The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-06-28

! expenditures. l. He rev N64dJlOIio us
close the fact that the meeting at
/ Chicago was not a convention but an
auction. The highest bidder how
ever did not get the prize. The pub
ilicity which overlook the proceedings
frustrated the initial purpose. The
Chicago convention left the Democratic
party as the sole custodian of the
honor of the country"
Peace achievements Of the Demo
cratic party, he asserted, freed the
farmer from the deadening effects of
usurious financial control Labor was
given its Magma Charta Of liberty.
Business and finance were released
from the thrall Of uncertainty and
hazard"
THE income tax law, he said, re
lieved our law OF the reproach of
being uniustly burdensome to the poor
The extrayagances and inequties Of
the tariff system were removed and a
non-partisan tariff commission Great
ed. Pan-Americanism was encouraged
and the bread thus cast upon the wa
.ters came back to us many fold
Alaska was opened to commerce and
development Dollar diplomacy was
destroyed A corrupt lobby was driy-
en- from the national capitol. An eff
iectiye Seamans Act was adopted
1 The federal trade commission was
created. Child labor legislation was
enacted The Parcel Post and the
Rural Free Delivery were developed.
A good roads bill and a rural credits
act were passed A secretary Of labor
was given a seat in the cabinet of the
president Eight hour laws were adopt
cd. The Clayton Amendment 10 the
Sherman antitrust act was passed,
freeing American labor and taking it
from the list of commodities The
Smith-Leyer bill for the improvement
OF agricultural conditions was passed.
A corrupt practices act was adopted.
A well considered warehouse act was
passed Federal employment bureaus
were created. Farm loan banks, pos
tai savings banks and the federal re
serve system were established.
The federal reserve system, passed
over the opp0s ton of the leaders Of
the republican party. enabled America
) to withstand the strain Of war with
ont shock or panic and ultimately made
iour country the greatest creditor ma
tion in the world
Turning to the record Of the Rep
Iublican congress since 1915 Mr.. Cum
innings said it was barren of achieve
ment. shameless in waste of time and
money and without parallel for its in
. Completeness, failures and repudy-
tons
? President Wilson's two appeals be-
fore congress for legislation dealing
with profiteering, reduction of taxa
= tion, aid for soldiers and laws to i'm
: prove relations of capital aud labor
We're ignored. he declared and after
; q year of sterile debate our country
3 has neither peace nor reconstruction '
; He dewitt particularly on attacks
upon the President Malice followed
] him to the peace table. he said, and
p wide spread propaganda made it inn
peratiye when he returned from Paris
, to make a struggle for that which
! had been won at incalculable cost
: This meant wreck of health, sickness
for months on a bed of pain; and
worse, the sickness of heart which
j comes from the knowledge that politi
, cal adversaries are savagely destroy
ing not merely the work OF mems hands
. but the worlds hope of settled peace
, This was the afflictiOn-this the
p cwcifiXion
Mr. Cummings continued that in one
E sense "it is quite immaterial what peo
} pie say about the president Nothing
} we can say can add or detract from
r the fame that will flow down the un
ending channels of history
lie cited the Republican and Pro
gressive platforms of 1916 as part oI
+ the record placing this country in ia
p vor Of the league of nations.
l "The Republican platform contain.
] n vague promise to establish another
or a different form of association he
e said. There is no mental dishonesty
a more transparent than that which ex
q presses fealty to league of nation
Nllllt NpUO0liS iut OlllN AtdHut Nud
r exists or is ever apt to exist
= "What nations stand outside? Re
volutionary Mexico, Bolshevist Russia
e unspeakable Turkey and the United
. States.
}. 1T is not yet too late. Let us stanC
4 with the forces of civilization The
!. choice is plain, 1t is between tn,
y Democratic party's support Of tn,
f league of nations, with its program
of peace, disarmament and world fra
e ternity, and the Republican party
e platform OF reputation, provncialism
:. militausm and world chaos"
a 1t is not reservations that the presi
}. dent stands against, said Mr. Cum
j. mings, but notification. He told how
e President Wilson had published tn,
Y tentative text of the league covenan
.. widely in 1919, asking for criticism
f and receiving suggestions from Taft
/. Hughes and others that were actually
+ incorporated into the revised draft o
the League
l. Senator Lodge, he said refused tt
g offer constructive amendments at an!
@ time 80 intolerant was his attitud,
IS that he would not even consider
o compromise proposed by former Presi
r dent Taft of his own party and whicl
/. was assured of support of 40 Democra
tic senator's Senator Lodge knew tina
o he controlled the senate and that in hi
/, own time and way he would destroy tn
v treaty