The Washington times., 1922-06-20

place when the schedules are reach.
ed which contain the tariffs on
things that people eat and wear.
Meanwhile the bonus In the SEN.
ate Is postponed till the tariff In
over; and the ship subsidy In the
House is also postponed till the
tariff Is over in the Senate. But
when will the tariff in the Senate
be over? All. dear children. that
Is the question.
The present Republican answer
seems to be: e..
Let fate decide. Meanwhile at
any rate we shall not have to
bother about the subsidy and the
bonus. One misery at a time."'
Many Senators who viii vote for
the tariff detest It. The defense
set up for the duties on agricul-
tural products by the members Of
the Republican agricultural tariff
bloc Is principally that II nanufac.
tured products are going to be
heavily protected, why. then, agri-
cultural productD should. be heavily
protected, too.
Many members Of the farm bloc
are members also OF the agricul-
tural tariff bloc. The farm bloc
has claimed that II was acting al
ways not simply for the farmer but
for the whole country and for the
general national interest. Today
the members Of the farm bloc who
belong also to the agricultural
tariff bloc are virtually saying that
II the manufacturers get too much
tariff then the farmers must get
too much tariff likewise, no mat
far NH - ny hax - thA
eral national Interest. This sort
Of thing does not give any drive
of moral, conviction to the passage
Of the tariff bill.
The conscientious supporters Of
high tariff legisiatioR-among whom
Senator Smoot Is entitled to hon.
orable mention-are obliged accord
ingly explain almost every item
in this tariff bfll at great length
| to sena torial doubters on the Re
publican side as wen as the Demo
cratic. When each man wants to
know just how much excess tariff
the other man is getting In order
| that he too may get that amount Of
excessiveness, the task Of explana.
ton Is long and the prospect OF
passage becomes increasingly re-
mote. 1t will become remoter still
when Senator LaFollette. represent.
ing a State which is very largely
agricultural, gets up nevertheless to
denounce this tariff bill throughout
at length. He is going to do so.
and who shall say when he will get
through doing so? He owes nothing
to the Republican national organf
Zation and does not care what 1t
thinks.
These things being so, and the
tariff bill debate having a life SO
heated and 50 protracted ahead of
il, It becomes clear that the polit-
ical persons who have decided to
do nothing about the bonus and
nothing about the subsidy till the
tariff bill debate Is ended are not
possessed of any enormous enthu-
siasm for either the bonus or the
subsidy. So far as the bonus is
concerned, and unless and until
the British come along with some
debt interest payments for an
American bonus fund, the. great
popular patriotic song Of Congress
is: IF Anybody Else Wants to
Step to the Front, Let the Soldier
dil u INC fkedI'
The farm bloc has got plenty Of
legislation for farmers during this
session OF Congress. Taxpayers
have got their taxes reduced. Japan
and Great Britain have got their
alliance replenished by the four
power treaty. All sorts Of things
h.. al n
people. Now the soldier Ia again
postponed-and postponed to a de-
bate which may not end for
months. The, fact that Congress
has postponed the soldier and the
bonus so many times and for 80
many periods Of many months that
now the enemies of the bonus In
the country at large have got them
selves organized into a formidable
opposition to II, and Congress at
heart Is more afraid OF the bonus
now than 1t ever was before.
II doubts the popularity Of the
tariff. 1t fears the opposition to the
bonus. 1t remembers the old opposi-
ton of the West and, the South to
the subsidy. 1t hesitates and pro-.
crastinates and then decides that
since the tariff is good old Re-
publican familiar institution II will,
concentrate on the tariff and see
if the tariff gets done and then
see II something may not have hap.
pened somehow to the other
troubles. The Democrats mean.
while are able to rejoice. not
through any merits OF their own.
hut sinonlv hacausa the Ranuhlica .,
party, having put It's hand to these
three ploughs Of tariff, subsidy and
bonus, does not take the furrovsI
straight across the field with q con-
fidence that would give the country