The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-01-24

of change in government here has cost the
American peoples great sum of money
In congress, the leaders will admit that
they never had any real Intention .of ac-l
comprising anything in this session. They
talk a great deal about ''Taving the way
Tor the work of the next Session of con-
gress but ii the tariff question Is a fair eX-i
ample. the whole thing has hardly been
scratched on the surface. Most OF the III
teIests affected haven't even thought it
worth while TO send representatives here
TO argue their case, as the word has been
passed along that there will be nothing
important done until the mex session of
congress.
There have appeared It's far, however,
several constructive tendencies which were.
not the deliberate result of Republican
policy but the direct influence If such
strong men as Borah and johnson. The
movement for disarmament begun by Sen
atOr BOrah has had a psychological effect
that cannot be exaggerated. The retrench-
ment spirit is usually hard to lnStlll. Talk
of economy doesn't always get action but
when So vital 4 thing as the United States
army can be cut down at one fell swoop
within such short time after the Repub-
hcans were blaming the Democrats for
their failure to prepare for the last war,
the outsider can well make up his mind
that the demand Of the country Tor lowe1
taxation, and Il reduced budget Is far
more potent here than political pnde OF
consistency. Men are reversing them
selves every day in congress IN order to
curry favor with their constituents. Sen
ator Borah is an unusually capable clti-
zen, who senses waves of popular sentl-
ment as fast if not faster than anybody III
! the senate and when he grabbed the dis
armament question and boldly took the
| leadership i'm it, many of his colleagues had
i to admit that he was striking a popular
! chord.
OF course. congress is So mwicldy and
so clumsy in its methods that there Is al
WAYS DANCE Of going to extremes, ald 1t
/ took very little persuasion to make the
United States senate reverse itself after
having cut the army to 600 men But
what has happened III the case OF the ar
nv is not circumstance to what viii. be
proposed when the naval appropriations
are ND for discussion.
1t is known that President-elect Hard
ing is worried about the situation. lie
told members of congress who called on
him recently that he believed it would he
wiser for the United States to MAINTAIN
her present navy and make every effort e.
reach quickly an international agfeemtht
on reduction of ornaments so that WheN
anv cessation OF building actually Is
agreed upon, il will be safe to stop au-
thOrizinr any more money. The trouble
is that a large sum has already been spent
on ships whose keels were LAID down III
past wears. 50 congress may be IN the DO
sitinn of iunling many vessels that arc
half built and thus losing all the money
previously pre- spent. or else reducing, the ma
w without knowing exactly what the
/ other powers intend to do. Some kind o,
naval appropriation bill must be passed
| before the fiscal year ends next J me, but
| in view of the tangle over disarmament
| il is unlikely that anything will be done
during the present session Of congress,
Furthermore if there is chance Of get
ting some kind of an understanding about
| naval disarmament before next july, 1T
will affect the size Of the tax budget N
inc and the government really hasn't been
functioning on vital questions since the
| neople voted for change. two and han
| months ago.