Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-08
FlDDLlNG WITH TRIPLES WHILE
A GREATER ISSUE WAITS
Mr. Bryan Thinks a "ory" Congress
More Important Than One Capable
OF Handling the Greatest Eco
nomle Question In the Ma.
fIon'e LIetaru

Will devote himself to urging the election of
Two thirds majority of 'dry" congress
men so that veto Of legislation to make
more crastic the regulations for enforcing
the prohibtory amendment may be over
ridden and so that President who does not
enforce the new laws may be impeached.
This program does credit to the moral
earnestness of Mr.. Bryan, but il exhibits his
inability to appreciate the most pressing
problem which will come before the new
Congress for solution.
The ratification Of the prohibitory amend
ment and the passage of the VolsteaG law
have satisfied most of the friends of tenn
pcrancc. They know that it will be q long
time before the Illicit dealing in liquor will
be suppressed and the rcst of us know that
the business of suppressing it belongs to the
executive rather than to the legislative
branch of the government, and that popular
opinion, which cannot be coerccd, will
gradually back the executive officers until
there will be few men so rash as to engage
in bootlegging in any form.
The people prescribed the remedy for the
liquor evil when they, through the state
Legislatures. ratified the constitutional
amendment. Congress administered the
The patient is under treatment and is doing
as well as could be expected under the cir
cumstances. The lawmakers can now turn
their attention to other things.
The liqror question has been settled in
principle, but nothing has been done to read
just the United States t" the revolutionary
economic conditions produced by the war.
tav 30 ,,fpn
all the economic wisdom of Congress il it is
to be effected without disaster.
The first step in the task will be the
drafting Of a new tariff law framed in the
light Of the new conditions. All our old
tariff ideas must be put in solution-thc
ideas of the extreme protectionists along with
those of the extreme free traders-because
the state of facts to which the new law must
apply is unlike any other which has hitherto
confronted us
Dr. John NJ. Macfarlane. of the Com
mcrcial Museum, reminded the public in m
interview printed on this page yesterday
that the United States is no longer debtor
nation and that the imports have been
increasing rapidly since the war until they
reached the enormous sum Of S5.23S 900 900
for the fiscal year ending on June 80.
4 tariff law suitable to debtor nation is
not suitable to a creditor nation. We have
lent billions to Europe and we are selling 70
Europe billions more than she IS selling to
us.
If the balance of trade continues to grow
at the present rate it will not be many years
before our debtors will find themselves uu-
able to pay us, and there will be crash.
Our debtors today find it difficult to pay for
what they buy. This is one of the reasons
why they are shipping their goods to us in
larger quantities than ever before.
The European nations which are slowly
rchabilitating their industries are forced 10
it by the pressure Of their creditors on this
side of the ocean as we'll as by their eager
ness to get back into the normal peace
conditions. They must ray for what they
buy from us and they must pay the interest
on what they have borrowed
The new tariff law must be framed in
such q way as to permit US to collect what
Is owed us abroad. We have never before
faced such condition
The Republican tariff laws have been
drafted with the sole purpose of protecting
American industries regardless Of the rest
of the world. Mckinley perceived the need
of a modification Of this policy as long ago
as 1901, when he made his famous last
speech at the Buffalo fair. He saw that the
time had come when we must consider the
markets of the world in which to sell the
surplus products Of our factories.
But today we must consider ways for
opening our own markets to foreign pro.
.F kIn
ybot il owes us. and we must also consider
the way TO do it without injuring our own
industries. which have grown up under the
protective system.
The Democratic tariff laws have been
framed on the theory that the protective
nrirciplc was pernicious and must be mti.
gated as much as possible in it's application.
We had n brilliant illustration Of what
bonnrps Under Democratic laws when soup
houses were opened in all the large cities
~ the country in the winter Of 1013-14
oftcr the Democratic Congress, under urging
rno,, President Wilson, passed law
intended to put the foreign producer on an
oouslity with the American producer in the
domestic markets
II the war had not intorvcncc to shut off
importatiOns from Europe the Democratic
noIicips would have worked themselves ont
50 perfectly that the country could not have
bccn persuadcd for another generation 10
trust its affairs to that party.
The solvency of the country is dependent
m the way Congress approaches this great
question. 4 mistaken law would close the
great factories in KensinGton, right here in
philadclphia and it would throw out of
cmployment hundreds Of thousands in the
manufacturing centprs on the Atlantic sen
hoard from New England westward ant,
southwark.
1t is unthinkablc that n Republican Con.
crass could so far forget it's duty to domestic
| Industries as to wreck them, 1t is equally
unthinkable that Republican Congress
would be so ignorant Of international trade
| az to pass n law which would make 1t
| impossible for our foreign debtors to pay
! what they owe rs.