The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-03
GENERAL DAWES LOOMS OVER ALL
 CABINET OFFICERS
Power of Lodge and MondeII Has Been Exhausted and
 They Are Helpless { and Hopeless
By HUGH w. ROBERTS Washington Bureau The ARe-Herald
 800 Davidson Building

ship in the House and Senate is ram pant. The power of Senator Lodge and Representative Mondell has been ex- hausted. They are helpless if not hopeless.
 At the other end of the avenue, Gen. Charles G. Dawes is in supreme command. He is head and shoulders above any officer of the cabinet. He has demanded and received authority to enter unchallenged the holiest precincts, and to go over the heads of any and all departments ad libitum.
 This state of affairs is entirely without precedent. Rock-ribbed re- publican newspapers are bitter in complaint, and the staid Boston Transcript has promised. in a series of trenchant editorials, that the ma jority in both houses, termed by lead CTS "unwieldy," will be reduced as soon as the people have an opportu- nifty to express themselves.
 Borah the Terrible
 The republican in Congress with power is Senator Borah, self admitted to be independent, irreconcilable jconoclastic In the House, Represen- tative James R. Mann of Illinois could easily be supreme were his health good, and were he able to re- main permanently on the floor. By virtue of the headless condition, { Representative Porter, chairman or the foreign relations committee, has forged to the front. He outpointed Senator Knox regarding the peace resolution. but went into partial oblivion and total eclipse when he at temped to sidetrack the Borah dis armament resolution.
 The administration forces rode headlong to their ruin when they at temped to put across the Knox peace resolution, originally framed as rebuke for former President Will son and a political issue. The House insisted on the Porter resolution, and Congress finally accepted a compro- mise between the two, which is re- garded as impotent.
 Downfall of Lodge
 But their total destruction was scored when they stood like a wall against the Borah amendment In Senator Lodges committe, they man. aged to kill it." When it was resur- rected by Senator Borah on the floor. they brought word from the White House that President Harding op- posed it. But Borah, at the hend CT the other republican insurgents stood his ground. Senator Underwood rushed the entire democratic strength to his support. Senator Lodge, there- upon, surrendered in the belief that the amendment could be StranSieo in the House.
 The great obstacle faced by the administration forces in the House was a phalanx composed of more than 100 independent republicans, and the entire democratic personnel. So strong was this phalanx that MT. Porter after careful consideration deemed It unwise to risk his substitute amend ment. It died a-borning, therefore. and the conferees between the House and, Senate had nothing before them but the Borah proposition. At the end of the day, President Harding sent word to Floor Leader Mondell to withdraw his forces--and this was done.
 Power of Debtors
 The hoplelessness of the situation Is illustrated both by the administra- tion's policy respecting the $lO,0OO,- 100000 owed by Europe to the United States, and respecting the pending Eordney tariff bill. Secretary Mellon has informed Congress that were the United States to force Europe to pay its obligations, the United States would be ruined because Europe, even if it paid interest, could not pur- chase American goods. At the same time. the United States, absolutely dependent on the ability and willing ness of Europe to buy, prepares to raise a tariff wall which will deny Europe the right to sell to the United States It Is an axiom that the nation which cannot sell cannot buy.
 cti n dilenirna. The republican leaders of the Senate would postpone the enact ment of a tariff bill They realize that the condition of the countries of the world is not sufficiently stable to permit the United States to in- stitute a new and permanent tarirf policy-that values are so far from , being fixed that their change IS al most hourly. And yet the rank ana file drives the leaders, and late in October--scarcely before-the ta- riff bill will be enacted.
 Democrats in Clover
 Tn the Senate, the administration pr Lodge forces proceed in mortal terror of Borah. The situation is ex- ceedingly happy for the democrats In any crucial test, they can line up with Borah and his faction and put the Lodge crew on the run-for that crew. as demonstrated in the dis
 
 armament fight, perfers to run rather than go down fighting principle.
 In the House. an identical state of affairs would exist were the insur- gents headed by man as strong. as -honest and as able in oratory as Borah. While Lancelot is missing, the insurgents are feeling thelr strength. The 100 newly elected re- publicans. after issuing a statement that they were tired of a do-nothing' House, and the intricate tangle of Legislation as result of red tape, met in caucus this week, and ordered Lead CT Mondell to appear before them. This he did. He promised the new members recognition and applied x soft soap in copious quantities. There were eloquent expressions of com plaint and classification, of which Mondell is said to have taken ter Sified cognizance.
 The Supreme Boss
 In administrative circles Gen. #Aral Dawes has taken charge. He is sfn supreme command. He has inform-