Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1921-12-09
Says Need OF Nation Is Democratic
Party.

Cordell Hull Of Tennessee, formerly an
economic authority in the House of Rep
resentatives and now Chairman of the
National Democratic Committee, is plan
ming an intensive campaign of education
among the voters especially the business
men. that they really need the Demo-
cratic party.
Mr.. Hull is proceeding on the theory
that the accumulation of war irritations
that beset the Democratic party in the
last national campaign is fast wearing
away, and that as it wears away, and the
intelligent voters begin dispassionately to
weigh the records and capacities of the
two major parties. they must inevitably
turn TO the Democracy.
THE voters who think carefully and
analytically of the political events of the
last decade will soon see" Chairman Hull
said, that it is not an accident that the
Republican party has failed to meet the
fiscal needs of the country. | am not
speaking now Of the promises that were
given TO every disconnected element. What
am speaking of is the failure Of the Re-
publican party, conceded by everyone now
without regard to party, to reorganize the
Governments taxation system.
This failure is not an accident. II is
the logical fruition of the facts. The Re-
publicans do not know how to reorganize
the Governments fiscal system. They
have not got the men for il, the training
for It.
III you will stop minute to think you
will see that the Republicans had no train
ing in internal revenue legislation up to
Mr.. Wilson's first election they had no
responsibility and no training during the
first six years of Mr.. Wilson's service. and,
consequently, when they came into power
in 1918 and found situation in which the
wsr had made it necessary to gather great
sums for internal revenue situation in
which their old standby. the tariff. was
drop in the bucket for revenue purposes
they simply did not know what to do.
IAN that they could do was to tinker
with this existing tax. and then with that
existing tax. backing and filling, changing
their minds, overturning the actions of their
committees supposed to be composed Of
their experts, and finally producing meas
ure that confessedly is sad makeshift.
Underlying ALL Of course. was the effort
Of certain elements to take care of the
special few,
The same thing is demonstrated from
another angle. The common, everyday
experience of every man tells him that
when there is too much of commodity in
his own little community. the price of it
says miserably; when there is too little of il
the price swings up. When this country
gets, as it has got. TO the point where il
produces too much for its own consump-
ton. il must send abroad, or the prices Of
its products will sag miserably. Any man
Of ordinary intelligence must see that this
means that the prosperity Of the United
States depends upon its fcreign commerce
But what did the Republicans dor
when Mr.. Harding became President,
they undertook to write. under the leader
ship Of Mr.. Fordney. and with the approval
Of President Harding. an old-time Repub-
lican, hieh-wall, protective tariff, designed
to keep every thing out.
And. of course. after they had hlindly
tinkered away for months, getting deeper
into trouble every day, wasting months of
the time Of the Congress which they told
the people would work great reforms, they
had to confess that they had tied them
selves up beyond all hope Of extrioation,
make the utterly humilatine acknowledge
ment that their months Of tinkering were
useless, and drop the whole business, with
a promise that they would start all over
again later on.
1T is calamity that the Democratic
plans for reconstruction were not carried
out. II we had entered into a close CO.
operation with the other nations of the
world we would have had disarmament
long ago. We would have saved $1,000
900 by this time We would have helped
keep the world on its feet. too and would
have saved our foreign trade. We would
have had scientific revision Of the wal
revenue legislation. necessarily unfit fol-
peace time. We would have had customs
adjusted sensihly. We would have had
the inheritance tax readjusted to yield
much more and We would have had tn,
Income Tax laws revamped to meet tn,
new need and TO do away with war taxes