The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-27

 | his political allies, the Germans and Irish in America. would insist that he l do in return for their support. Hard 1 ing cannot take the part of Germany as against France. and Harding cannot war against England because of the | plight of Ireland.
 And then comes the tariff bill. Politi- l cally, the west and east are allied. Ir | respect to the tariff the south and the | west are more closely associated. The New England school insists that a | tariff as demanded by the western school would put the factories of New England out of business. The western school declares that if the tariff de- manded by the New England school be enacted, it would increase the cost of living to the consumer to such a point that he could not stand it.
 Some members of the western school will be, flogged into line by the party bosses, but some of them will not. In course of this struggle it is anticipated that Johnson and Borah and Kenyon and Norris. all of whom have pro- fessed a friendship for the farmer, the poor man, the consumer of the coun- try, will have much of a pertinent and impertinent nature to say.
 FEAR AND TREMBLING
 There seems to be good reason, therefore, for Harding to approach the throne" on trembling knees, and in- sfst that it be no other than George Washington's Bibble that he kisses in taking the oath of office. And like wise. there seems to be reason for the democrats hopefulness that some of these days" they will be returned to power.
 The republican majority of the House will caucus Monday night and in that caucus, will thresh out a prob lem, which will of necessity have strong bearing on the administration of MT. Harding.
 Shall in the name of efficiency or economy, all appropriations be recom- mended by single committee of 35 members, and shall 400 members by the adoption of that programme, voluntarily immolate themselves as individuals of influence and powerg'
 FACTIONS EVEN
 That is the great ques sti o h. The rival factions in the republican camp are of almost identical strength. The 80 new members could easily con- tro1 the situation. There is a great drive against these so new members. What the result will be cannot be foretold. although the idea does pre-
 
 will be continued.
 As has been previously pointed out in this correspondence, the 400 who voted into positions of practical omni- potence 35 members of the House have since so doing, obviously regretted their action. In the beginning they were beguil0d by the plea for eff cheney. And then 1t dawned upon them that they were no longer men of in- fluence. They longed for the old power which they yielded. Immediately thereafter evidence of rebellion tiis- played itself.
 The situation has become so serious that Representative Mondell, the re- publican leader of the House and Rep resentative Goode of Iowa. chairman of the all-powerful committee of 35, have repeatedly through necessity ap- pealed to the members to treat the new committee with at least the re- spect they formerly regarded the old committees.
 MONDAY FEATURE
 Such appeals however were often in vain. It then became evident that the two factions would be compelled to go to the mat and fight the thing out to finish. This fight will be a feature of the Monday programme.
 III tuc OlQ QdyS edCH committee or the House reported bills carrying ap- propriations providing for the special subjects given to the committee for consideration. Under the existing or der of things the old committees rec ommend appropriations to the one committee. These recommendations have come to be nothing more than petitions, and it is contended that too often they were regarded with that ar- rogance which follows delegation of authority to few individuals
 It became necessary, of course, for the one committee to divide itself in- to many subcommittees of very limited membership. Thus it has repeatedly happened that as few as three or five men have appropriated millions for the army or the navy or the depart .ment of state. Or the agricultural de- velopment of the entire country. Inas- much as the chairmen of the subcom- mittees were the conmpelling forces. it was easy ito picture a Koyernment by one man instead of representative men.
 TWO ARGUMENTS
 There are two arguments. The one IS that few men appropriating for Congress can obtain birds eye view Of the situation, and thus proceed in oSSoIuducc WilH the TuieS or effiCfencv- The other is that a big problem. con sfdered by 20 men engaged in consid- ering no other problem, will. on an average, be more nearly perfectly solved than If it is considered by two or three men engaged in solving sev- efal other equally important problema
 Chairman Goode quotes from many preceding chaifmen of the appropria- tions committee to sustain his conten. tion that real economy in appropria- tions cannot be effected unless all ap- propriation bills originate in a single committees" He adds: NO one fam liar with the working of Conxress. and especially the committees Of Con gress. seriously questions this conten- ton. It Is the almost unanimous yer- dict of the men who have. studied the problem and who have arrived at conclusion unaffected by their position in the House or on a committee of the House"
 On the result of the struggle in the republican caucus Monday night will depend the budget legislatfcn. under which all subsequent sxpenditures would be guided by the tabulated h. come of the government. The new President. 1t is said, is hopeful that budget bill can be enacted the first 10 days of his administration. The Dutch admiral. De Witt. invented <I ~r~- I~-A