The Connecticut labor news., 1921-09-09
FAILURE TO REDEEM PLEDGES
 LEAVES BUSINESS UP IN AIR

bridge will be passed, tor Ii the rail roads can get through the next six
 months they should be able to gC along indefinitely unless, as many be
 Ilicve, the whole system Is damned by
 bad management and fOrcdOOmed tC |break down eventually.
 There is something fascinating Iabout the suggestion that Congress by increasing the appropriation for the relief Of agriculture and "Other Ipurposes," has really consummated ed the schemes of the railway managers.
 If anything like that is in the minds of those who engineered the deal, they should remove ii at once, for Ithe public Is not in temper to calmly submit to anything so brazen.
 There IS deep-seated and growing Resentment because the railroads |have already fared more than gener-
 ously at the hands of the govern Iment The public has accepted with
 the best grace possible the raids that
 have been lawfully authorized, but if sharp practice is resorted to there Twill surely be d howl that will be heard even in Washington, where vox Ipopuli as a rule speaks in whisper. l Public Should Watch.
 l For the time being MT. Meyers ! has already been stated, the public
 should not lose sight of the possibil- litics of this transaction. Wall street Ievidcntly had information of some ! thing on foot when 1t began 10 specu- Hate i'll rail shares and started them Upwards. The railroad lobbyists are 1 devllish sly, none too scrupulous,
 and their principals do want the
 money badly. They wouldn't stop at Ianything short of actual larceny to
 get it, and if little bit of lcgislate chicane will advance their case ii can
 be depended upon that they will re- sort to 1t.
 A hasty review Of what has been
 accomplished by Congress since it
 was called into session discloses that l 1t has managed to nuddle everything that it touched. Its emergency tariff
 bill, which is its most pretentious economic achievement, IS admittedly
 fake and a fraud. The resolution l declaring the state of war between 1 the United States and Germany at an
 end was plgeonholed as soon as the
 President had signed 1t, and d scpar- ate treaty of peace has been negoti-
 ated with Germany. That treaty, ac lCOrdlng to one close student Of inter
 national affairs, is purely and solely materIal1StlC in it's conception.
 When Congress met Mir. Harding
 informed the law-making branch ot
 the government that we arc com
 mitted to the repeal of the excess profits tax" and so the House, in it's revenue bill, has retained the excess profits tax i'll the year of all years in which the government should be making every sacrifice to revive busi- ness by relieving 1t of the load under which it IS staggering. If there is any justification whatsoever for the removal of excess profits, or if there is any sincerity in the contention of the proponents of that plan, they
 should be removed now If high taxes are responsible for the demor- es should not be continued until some indefinite day in the future
 Help For Poor Rich
 MT, Harding told Congress that "the country does not expect and will not approve a shifting of burdens"
 so the House proceeds to help the ex- l CeSS1Vely rich at the expense Of eV- erybody else. He also declared that 1t was the immediate responsibility of Congress to enact new tariff legisla- tion so the tariff bill is somewhere in a pigeonhole in the headquarters of the Senate finance committee and the committee is making tariff of it's
 own. The revenue bill, and the Sen ate committee Is expected to make extensive revisions. The result is that with tWO-thirds of the year al ready gone nobody knows what the government will take from him next year in taxes, and nobody can know for some months to come.
 MT. Mondell the other day "pointed
 with pride'' to legislative accomplish ments, but the fact stands out boldly
 that in practically every essential par tiCular Congress has failed miserably
 to realize the expectations of the pub lie. 1t has frlttered away it's time on
 non essentials, and when it has had
 before it a really constructive bill 1t
 has been interested only in seeing
 that as few of its benefits as possible
 be conferred upon the people.
 The muddlc in which the Sixty
 seventh Congress finds itself, and in |cidentally in which the country finds
 itself, is largely the muddIe of
 feeble and infirm leadership The so- called leaders of the House and Sen
 ate are without influence to inter
 vene except under compulsion. He is more interested in harmony than in anything else, and lodging it's real responsibilities is one of the few
 things on which the majority in Con-
 gross can agree.
 One might think that the economic
 situation in the United States with more than 6,ooo,ooO men out of work, IS one which might appeal 10 the Sen ate and House and be an incentive to action. The only form the appeal takes, however, is an indictment to Congress to quit work, too, and join the rest of the unemployed, the diff ference being that Senators and Rep lrescntatives draw pay for loafng. When the session reconvenes there will be jam that will preclude de llbcratc attention to important meas ures. The special session will run into the regular session, and the reg ular session will run on interminably Before one set of problems are meas Irably solved, or even considered, an entirely new set will have arisen. Congress seems not to have thought of that.
 Situation Desperate
 There are multiplying evidences that the situation throughout the country is actually becoming desper- ate. The newspapers daily fill their columns with pessimistic outgivings as to the future. The more intelli-
 gent of business leaders do not be-