¶ "The most extortionate proposal that has ever been made upon the nation's revenues"—these would be harsh words from any man. From President Coolidge, who applied them last week to the Flood Control bill which had been passed by the Senate and was pending before the House, they sounded almost savage. President Coolidge added that the provisions of the bill would enrich great railroad and lumber companies besides impoverishing the national Treasury. The bill called nominally for $325,000,000, but every one realized that in practice the cost could run as high as $1,500,000,000, or $1,210,000,000 more than the Army engineers had asked for the work. The President suggested what an uproar Congress would have made if the situation were reversed, if the Administration had asked such a monster sum. He indicated pretty clearly what part he thought the railroad and lumber interests had played in the drafting of the provisions, which included purchase of rights-of-way as high as $75 per acre. "They shall not pass," said the President's tone of voice.
But the House had its back up, too. The Coolidge compromise proposals, carried by Republican Leader Tilson to the House Flood Control Committee, insisted upon local contributions of sites for levees and floodways. With equal insistence, the Committee—led by Reid of Illinois, Whittington of Mississippi, Driver of Arkansas, Wilson of Louisiana—would hear of no local contributions except, perhaps, sites for the bases of levees on the main stream of the Mississippi.
The twelve hours allotted by the House for the debate, wore on. Passage of the big bill impended. After that, a veto loomed. Meantime, in the Mississippi Basin, it was raining again.
¶ Embarrassed by the Coolidge-Anyway movement, which last week cropped out right in his home State, President Coolidge issued further words on the subject, this time signing the letter himself instead of leaving it to Secretary Everett Sanders, as he did in March when Wyoming was importunate (see p. 8).
¶ From the National Manufacturer's Association, President Coolidge received comfort. The association's chief, John E. Edgerton of Tennessee, notified the Senate Finance Committee that U. S. manufacturers regard "excessive" tax reduction as "a reckless invitation to an Executive veto under the President's responsibility to sustain a balanced budget." More, the manufacturers specifically endorsed the Administration's latest tax-reduction estimate — $182,000,000 in case of a 30-million
Flood Control levy this year, or $201,000,000 if Flood Control is postponed. More still, the manufacturers took square issue with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, whose insistence on a far larger tax-cut than the Administration approves is frequently represented to be the voice of Industry.