following title: except to submit unanimous-consent requests. H. R. 4218. An act making appropriations for the legisla Mr. VOORHIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani tive branch of the Government for the fiscal- year ending mous consent to address the House for 1 minute. June 30, 1940, and for other purposes. The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the The message also announced that the Senate insists upon gentleman from California? its amendments to the for~going bill, requests a conference There was no objection. with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses Mr. VOORHIS of California. Mr. Speaker, the recent thereon, and appoints Mr. TYDINGS, Mr. BYRNES, Mr. ADAMS, · · statement by the .Federal Reserve Board will hardly be en Mr. OVERTON, Mr. TRUMAN, Mr. HALE, and Mr. BRIDGES to be couraging to those who look to the Board for constructive the conferees on the part of the Senate.· leadership in finding a way out of our present economic diffi Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Speaker, I make the point of order that culties. I hardly expected from the Board an endorsement a quorum is ·not present. of forward-looking. measures for monetary c()ntrol and im The SPEAKER. Will the gentleman withhold .the point of provement of our present inadequate system. But neither did I expect a statement so barren and sterile as the one we order for the moment to enable the Chair to dispose of some preliminary matters? _ got. The Board has pointed out that since the Nation de pends on loans of bank credit for the creation of its medium Mr. RANKIN. Certainly, Mr. Speaker. of exchange and since the Board can neither compel the peo The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from ple to borrow or banks to lend, therefore it is impossible for Georgia [Mr. WHELCHEL]. the Board to exert effective control over the volume of money STAR-ROUTE coNTRACTS in circulation. The Board is substantially correct in this. Mr. WHELCHEL. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Com- But the disappointing thing is that not one constructive sug mittee on the Post Office and Post Roads, I ask unanimous gestion is made for correcting this situation and the implica consent for the immediate consideration of Senate Joint Reso- · . tion is left that we should not even attempt to correct it. 1939 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE 2723 because, forsooth, even if we eliminated the monetary factors as in 1929 but considerably more, on account of growth in making for booms and depressions,., other problems would population and productive capacity which had taken place still remain. Thus the Board disclaims responsibility for our in the 10-year period present economic plight and tells us, in effect, that the Fed The Board says that the people are more concerned with eral Reserve System cannot be expected to do the things the relationship between prices of things they ·buy and things which I am sure 90 percent of all the American people ex they produce than they are with maintenance of general sta pected of it in its inception. It happens that I agree with bility. This is merely to say that even with the achievement the Board in its evaluation of our present machinery for mon of a stability in the value of the dolla.r and the elimination etary control, but it is dismaying, to say the least, to find in of the dislocations resulting from violent fluctuation in that the Board's statement not one paragraph suggesting a method value, other problems would remain to be solved. This is whereby we can seek improvement. On the other hand, no true, but it hardly seems to me that we need to trouble the critic of our present system of the private creation of our Federal Reserve Board to point out a thing so obvious, and money in the form of bank credit could have delivered a more neither does it seem to me .that the Board's statement is in devastating account of the helplessness of the American any way a refutation of the basic importance of attempting Nation so long as that system continues. with all the power at our command to achieve "a dollar To say that monetary measures alone cannot solve our prob whose purchasing and debt-paytng power will remain sub lem unless supplemented by appropriate tax policy and pro stantially constant." grams of wise and effective governmental expenditure is to No one, I hope, would be so foolish as to claim that merely state the obvious. But surely this is not to conclude that by stabilizing the buying power of the dollar or by monetary because other things need doing too, therefore we should leave measures alone can prosperity be assured. But the Board's what ·the Board itself demonstrates to be an uncontrollable statement will give added conviction to those people who monetary system in its present unsatisfactory condition.