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At the insistence of the Speaker who failed to answer the President's criticism or explain the machinery for private loans the House approved the relief bill 202-to-157. The Senate later passed it 43-to-31. President Hoover vetoed it ten minutes after it reached the White House. "Never before," said he, "has so dangerous a suggestion been seriously made to our country." As a substitute bill he suggested direct relief loans to states, a modest discretionary building program by the U. S. Government and R. F. C. advances to public agencies for self-liquidating construction.
Thus was a prime issue, not in either party's platform, forged for the campaign. Speaker Garner, stumping as the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee, could set himself up as the friend of the Masses against the Classes. He could tell plain, unthinking, debt-ridden voters at the cross-roads that he had put through a bill for their relief only to have it killed by a coldhearted, opinionated Republican President. President Hoover, on the other hand, would go before the country as the implacable defender of the people against a disaster inherent in Democratic doctrine. Some citizens might comprehend the economic facts but in a rough & tumble campaign, facts usually carry less weight than impressions. As a matter of practical politics President Hoover had the facts, Speaker Garner the impressions.