The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-07-05

tricts. the expenditure of money for
ships has always seemed an extrava-
gance.
The President. however. is tackling the
subject of shipping from a broader as
pect than the mere inproyement of con-
ditions in seaport cities He insists
that the farmer is directly interested in
the national welfare as a whole. using
as an Illustration the large sums of
money appropriated by congress for good
roads--something which the farmer par-
ticularlv has wanted-Mr. Harding de-
developed for America means good
roads on the seas. Mr.. Harding is EN-
phasizing the fact that shipping routes
controlled by America viii mean cheap
er transportation for Americas products
than if these routes are controlled by
| foreigners.
The relationship between low prices
/ for American farm products and high
| transportation rates on the ocean is
also in Mr.. Hardings argument. He
says, for example, that if the American
| farmer cannot export his surplus be-
cause of the high ocean freight rates. it
| will mean the dumping of that surplus
| in the home market and consequently
/ lower prices inside the United States for
| the same agricultural products.
Much Depends on Farm Bloc
The ship subsidy question depends
| largely for its solution on the attitude
of the farm bloc. The President from
now on viii say to that bloc that he be
! lieves they should support the legisa-
/ ticn championed by another class when
ever that legislation is in the national
interest. Otherwise the farm bloc will
/ forfeit the sympathy of the rest of the
| country when their own measures of ma
tionaI interest are being debated. 1t is
not in the bargaining spirit that the adj
4 u,
/ and courts its support for the ship sub
/ sidy BILL but it is an attempt to apply
the golden rule Co party groups.
/ Everybody. including the President,
| has q better understanding today of the
/ why's and whereioFes of the bloc system
| in congress than anything. The out
bursts of the representatives IN congress
Of particular sections of the country are
! recognized as due largely to the absence
| of broad and alI-embracing leadership.
| Ii is due also to the transition period in
| Republican affairs. The passing of the
| old leaders comedies with the arrival
| from the West of new members who have
not the same faith in the effectiveness Of
| party conference and party leadership
as the old-timers have had.
Hopes for Entente of Groups
What Mr. Harding hopes is to estab.
| fish AN entente between the numerous
| groups in congress SO that the majority
| of them can gradually be brought to-
| gether in frequent conference and thus
welded into a party unit again. Here
shouting against the bloc or group sys-
| TEN has proved futile chiefly because the
| alternative-party organization-ofier
no better opportunity to achieve results.
| Mr. Harding is endeavoring to convert
symptoms Of party revolution into pro-
| cesSes of orderly evolution. His friendly
| words to the farm representatives are
| significant of a conciliatory disposition
in large contrast to hostile tones of his
recent message 10 congress in which he
/ fiayed the bloc system. The President
| has found in the ship subsidy problem a
| political opportunity to bring special
/ groups into harmony for the national in
/ terest If he succeeds in making the
acid test of every measure sponsored by
| a special group the question of whether
| the measure would benefit the whole
country directly or indirectly, he Will
| have discovered the leverage which viii
| deal effectively with the numerous pro-
| posals Of narrow and limited worth as
contrasted with those likely to be of ma
tiOnwide value.