CATASTROPHE: Flood Continued

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1) The last session of Congress closed with a Republican filibuster which prevented the passage of the urgent deficiency bill, left the Government without sufficient funds for normal activities—let alone flood relief. Assuming that there are 500,000 refugees and that there is $10,000,000 (the Red Cross relief fund) to spend on them, money available for flood relief would be only $20 per victim. By calling a special session, the Government could get both the money for relief work and the authority to spend it.

2) President Coolidge has refused to make a personal visit to the flooded section. The flood has not caught the imagination of the country because it has not caught the imagination of the country's chief executive. Were Roosevelt President for instance, he doubtless would long since have been personally piling sandbags on threatened levees.

3) It was asserted that President Coolidge's reluctance to a special session sprang from political reasons. Summoned, Congress might make a flood appropriation; then open up the Vare scandal and the Smith scandal, consider an anti-third term resolution, in general prove embarrassing to the President.

To which Administration supporters answered:

1) With regard to funds, Mr. Hoover last week telegraphed President Coolidge: "The success of our appeal to the public makes it reasonably safe now to say definitely that the funds in hand and prospective will enable the Red Cross to do its work on an efficient basis."

2) There is no need for the President to visit the flood area, efficiently patrolled by Mr. Hoover and other members of the presidential commission. President Coolidge, no spotlight-seeker, has dignifiedly remained in Washington, attended to the nation's business.

3) Not the President but anti-Administration Congressmen are the politics-players. At a special session, flood relief would be forgotten in wrangles over organization, in sniping at the Administration. By the time Congress assembled and got anything done the immediate emergency would long be over.

4) In December the President will stress flood prevention in his Congressional message. A sane, authoritative, carefully worked out plan of flood-prevention, prepared by U. S. army engineers, will be presented to Congress.

5) The New York Times last week asked leading citizens in the flooded area if they wanted an immediate extra session of Congress. Twelve said Yes; 19, No.

So the pros, so the cons. Meanwhile Washington correspondent Mark Sullivan, writing for the Republican New York Herald Tribune, said: "It requires pretty thoroughgoing Republican partisanship to deny that Senator Reed of Missouri and the other Democratic Senators were justified in asking President Coolidge to call a special session,"