New-York tribune., 1922-11-26
Il arm Radical
Bloc Appears
Riding to Fall
Unity Ends With 5-Point
Program, Which Prob
ably viii Succeed: Then
Split Seems To Be Certain
Speculate on 1924 Part
Washington Is Wondering
aa; Eject Activities
VIII Have ON Elections
By Carter Field


farm progressive radical bloc In Con-
gress hopss 60 accomplish, what 1t will
actually achieve and what will be the
result politically Of It's activities in
the Presidential election in 1924, come
pretty close to being the chief interest
Of politicai Washington to-day.
Members of the farm bloc and OF the
radicai-progressiye bIoa--there are
really two groups, each OF which has
few members, which do not affiliate
wita each other--taik OF wide range
of activities. But there is cordial
agreement on five purposes.
For these FIVE pieces of legislation
the farm and radical blocs will not
only present a solid front, but they
viii have such extensive Democratic
support that the strong probability Is
that all of them will be successful.
These are:
/. Greater Federal aid in extending
credits to farmers.
2. Re-enactment of the excess prof
is tax.
3. Re-enactnent Of the higher sur
taxes on large incomes.
4. Repeal of the so-called guarantee
section Of the Esch- Cummins railroad
lawA
5. Defeat Of the ship subsidy bill.
Little Opposition to Farm Aid
There is little, if any, opposition to
the move to extend greater Federal aid
70 the farmers. President Harding
himself is for it. together with virtu-
ally all the so-called old-line leaders
in both Houses of Congress. In the
first place, it is good politics from the
Z standpoint Of every school. In addition,
s'it1is recognized that the situation this
! iah, which caused the farmers Of the
Middle States and Northwest to throw
their crops on the market and all de-
mand freight cars at once, thus running
prices and pretty nearly demoralizing
the railroads, was an economic tragedy.
Most important Of nll, this condition
resulted in the election of probably
the most radical crop of candidates
ever sent to Washington. The radicals
want to carry out their promises of re-
form and~t conservatives are eager
10 avoid the causes for the political
upsets. So there will be very little
.roubls about getting legislation
through for more liberal financing Of
The. farmers. So
As to the excess profits tar and the
surtaxes on large incomes, the radical
end farm group of candidates virtually
without exception attacked their sre-
zeal. They elamored from every stump
in the Mississippi Valley and further
West that the repeal OF these taxes
had the purpose and effect of removing
the taxes from the backs of the rich
and saddling them upon the backs OF
the poor.
But the radical and farm bloc candi-
dates who happened to use the Repub-
lean label we're not alone in this.
For example, such conservative Sena-
tor as Gilbert N. Hitchcock, fighting
against an avowed Progressive, made
the same attacks on the repeal of these
two taxes. The Democrats very gem
erally, though with few notable ex-
~ ceptions, made this issue. They said
M he Republican party--the party Of the
=" snterests"-had done this thing for its
favorites in Wall Street.
Against Tax-Exesnpt Securities
stt,A To- II
tion~-lnen WAC give thought to such
aHestions without concerning them
selves with political huncombe~-are of
the opinion that both the excess profits
saxes and the extremely high surfaces
are unsound economically. They be-
Iieve that Che excess profits tax was
passed along to the consumer with q
little more for good measure. They be-
lieve that the higher rates on large in
comes merely resulted In driving men
with very large fortunes to buying only
tax-exampt securities.
From this line Of thought has come
the move to adopt another amendment
90 the Constitution which would forbid
tax-exernpt securities. Some time be-
fore the excess profits tax was re-
pealed Senator Capper, of Kansas,
leader OF the farm bloc in the Senate.
conducted an investigation of certain
corporations IN the District OF colum.
hia. he found in the handling Of food
stuffs in the district all these CORPORA
fions simply Ggured out in advance
how much naore they would have to
charge In order 20 get the same or q
slightly greater net return after pay-
ing the excess profits tax. At the tin,a
Senator oapper seemed strongly con-
vineaa that the excess profits tax was a
snare and a delusioa so Ear as taxing
the corporations was concerned.
But the eiamor for the re-enactrn ent
OF this tax on the corporations and the
widespread belief In the Middle West
that Congress had removed the burden
to their own backs has accomplished
many changes of heart, and among
them is Senator 0apper. He IS very
firm now in his conviction that the
tax should be restored
Perhaps because most of the states
which have produced the present crop