American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1916-01-20
Y BUT NOT LOGICAL.

Champ Clark has a great sense of humor, but he is not
always logical He says the Republicans are grieved to
Adeath over the prosperity of the country, meaning the
prosperity that has come because of a Democratic admin
istration. Inasmuch as all the present prosperity comes
through supplying the belligerents of Europe with war
material-arms, ammunition, food, clothing, mules, horses
etc, then to be logical, if the prosperity is due to the
Democratic administration, that same administration to
make the prosperity, must be responsible for the war. Ger
tainly the great party would not ascribe all the prosperity
that has come through its ministrations to a foreign cause.
We suspect that Mr.. Clark would have trouble in giving
us a bill of particulars. He, like his president, must see
that one great need of this country is a merchant marine.
Suppose he were called upon to outline a plan for handling
our sea-going commerce in a business way, what would he
give us? From tee time that he stood at his mothers
knee, and with his mothers milk imbibed Democratic prin-
ciples, his idea of ships and their use has been precisely
like old man Cartons, who was United States commits
sioner here from Terre Haute, Ind. He was discussing the
tariff one day and the wickedness of paying subsidies to
already rich ship owners and said: "a ship is precisely
like a camel; if a merchant in Joppa wants to send a cara
van load of merchandise to Damascus, he hires the cheap
est train of camels that he can find for that purpose" and
no argument could shake his conclusion. The fact that a
merchant should have his own camel train, have his own
camel drivers, see that his goods were delivered and if his
Damascus friends want anything else, or what the mer-
chant in Damascus had to exchange for the goods, or
what was being produced in the neighborhood of Damas-
Gus, that might be of use at Joppa-none of these things
had any impression on old man Carlton, for they were
contrary to Democratic principles as he imbibed them
from away back; and when asked how an American ship
could carry goods in competition with an English ship
that had a subsidy which was sufficient to pay for al. the
coal burned between ports, he replied That the thing to
do is to send them by the English ship" And when asked
if it would not be better to patronize American ship
owners rather than the very rich English ship owners he
declared that anything would be better than to build up
bloated monopolies in this country" and that, in his judg-
ment, closed the debate. Champ Clark is vastly more in
teligent than old man Carlton was, but he has the same
views on American shipping that old man Carlton had,
and while he must have been a good deal shaken up over
the situation as it has been presented during the past
eighteen months, we have no idea that his mind has been
in the least changed in regard to American shipping, or
that he has reached any fixed conclusion as to how our
flag can be restored to the sea. While they will not adj
NIT it, the constitution that has governed the party now in
power since the fourth of March, 1918, has been that con-
%stitution that was tenderly composed and laid away in
Vie cause of the dead Confederacy-Goodwin's Weekly.