Evening star., 1921-09-25
Pleads for an Opportunity
For Competency to Function

him honestly to make shoes. A
free democracy. where everybody
does everything and everybody
settles everything. cannot endure.
The real question which confronts
a people from day to day liz not
Shall they rule?" but Shall the
best Of the best or the best OF the
worst ruler" Russian bolshevism
has disclosed that however much
you may pretend to enlarge the
liberties of a people. they are, new
mere enlargement Of liberty is a
curse, IL it shall take away from
the people competency and con-
science and substitute in their
stead incompetency and tyranny.
The term "aristocrat" is distaste-
full to the American. 1t implies to
his mind a man who by trick or
device has attained unto power
and thrives through privilege. II
would be a good thing for us to
approach the subject of the aris-
tocrat with an open mind. He
exists whether we want him or
not. He is the man who guides
and controls. Whether you call
Judge Gary and Mr.. Gompers
democrats or aristocrats ! do not
care. In all essentials they are
the aristocrats Of their different
views of economic life. l know
that as individuals they count as
but one each in the life Of Amer
lea, but in their power and ca
pacity to mold the thoughts and
move the actions of their fellow
men they are aristocrats. They
represent that minority which al
ways rules and always will rule
under any and every form of gov
ernment. The advantage of a
democracy consist in the fact that
we can put either of them or both
under a microscope: that they do
not rule by divine right: that they
have neither arms nor armies to
keep them in power; that we can
judge of their rule by the effect
it has upon the common veal, and
that we have IL within our power
to upset them il we do not like
them, always remembering. how
ever. that when we upset them we
shall of necessity put others in
their places.
x x
Whether what a man owes or
what is due him causes him the
greater worry is questionable. Just
now popular concern is about
equally divided between what We
owe as nation and what the allied
powers owe US. Part of the time
we are gasping for breath in our
effort to find the right methods of
taxation to pay our Indebtedness
and running expenses. The rest of
the time We are sweating blood in
endeavoring to ascertain whether
the allies should pay US their debt,
whether, in justice to American
business, We can afford to let them
pay their debt in the only way in
which they can pay it-namely, in
commodities-or whether the good
Of the whole world in general. and
of America in particular. may not
be subserved by an extension Of
time.
Many shoemakers who have no
more knowledge of international
finance than I have have concluded
to take charge of this momentous
question. and are bitterly opposed
to the comforting of any discretion
on the Secretary of the Treasury.
It may be that 1t is advisable to
have the Congress Ak hard and
fast rules by which the adjustment
aff faS i've cha q
made. But unless l obtain further
light than / now possess l am not
so convinced. Secretary Mellon
does not hold his position by any
thing that I have done In his be-
half. If 1 could I would put him
out of office and put some democrat
in his place. I am not taking up
cudgels in defense Of the Secretary.
I am Just entering plea for au-
some power. My plea Is merely a
re-echoing of old Horace's advice
to let the shoemaker stick to his
last.
The sorriest evidence of the in
adyisability of partisanship con-
sists in that warping of the mind
to believe that nothing good can
come from the opposite party. The
question of foreign Indebtedness
will be handled by the republican
administration. 1t will be settled
either by hard and fast rules made
by partisans who do not have
much more financial sense than I
have or by the Secretary Of the
Treasury, who has certainly dis
closed in his business life that he
knows a dollar when he sees one.
Although he Is not Of my political
faith. 1 have not yet reached the
point where I can even dream Of
his being a traitor to the best in
terests Of his and my country.
Because of his training and ex-
perience, prefer a settlement that
he shall make to one authorised to
be made by hard and fast rules
which may not at all be applicable
to the circumstances when the
time of adjustment comes.
Copyright. 1921. by Thomas B. Marshall.)