Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-03
The H1skin Letter By , : 2ssas
POLITICAL EFFECTS OF THE STRIKES

Washington, D. c., Aug. 31.-Poli-
ticians are worrying over the probable
political effect of the coal and rail-
road strikes. Since every American
voter is more or less of a politician
and since there are more voters now
in this country than ever before, that
means that a considerable amount OF
worrying will be done before the ldes
of November.
Great industrial upheavals such as
the present summer has witnessed are
fraught with consequences that are
widespread and far-reaching. Ihey
take a toll in money and in lives mat
is staggering. Statisticians throw up
their hands when asked to compute the
financial cost of such disturbances, for
aside from the concrete loss in almost
| every line of business and industry
there is no way of estimating the full
measure Of prosperity that the country
might be enjoying but for their retard-
ing influence. AS for the cost of lives,
the direct loss is not so great perhaps,
but it is recognized that the strikes
have had a powerful psychological and
| physical effect upon hundreds of thou
sands of individuals.
But when it comes to the probable
political effect, speculation and imagi-
nation can run riot. Elections turn on
far less m~omentous influences and the
result Of the election this year may
make history for half a century. And
international affairs are IN such a
state. with this country in such a key
position. that a change in the political
| complexion of the American congress
might have an effect that would be felt
around the world.
However, statesmen are the ones
who worry about matters of that kind
and comparatively few of our politi-
clans are statesmen. The politician is
concerned about what may happen TO
himself as q candidate for office, or TO
the candidates in whom he is directly
interested. and the overwhelming bulk
of the worrying that is going on in the
present situation springs from that
source. He may talk a great deal about
the welfare of the. country and the flu
ture of his party. but the politicians
Fundamental idea is that everything will
be all right il he gets what he wants
out of the election.
Republicans More Deeply Concerned
1t NAV be stated without any evil
dence of p~artisanship that the repub-
licans are more worried than their
democratic brethren over the posi-
Bile effect of the strikes. They admit
that without any equivocation. The
reason for this is hat the republicans
are in W and it is always the party
in power that is menaced by any sociaI
or economic development that arouse
people generally. 1t is traditional that
administrations have been blamed ever
for poor crops and the republicans
| count themselves fortunate hat the
prospect this year is for a bountifu
harvest.
Still that is not a source of unal.
loved satisfaction, for the fact tina
there will be bumper crops complicates
the situation arising from the strikes
The crops must be moved promptly il
the farmers are to profit by them anC
fear is expressed that the railroad:
will not be able to meet the emergency
Railroad equipment is shot to piece:
as a result of the strike of the shot
workers and at the time when ever!
available car and engine would b,
pressed into service TO move crop.
there will be extraordinary demand.
from the coal industry.
The new supplies of coal must b,
handled during the period when ordi
uarily the transportation systems
would be carrying n peak load due Il
the requirements Of the farmers ant
unfortunately neither emergency vii
wait upon the other.
Naturally the people who are incon
v~enienced or who suffer losses as a re
suit Of this situation will have theil
troubles on their minds when they ar
deciding how they win vote in Novem
Der. They will be quite certain tina
affairs would not have como to such ,
mass IL there had been no strikes, or /
the controversies had been settled il
their incipiency. They know that the!
have no way of getting back at thu
workers or the employers who brough
ohnnt tho strikes and IL they are suf