The daily Alaska citizen., 1919-12-12
FAIR PROMISES

The speech of Governor Sproule as de hvered before the republican national com mittee in Washington Wednesday is be- heved to have struck the keynote of the campaign that will be carried on by the G 0. P. in the national elections of next year The Pennsylvania chief executive delivered the speech but 1t is the result of months o1 careful planning by Chairman Hays of the committee and other prominent leaders o1 the republican organization. The governor it must be admitted, made a good job out of the material that was handed him but hC had so little to work on that he made { very poor showing for the party.
 His criticism of the democratic admin Istration was less severe than was to have been expected from such a meeting held fOl formally beginning the campaign of an op position party. There is in fact little or nC real criticism in the entire speech. It is true that he condemns the administration both for that which it has done and fol what it did do-a very natural thing fol a republican speIl-binder to do-and like wise he made a whole lot of promises re- garding the things that the republicans would do if the voters would only put 2 republican President in the White House at the next election That also is what al most any republican would promise
 The road of progress, however, has more stations along it that the one sigr Il start of a path at which lies fulfillment Promise is the easiest thing that humans do. FuIfillment is that which is most sel- dom accomplished. The history of the re filled with promises relating to every sub iect touching upon national life and affairs and most of them are broken promises From tariff to currency and back again it worked its weary way by means of promises during the two decades and when Woodrow Wilson took his seat for the first time, not one of them had been fulfilled and the tariff promise had been broken time and again.
 The end of the Sixty-Fifth congress was likewise the end of the democratic re gime in congress. It also marked the end of legislation of progressive character. This contention is justified by review of actual achievements of the democratic party Since March 4, 1913, when a democratic ad- ministration took charge of the affairs ot the government, the movement has been steadily forward. A mere catalog of the constructive measures and reform which are now part of our statutory structure indicates the great distance which America has travelled under democratic leadership The fact that 1t remained for democratic congress to enact these measures indicates how completely the republican leadership had failed the country. The establishment of the income tax as a permanent part O1 the revenue-prOducng agencies of the gov ernment was a great achievement. The creation of the federal trade commission the establishment of a nOn-partisan tariff commission, the reformation of the tariff the passage of child labor legislation, the enactment of the rural credits act, the crea. tiOn of the farm loan banks, the adoption ot the Smith-Lever bill for the improvement of agricultural conditions, the extension ot new considerations to labor as expressed in numerous public acts, including the crea-