Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-06
AS SEEN AT WASHINGTON
THE TRIBUNE's political cor.

4 respondent at the national
capitol is confident Of a demo
cratic victory in the nation. The
drift is all against the party in
power and largely responsible for
present conditions in the treasury
because of their extravaganza. He
writes us as follows:
Next Tuesday the people will go
to the polls and render a verdict
on the Harding administration.
This does not mean that it. is
merely to be an expression of the
attitude of the people toward the
casy-going golf player of the
White House-rather it will be a
referendum on the acts and omis-
sions of the president, his cabi-
net, the senate and the house. The
campaign is ordinary in that it
finds the republicans with the
usual abundant funds, supplied by
those who have an TX to grind"
In the case Of the opposition, how
ever, there is more than the usual
scarcity of money, due probably to
the fact that the plain people have
less than usual to contribute. The
result is that those speakers whom
the democrats have been able to
send out have been paying their
own expenses. These speakers re
poft the people everywhere as dis
satisfied with conditions and the
record of the administration. It
dissatisfied ones take sufficient
interest in the welfare of them
selves and the country to go OF
the polls and register their dis
satisfaction in the ballot box, then
the Harding administration Will
suffer a severe rebuke and the
people will have a democratic
house and a stronger bulWark in
the senate to protect them from
the Entertainments of the preda-
tory-corporation influence. But
the people will not only have to
GO to the polls and register their
disapproval-many votes Will pc
cast that will be wasted just as
surely as the soldier wastes his
ballet who raises his gun and fires
at the sky. To be effective against
the corporation control OF this
administration the votes must be
concentrated behind the candidates
OF the leading party in opposition
to the administration. Votes cast
for the third and fourth parties
are thrown away and worse than
thrown away, for they enable the
republican candidates to win. And
the man or woman who condemns
the republican congress IN talking
with the neighbors, but who
neelects to vote, is surrenderlng
his or her Americanism without
a struggle. In determining the
fate of the country this voter
is not a voter at all, but a cipher.
Thinking right is good, but It this
i not followed by voting right,
then it is Of no avail, and he who
IS in error triumphs. If the re-
ports received by the democratic
headquarters are correct, the dem:
ocrats alone, without much aid
from dissatisfied republicans and
progressives, could win a great
victory if they go to the polls III
something like full strength, for
millions Of votes that were cast
for Harding two years ago will be
missing when the returns come in
next Tuesday night. They will be
the votes of those who now know
that they were fooled, c~ajoled with
false promises and cheated in the
results.
There are many classes who owe
the present republican congress q
black ball in the shape of a demo
cratic vote in the ballot box. Per
haps nothing stands out with
greater clearness than the decep'
ton practiced toward the veteran:
of the world war, who were lee
to believe in every way that i
could be stated, that they woule
receive adjusted compensation
WITH a view to %repaying them II
small measure for the losses they
suffered by reason of having beer
in the service for the most critica
period of their lives. Surely they
realize by this time that they have
no hope of receiving this compen
Bation so long as Harding is in the
White House, and while this con
gressional election will not turr
him out of the White House, il
will go far toward that end if {
democratic house and a bunch OF