Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1922-07-06
CopyrIght. Western Newspaper Union
NNVIII
REMEDY IN YOUR HANDS

REMEDY IN YOUR HANDS
I have been asked many times, and
particularly since this series began:
"What is the remedy for the condition
and situation Of government business
that you have described? What can
we, the average man or woman with
cut influence, and with no knowledge
of politics. what can we do about itf'
We'll. the answer is that you can do
everything about II. The remedy lies
wholly within your own hands, as |
have tried To point out in each one
OF the articles that have preceded
this one. IL is remedy easy To pre-
scribe but, l confess. difficult to put
into effect.
Difficult, l mean, I'm the sense that
you will have TO give up time from
your own engrossng private affairs To
pay some attention TO what YOU prob
ably think of as public affairs and, as
such, not concerning You. The whole
point | have 10 make is that public
affairs are your affairs.
| do not suggest that you 60 into
politics do not suggest that you
attend political meetings. l do sug
gcst that you take an interest, II direct
personal interest, in the business OF
government as distinguished from the
politics of government.
A part OF the remedy you ask for
the conduct OF the business of govern
ment has been applied when the facts
and the conditions are spread broad
cast and made known 10 every tax
Iayer. Bad conditions are in way
10 be remedied when they become
known.
But some hundreds of you have
written me and asked: How can we
help? What can we do?" Let's take
concrete case
Congress has committed itself TO the
policy of building twenty first-class
battleships in the next few years
Armed and equipped. those battleships
will cost i'm the neghborhood OF S45,-
100000 each. That will make total
cost of S90O0OO,0O0; that is, just short
of billion dollars.
DO you approve that expenditure?
DO you think 1t wise and necessary
DO you think we ought to spend our
money that way? DO you think we
ought TO spend 50 or 90 per cent
OF our total national income for wars.
past, present and prospective? That
is what we are doing. If you approve
Of It you have only To sit still and
say nothing. If you disapprove Of it,
let your congressman know
You live I'm a congressional district
and every two years you send Il man
here to Washington to attend 20 your
public business. Do yOu know him?
DO you know what he Is doing here?
Your state has two senators. who also
represent you here. If they do not
represent you fairly. you can keep
them at home. Whatever a majority
OF you want you can have.
To this moment a majority have
approved at least by silence the great
military expenditures that have been
made from the money you have paid
I'm taxes. If now you have come to
the conclusion that ii Is too much, You
have only TO say so.
Do you realize that this conference
on the limitation of armament which
President Harding called arose fun
damentally ont of the circumstance
that all of the so-called big nations
are paying more than they can afford
to pay by way of preparation for war?
The endeavor TO find Il formula TO
limit ornaments is another way Of
saying that the nations are trying to
find way 10 save money. Since the
war the great powers are all living
beyond their means. All of them are
I'm debt. All Of them. except ourselves,
owe more than they can pay. In all
OF them, including the United States,
government expenses are running he
yond government income. A nation
can no more stand that sort of thing
than n private person or private
business.
If you will devote half hour or
IN hour every evening TO thinking
about and talking about public bust.
ness you will be amazed at the
prompt response you will get. If there
is any question you want 10 ask. write
10 your CONGRESSMAN or to either one
Of your senators. That will cost you
two cents for n postage stamp and II
won't cost him anything to reply, fol
his letters go through the mails free
That Is one way Of helping to remedy
the present condition.