THE scene in the cavernous committee room was deceptively calm. Wilbur Mills of Arkansas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was smiling and attentive. The chief witness, Treasury Secretary John Connally, was relaxed and cordial. There was little outward sign that these two wily, vastly experienced politicians were meeting in a head-on clash over the Nixon Administration's top-priority bill, the measure that proposes to share an initial $5 billion a year in federal revenues with the states and cities.
For months before last week's confrontation, Vice President Agnew had traveled around...