The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-08-28
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Dispatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1929

'iiI pdsJ week. particularly the TeIuSal
of the Ohio Republican convention to en-
dorse either the soldier bonus or the
+ Fordney- McCumber tariff, have prompted
Republicans and Democrats alike to
wonder Just what will be the issues of
the autumn campaign
Ship subsidy legislation, which it was
hoped would be one of the constructive
achievements of the administration has
been postponed until after the elections
and the tariff bill now in conference may
meet the same fate. The only positive
achievements remaining are the admins
tration's initiative in calling a confer
ence TO reduce naval armament and the
subsequent results, as well as the re
duetiOn of federal expenditure under the
budget system.
But the politicians who have narrowed
the issues to the foregoing are not alto
gether sure this will be all. They see ris-
ing up to plague them the discomfort of
the country over the rail and coal
strikes. 1t viii be the Democratic pur-
pose to show that the government failed
to take any action for many months
after strikes began in the all important
domain OF transportation and fuel 1t
VIII be the Republican answer that gov
ernmeRts can't make men work wnen
they don't want to work and that the
government lacked the power to force in
dustrial peace.
Government Acts Questioned
Whatever may be the defense or of
fense, the fact is there's a rising tide of
! opinion which congress sees on the
horizon and it may furnish the out
standing issue of the whole campaign.
| In a nutshell the issue may be whether
the government could have done more
/ than IT did, whether congress could have
passed anti-strike legislation and made
tie up on the transportation systems
| of the country impossible, whether the
government could have proceeded more
| energetically in protecting those who
wanted to work but who feared violence
and whether the government could have
| done any more than it tried to do in
regulating the price OF fuel to the con-
sumer. r----.-.-f.-f sHt
All these questions have much more
political phases to them than the arma-
| ment conference whose results are not
so quickly appreciated by the mass of
voters. Also the woman vote which will
make itself felt in the coming con-
gressiOnal elections in a way that may
prove surprising is bound to consider
whether the empty coal bin is the fault
OF the miners and operators or the gov
eminent which permits them to fight
or both. The reduction of the federal
expenditures has unquestionably given
the stump speakers some ammunition.
Republicans Will point with pride to
the refunding of the public debt and the
| lowered cost OF government while the
Democrats will '.wiew with alarm" the
fact that while the BUDGET in this cam
paign year was balanced the coming
fiscal year shows a probable deficit. ac-
cording to Secretary of the Treasury
Mellon, of nearly half billion dollars.
No Enthusiasm in Figures.
Figures rarely make good campaign
arguments. They are twisted i'm all
sorts OF ways to prove practically any
! thing the partisan wants proved. Some
| thing much more dramatic than statistics
| and something much nearer home than
| the present. Will be required to liyen UP
the campaign. The soldier bonus will
be an individual instead of party issue.
! The Democrats have many champions
of the bonus among their number and
| neither party win be able to claim credit
for its enactment or defeat as the case
NAV be.
The action of the Ohio state conven-
| ton in calling upon the country to
stand by the president is the single
| che to Republican strategy which has
| thus far been given. 1t means that an
| attempt will be made to make the Hard
| ing administration the issue along with
| the achievements of the Republican con
! gress. But the strategists will find be-
| fore many days have passed that the
| principal issue will be the administra-
| tion's attitude toward labor.
| The working masses will as usual, be
| asked TO believe what the leaders of
| labor say is an unfriendly attitude on
| the part of the Republican administra-
| tion toward them. while the captains of
| industry will be urged by Republican
chieftains to consider that President
| Harding has not capitulated to labor as
| did his predecessor. Apart from the
| question of the labor vote is the house
! holders vote and that's where a speedy
! settlement of the coal strike becomes the
| paramount duty of the moment.
Discomfort, no matter how little iusti-
| fed. always hurts the party in power
Would Be Expensive Move.
The President is being urged to oper-
| ate mines and railroads. This means in
! creased cost to the government as apprO-
| priatiOns will be Immediately necessary
| to handle the situation
On top of that the government must
adopt some policy that will bring strik-
| ers back to work. If the policy resem-
| bleS what the strikers have been con
tending for. the employers of the country
win BE- antaponized If it is the oppO-
site labor will not work. coal will not
| be produced, nor engines repaired. Com
promises and concessions would have to
| be made by the government which in the
| end would be transferred TO the disput-
| ants when the roads and mines were
| given back
President Harding doesn't want to
| seize the mines or railroads, and much of
/ the talk about his Intention to do 50
| NAV be discounted He viii act only if
| dire emergency compels him to do so.
| There are signs that the executive him
! self doesn't believe such an extreme
has been reached though the threat of
! seizure is expected to help bring peace