The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1920-09-17
The Candidates.

struction as follows:
Wipe cut executive orders ant
laws which serve only to confuse ant
darken.
2-Readjust the tariff.
9-Readjust internal taxation, es
pecially the excess profits tax.
END bureaucratic control ant
futile experimenting.
Establish closer cooperation
between Government and business by
protecting business at homo and up.
building it abroad.
6-Buile up the merchant marina
7-Inaugurate a national budget
S-Restore the postal system tc
efficiency.
9-Exteld the merit system in the
choice and promotion of Federal en-
p:oyees.
1O-Lop off useless jobs, while re-
warding efficiency.
11-Eliminate. department dupli-
cation ard group functions now scat
to. ed.
s. 12-Consultaticn of experts for
administrative improvement.
With one or two exceptions all of
this is very appealing to I'll lovers of
political reform. But for the broken
Pledges of many predecesst RS it
would look like finding the end of
the political rainbow.
The exceptions, of course, are to
be expected. One is to construct a
protective tariff, tie other to reduce
the excess profits tax. The latter is
not material. The excess profits tax
has been passed on from the capital
list to the consumer, two or three
times over.
n We find, however, from the SEN
ator's record, and . mans record is
usually more reliable than his
pledges, that he has not be3n travel
ing in the direction of political re-
form. Here is brief statement TAX
el from The Congressional record:
Senator Harding has neither in
troduced nor championed even one
big constructive measure.
He was absent CT lodged 1163 roll
calls and quorum calls.
All of the bills and resolutions he
introduced were local or private in
ahot al ~
AS follower, politically and &C.
onomically, he stood with his party
bosses-Pe nrose, Smoot and Lodge,
who were reactionaries instead of re-
formers
In all matters of spoils and organ
ization he was with the Old Guard.
On the prohibition issue he is
''wet," having voted for the liquor
interests 80 times to two against! He
voted for the eighteenth amendment,
but registered his vote against the
bill to provide for prohibition in the
District of Columbia and also in the
Philippines.
He voted several times for the
vicious Shields water power bill, sur
rendering to corporate power unlim-
tied or unrestricted lease rights.
He opposed publicity of profiteer-
ing figures.
He favored secret sessions of the
Senate
He opposed Philippine independ-
ence.
He supported the League of Ma
tions Covenant with the Lodge res
ervations. The question of ratifica-
ton with the Lodge reservations,
first came to vote on November 10,
1919 (C.R., 1885,. Harding voted
yea. The second attempt at ratifica-
ton, with the Lodge reservations,
was on March 49,. 1920 GER, 4915).
This time, Harding did not vote. He
is therefore known as mild reserva-
ZIONIST of the Lodge kind.
We. have on the other hand the
record in Congress of Governor Cox,
the Democratic candidate for Prei-
dent. He has in four years near
ly nine hundred private pen
sion bills to his credit Some of these
were to remove the charge of deser-
tion and all were OF such a charac-
ter as to be barred from the regular
Pension Bureau. He voted for a
number of progressive measures in
contradistinctioH to Senator Hard
ing, such as the bill to disallow the
President twenty-five thousand dol
lars year travelling expenses.
Now, the Democratic candidate is
defending the League of Nations
covenant without limitation, and he
is therefore some steps ahead of Mr..
Harding. He has a record of pro-
gressive legislation very small but
better than none) to go with the
League of Nations.
Why can't Mr.. Cox pledge with q
great deal more assurance q general
camyaign of political reform.
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