The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-12-07
SAY FINANCES
WILL Be BIG
VOTE FACTOR
Members of Congress Look at
Foreign Debts from Political
View - Reserve System is
Blamed.
keep EYE ON VOTERS
By MARK SULLIVAN

Harding talks foreign debts in terms !
Of craftsmanship. Secretary Mellon, |
OF the treasury department, talks for |
eign debts in terms of what is good
business. But the members of con !
greSS talk foreign debts in terms Of /
practical politics. They face re-elec- !
tion or rejection in primaries and
elections. which begin less than three
months from now, and for which. in
many cases, the campaigns are under
way
Furthermore these congressman are !
Just back from vacations which they
spent in close contact with the vOt-
ers on whom they depend for their
political lives. The testimony Of
these congressman is universally to
the effect that what the voters are
thinking about, talking about and
raising loud cries about is their indi-
vidual business condition. As one
congressman expressed it, the voters
are primarily concerned about their
farms and their jobs how to meet the
tnstallment on the mortgage, how to
pay or compromise the rent, how to
meet the interest.
The picture which one Republican
national committeeman painted verb
ally in a quiet. calm and detached
voice about his own community, which
is normally a prosperous Republican
farming section west of the Mssis
sippi was pretty gloomy.
Prices Are Low
He said the farmers cannot sell
their corn or cattle for anything near
as much as they cost to produce them,
or, indeed at any price Many farm
ers who are buying their farms on
the installment plan are throwing up
their contracts. Many farmers are in
bankruptcy and others would be, ex-
cept that, as the local lawyers express
it, the unfortunates haven't enough
money to pay court costs and fees.
A considerable number of farmers,
his story went on. are passing from
the status of owners to that of renters,
and renters are passing to the status
Of hired men. and that in a period
when there is little or no demand for
hired mon. The local banks are so
loaded with paper taken at the high
prices of one or two years ago, that
they cannot give any help in the pres
ent distress. In fact many of the
hanks would be in a hard way if com
PEELED to liquidate. The reaction Of
these conditions on local merchants
and other lines of industry need not
be related
No Mind to Reason
This is the picture which. in vary
ing degrees. the congressman have
brought back from many of those
farming communities which form the
balance of political power in this
country. Under such conditions. need
anyone ask what will be the reaction
0f these voters to a proposal to for
give, or compromise or postpone the
debts owed US from abroad? We need
not, for the moment consider what
these voters ought to feel. or what
they might feel. if they understood the
intriCaCies of international trade and
exchange.
We need not deplOre the economic
unreasOn which fails TO estimate the
relation between farming conditions
n South Dakota, on the one hand,
and on the other hand. the present
state of Germany, due to being called
on to pay more reparatiOnS than she
is able 10 pay. together with the state
Of France. depending on the eNpecta-
ton Of more reparatiOnS than she can
possibly collect, and finally. of the
United States, expecting France or
both on the debts they owe us.
Cannot Postpone Debts.
The net of it all is that the initial
response of the voters to any move
sealing down or even postpOning these
debts is going to be most hostile.
Some of the returned congressman say
The local banks and a few of the local
business men are prepared 10 be toll
Grant Of any program the administr&-
ion may formulate about these debts ;
but this is in contrast with, rather
than typical of. the voters as a whole.
If any program of postpOncment or
compromise is desirable, or if it Is
contemplated, the initial step must be
a campaign of education which shall
include not only these debts but the
whole field of economics and finance
There can be little doubt that these
are fields in which the big American
political issues are going to arise, no.
only in the campaign of next year
but in the campaigns of several years
% come We are going to have some
thing like duplicates of the Bryan free
silver campaign and other campaigns
of thirty to fifty years ago, which
reyolved around currency, banking
and economies.
r FederaI reserve issue
Many of the returned congressman
say that one certain issue of the cam
paign is going to be the federal re
serve board, because borrowers o!
money, who are now bitterly squeezed
blame the federal reserve board fOl
the policy of deflation. which, the5
think, brought about their troubles
OF course this blame is almost wholly
unjust. OF course also. many loca
bankers in pressing their borrowers Il
pay. or in refusing further accOmoda
tions, passed the buck" to the fedora
reserve board at safely distant Wash
ington.
1t is going TO be necessary for en-
tghtened persons 10 defend the fed
eraI reserve board as an institution
which in the last seven years hG,
saved the country from troubles com
pared to which our present woes are
insignificant. There may be reason
able debate about the boards juds
ment as to the precise month in whict
Continued on Page Twelve)