Evening star., 1922-11-21
Pass 1t and Save
$2O,0OO,OOO, He
Says in Plea.
WRECK OF FLEET
SEEN IN DEFEAT
Aware of Hostility With
in Own Party to His
Program.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
President Harding today placed
squarely before Congress an ultima
tum-either pass the bill salvaging,
the American merchant fleet from
further loss or take the responsibility
Of a destructive alternative. The
message of the President is fraught
with the most dangerous consequences
to the republican party. The party
must stand by its leader or wreck the
itself.
Chooses to Fight.
Mr.. Harding is fully aware of the
hostility of members of the republican
party from the middle west to the ship
subsidy program. Courageously he has
chosen to fight. And the bombardment
of facts which the President has
started will not end with a mere
message. 1t will be followed by per-
sonal conferences in a heart-to-heart
appeal to stand by the President, by
the administration and by the principle
of a united republican party. Insur-
| gents are. are HuINeT-
Gus. But against them all the Presi-
dent arrays the facts.
Attacks the Name "Subsidy."
Discreetly Mr.. Harding attacks the
weakness of the situation. the name
of the legislation, ship subsidy" He
tries to convert this weakness, due to
prejudice. into a point of strength. He
argues that government appropria-
tions for good roads are a subsidy. the
War Finance Corporation granted
subsidies. the money spent for inland
waterway improvement Is a subsidy,
and so on with dozens of other ex-
penditures which appear to benefit a
class, but on behalf of which it is
claimed that ultimately the whole
country benefits.
Mr.. Harding, it is conceded in
Washington.made out in his message
the strongest case for his bill that
might have been made. He epito-
mized and emphasized all the argu-
ments which for nearly a year have
enveloped the pfOjeet of. government
aid to shipping. But the keynote
which will be taken up by his party
associates was the idea of reducing
government expenditures-the idea Of
economy rather than further spend
ing
Economy Of S2o.O0O.O0O.
The President contends that the
government is spending fifty millions
ia year and wearing out its own ships
He proposed by the new legislation
that the government spend not more
than thirty millions, an economy of
twenty millions. To overcome that
argument the opponents of the bill
must show an alternative equally as
permitted the shipping situation to
drift ever since the war. Under
Chairman Lasker's guidance opera
tions have become more efficient and
business like, but even Mr.. Lasker in
siSts that as a business proposition
more money will have to be spent in
the long run II the bill isn't passed
than If it is.
Pre-War Prejudice.
The administrators strength in
this fight lies in the fact that the
opponents of the bill have revived a
pre-war prejudice against the prin-
ciple of subsidy without offering any
concrete program to deal with the
fleet, which was inherited from the
war. The case against subsidy is
built largely on the idea that it will
cost the government more money and
the farmer communities of the west
are represented as believing money
should be spent to help them-they
want a subsidy in the form of rural
credit arrangements. Mr.. Harding
must reckon with that sentiment and
the chances are he will come to an
understanding with the farm element
af hof n %
December session of Congress.
Biggest Fight Of Career.
For the moment the President is
making the biggest fight of his politi-
cal career. He feels his arguments
and position are Invincible. for the re-
sponsibility of Congress will be def
initely fixed If the bill isn't passed.
Will the republican party in the pres
ent Congress, where the majority is
more than comfortable, turn the
President down? A group of insur-
gents are already defying the party
leader, but they haven't the votes to
defeat the bill if the regulars stick
together. 1t has looked dark for the
merchant marine bill until this week.
Mr.. Harding hadn't put on the heavy
artlllery-a square statement OF the
issues involved and his readiness to
fight for those issues.
A special rule will have to be in
voked to limit debate in the House
and push it through.
Confident I'm House.
The administration is confident it
can win in the House. Once the fight
is won in the lower branch of Com
gress the prospects of passage in
the Senate will be brighter. The psy-
Geological effect of a victory by Presi-
dent Harding on so complex a sub
ject as ship subsidy and one SO full
of hostile phases would be beneficial
to the chief executive. 1t would help
him in other tasks. He is, therefore,
fighting not merely for government
laid to merchant shipping-the first
constructive measure of Importance
in this administrationSbut fighting
for his leadership of the republican
party.
Copyright, 1927
N00I lnEc III Of ciCi Ann