Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-19
THE CONGRESSIONAL
CAMPAIGN

CHAIRMAN HAYS, of the Republican
~ National Committee, has given out
that he expects the Republicans to con-
troll the next House of Representatives
by majority of between thirty and
forty and to make gains in the Senate.
He bases this forecast not on the hos
tility of the constituencies to the war
policy Of the Administration, for he
knows that they are not hostile, but on
the broader ground Of the desire Of the
nation to prepare to meet the great
issues which will force themselves to the
front when peace comes.
The party which should be so foolish as
to go into the approaching campaign
with a declaration that "the war is
failure" and with demand for an imme-
diate peace would be doomed from the
start to the same ignominious defeat
which overlook the Democratic party in
the presidential campaign Of 1864. The
war is not failure. We have hardly
begun to fight. Men of all parties are
united behind the national Government
and will do their utmost to bring the
resources of the country into active play
in order that victory may be won. t is
neither Democratic nor Repubryan
war, but national fight for freedom.
Whatever disagreement there may be
arises over details and not over the main
issue. And we must all devoutly hope
that squabbling over the way we are to
fight may not delay preparation and
weaken our forces at the front,
Farseeing Republicans are hoping
that no petty politicians will succeed in
preventing the national committee from
basing its congressional campaign on the
proposition that consideration of post
bellum reconstruction must begin at
once and proceed along with the execu-
tion of plans for defeating the Hun.
The whole economic face of the world
has been changed by the war. The Gov
ernment is doing things now which con-
servatives have long opposed. For exam :.
pie, it is managing the railroads. There
is noisy minority already demanding
that this management continue and
merge into Government ownership when
peace shall come 1t is not too soon for
the voters to begin to make up their
mind on this question. The demand that
the Government take over the telephone
and telegraph lines is bound to accom-
pany the demand for public ownership of
the railroads.
But more important than this question
Of who shall run the public utilities is
the great question Of the tariff. The
United States by loans to its allies in
Europe has changed its economic rela-
tions with those nations. How shall we
treat them after the war? Shall we
regard them as competitors for world
A.a IL ,lnl H.
ners? Shall we have a high protective
tariff wall, built primarily for our own
interests, or 'shall we have free-trade
tariff? Or will it be wiser to have give
and-take trade arrangements which will
enable each nation, struggling under a
heavy burden of war debt, to have the
freest possible field for the sale of the
products of its factories in order that
rehabilitation may proceed with the
least hindrance?
No man should be elected to Congress
in November who does not give evidence
in advance that he has begun to think
about these questions. The Republicans,
who have devoted long years to con-
structve craftsmanship, are better
equipped than the Democrats to deal with
them. The national committee will fail
in its obvious duty if it does not bring
this fact to the attention of the voters
and if it does not make it clear to them
that there is a vital difference between
supporting the war policies of the
Administration and giving mandate to
the Democratic party, whose strength
does not lie in the region where big eco
nomc questions are well understood to
c11,,A NLn -
untitled.