The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-12-23
THE ARTFUL DODGER


ly acknowledged, that the Harding ad-
ministration, with all its obvious
weaknesses, is rendering at least one
conspicuous service to the country.
The policies of the administration are
proving to general satisfaction that
the Republican party is merely the
party of makeshifts and pretenses. Its
old claims to achievements and con-
structive power must vanish in the
contemplation of the faulty of it's
present course. The party cannot
stand the test of trial, and the Hard
ing administration is an excellent and
successful medium for forcing the
business Of this conclusion upon the
people of the United States.
There is no evidence of any skill or
foresight on the part Of anyone con-
nected with the administration, so far
as defining solutions of any question
are concerned. The Harding admins
tration advocates emergency" tariff
laws, temporary" revenue measures,
evanescent expedients, wherever they
promise to serve the needs of the
hour. They shun the suggestion OF
anything definite, substantial and per-
manent. Anything to get by" they
advise each other. and their council
Ors wag their heads wisely, filled with
the danger of attempting to do any
thing that might commit the party to
lasting program. "Do nothing to-
day that you can't undo tomorrow,
and say nothing that you can't retracI
next year." is the text of all their de-
examinations.
How different this is from the fam
boyant speeches of their orators in
every campaign! With thunderous
voice and impressive air, their spokes-
men on the hustings tell the over
awed audiences greeting them where
the fight is thiclSest that the Republi-
can party alone can be trusted for
great deeds. eve are the party of
Lincoln, of Grant, of Blaine, of Nc
Knley, and Of Roosevelt" they cry,
I'VE embody the brains, the patriot
ism, the intelligence and the capacity
Of the nation. We are the respectable
party, the party of business, the party
Of achievement" They never are very
specific in their assumptions of great
ness. They count upon the vehemence
of their deliverance to mislead the
voter, and many times have they sue
ceeded. But what has the Republican
party ever done in the last thirty
years, that represented fixed land
mark in American craftsmanship?
They have put nothing upon the sta
tutes, touching upon big questions,
except emergency measures"
Of course, this shocks the simon
pure Republicans who believe what
these noisy oracles have told them,
but it is true, nevertheless. Consider
the facts, consider two powerful il
lustrations:
There was no question that con-
cerned the people more than that in
vOlving our currency and banking
system. When did Republican Pres
ident or Republican Congress ever
meet this issue squarely? Currency
bills were introduced in Congress, pri-
or to Wilson's time, during every SEES
sion, but the Republicans would never
espouse any of them; they would de-
lay matters as long as they did, and
then they would refer the whole sub
ject to a committee or commission,
and hold interminable hearings. If
conditions became so bad that some
thing had to be done, they would pass
a temporary bill, like the Aldrich-
Vreeland bill, and then tell the people
that they would work out plan and
have it ready soon. But they never
reached the point of settlement. The
Federal Reserve Act, Democratic
achievement, disposed of the currency
question for all time, and the Repub-
lican party was relieved of the neces-
sity Of further equivocation,
The American merchant marine was
driven from the high seas by Repub-
lean legislation, restrictive and pro-
hibitive, in the interest, of a few New
England shipyards. Commercial bod
les plead with Republican statesmen
for half century in an effort to in
duce them to adopt some feasible plan
whereby the American flag might
again appear in the ports of the ,worlo
upon cargo-carrying vessels, filled
with American goods. Republican
committees, Republican commissions,
Republican investigators without num-
Der delved and dug into all the mazes
of the shipping problem, but they
could not reach q decision, and they
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