Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-24
BY y. D. MESSENGER.

kkCNCE the morning stars first
sang together. the discourse
of the gentleman from wy
ominA Mr.. Mondell. de-
scribing the Bourbon. is the best de-
scription of the republican party thai
has ever been given" doomed Chamr
Clark, in the House the other day. I'll
fits his rarity like glove. for, in truth,
1t never learns anything and never
forgets. The republicans were driven
out of this House in 1910 more on &C
count of the Payne tariff bill than
any one operating cause. The pend
ing tungsten bill is prohibition run
mad"
Now, the fact Is that Mr.. Mondeil
had just charged the democratic party
with being the party of bourbonism.
"a bourbon. he had said, has been
described as man who forgets moth
ing and who learns nothing. The
world moves and constantly changes,
and wise men change with it, but your
bourbon never does. He is the only
finite thing on this mundane sphere
to whom may be ascribed those attrl-
butes of infinite-the same yesterday,
today and forever. Some democrats
have objected to the appeilation of
Bourbon to their party. and 1 am
frank to say that in recent times the
party has made just a little progress.
at least some of its members have. in
getting away from bourbonism, but,
SO far as certain gentlemen in COM
mand Of the party are concerned. we
have had the strongest kind of proof
in the last day or two that their bour-
bonism continues, unchanging, as OF
yore."
who's a bourbon now" might,
therefore, be deemed a moot question
between the
WAo's A soUReoM? NJ GRITTY
Is MOOT QUESTION. leader. Mr..
Mondell. n d
the minority leader, Mr.. Clark. But
that 10 mot all: the larger question is
which party is to be held responsible
for the high cost of living or get the
credit for abating it. Listen to some
more of the same debate:
1--WE have certain things that ought
to be done in this Congress" said
Champ Clark. I'VE ought to do what
we can to cut down the high cost of
living"
sThis is all poppycock." interrupted
IN. Knutsen, a republican. why did
not the democratic party get busy in
1913; high cost of living was an issue
in 1872" .
It'll tell you what kind Of poppy
cdck 1t is" retorted Champ Clark. 1T
viii put all you fellows out of BUSH
ness IL yon do not attend to it. There
Will not be enough OF you in the next
Congress to demand the ayes and noes
uhless yon scut down the high cost OF
living and relieve millions. of men,
women and chfldsen from starvation.
think we ought to go to work. leave
out the speechmaking and do what
we can to relieve the distresses of
the people OF the United States.
Everybody knows that there is
more than one element entering into the
high cost of living. One of those ele-
ments is the expansion of the cur
rency. There is no sense in anybody
lying about ii. Another element is
these trusts that have fixed up the
prices of everything. Still another is
the profiteers. and I have stated it
over again several times that every
prohteer in America ought to be in
the penitentiary"
r + 4
So. now after these preliminaries,
to come to the point. which is ex-
pressed in
POLITICS PLAYS question asked
IMPORTANT PART. scores of times
day of every
one connected with Congress or hav-
ing knowledge of its workings, what
is Congress going to do to relieve the
high cost of living?"
In considering the question, the
fact must be borne in mind that there
is q great deal of politics in the
present undertaking. superimposed
upon a foundation Of genuine desire
to do something. Democratic poll
ticians contend that they have the
best Of the bargain thus far, politi-
cally. in all the circumstances at
tending the present movement. They
say the republicans made a tactical
blunder when they proposed to recess
the House and go away and play,
leaving the high cost of living prob
lem untouched; and that the Presi-
dent effected a brilliant political
stroke when he kept quiet until the
republicans had packed their grips
and then hauled them back, pointing
out the economic crisis at hand The
republican managers were well
aware. the democrats say, of the ex-
istence of the crisis. but preferred to
profess to ignore it. giving the Pres
ident the opportunity he craved of
violently calling their attention to it
in a very public way.
However. now that they have
buckled down to the business for
which the House was denied recess
by the President the question is.
what they can they do about it? In
auiry as to causes is regarded as
having resulted mainly in a syste-
matte game of passing the buck
handing on the responsibility from
one set of dealers or producers to
another, and even including the con-
sumers themselves on the charge OF
wastefulness and extravaganza.
The existence of certain natural,
inevitable and logical economic con-
ditions. growing
JAIL PRoFiTEERs out of the law