The Pleasantville press., 1923-12-22
BLOCS ENDANGER
CONGRESS WORK
THEY ALSO IMPERiL HARMONY
OF BOTH PARTIES AND THE
LEADERS ARE WORRIED.
SEcTI0MALISM Is RAMPANT
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK

| WnShlngtOn.-ThiS is time OF ap-
! prehensive party turmoil In Washing
ton. Party leaders are hoping that
| the anxieties of anticipation are to
| prove greater than the anSieties of
realization
Just what is going to happen in con-
| gress this winter the party leaders dc
| not know and cannot even guess. They
are in suspense, but certainly 1t can
not be said they are in state of sus'
| pended animation, for animation of one
kind is the order of the day.
Throwing aside all consideration of
present differences in the Republican
ranks there is one great overshadow-
ing fact of today and tomorrow. Not
only congress, but the country is full
of blocs. Sectionalism, an embittered
sectionalism, is here and in the steady
light. The Republicans have 1t and
the Democrats have it. The thinking
men in both parties want to get rid
of it, but they don't know how.
There Is farmer bloc, q manufac-
turers' bloc, labor bloc and there are
of them representing an admittedly
un-American sectionalism. Gone are
the days when Republicanism was Re-
publicanism and Democracy was De-
mocracy
Its PerIs Recognized.
There are two or three near states
men in congress. They have taken
cogniZance of the state of things and
have asked others TO take cogniZailce
of them. 1t may be that eventually
through a newly sprung leadership
Americanism, an all-embracing united
Americanism, may come back into its
own.
Congressman with whom one talks
and who seem to have real under
standing of the situation and its per-
lis for it has perils, hope that eventual
ly there may be framed legislation
which not only will promise to benefit
all hands, but which viii bring them
into that kind Of a clasp which hands
are made for
The latest thing to disturb the gen.
eral serenity of things here is the
threat of q cotton bloc. This is to be
a southern affair entirely, just as n
wheat bloc necessarily must be almost
entirely a western affair. When there
is bloc for each kind Of a product
of the SOIL the mine and the factory,
there will be blocS enough to be
stumbling stones of offense to every
al In,
can .unanimity for the good of every
body, whether everybOdy's line of busi-
ness is his line of business or not.
Wisconsin Idea to the Fore.
In Il way Wisconsin seems to he in
a bloc by itself. Once upon time in
Washington the politicians were talk
ing about the Ohio Idea. Now ey-
erybody is talking about the Wiscon-
sin idea The Badger state in some
ways seems to be living up to its budg-
ering name, or at any rate those
who think the Wisconsin Idea is by
no means an ideal seem so to think.
Wisconsin has drawn TO itself good
many persons from other states who
seem to be willing to be Wisconsinites
for the time being. What is going
to come out OF it all nobody can
tell, but the Republicans are worried
and with them the Democrats are
worried. because this statism b!oclsm,
sectiOnalism business hurts both par
ties. 1t is perfectly true that each
party as represented in Washington
says that it is hurting the other party
only, but each party in saying this
knows that it is lying.
When the house finally is organized
attempts will be made TO Straighten
out matters so that the Republicans
can &c into the presidential nomina-
tion campaign with an appearance of
harmony. The Democrats, who vii,
attempt to harmonize themselves into
a compact opposition, will do what
they can to keep their opposition CO.
hesive in order to make a properly Of
fensive fight.
The difficulty that will confront the
Democrats in their attempt to soiidify
their party policies win be the same
difficulty that will confront the Re
publicans-blocisn The at-present
minority party has its full share of
isms and one of the most troublesome
OF these is wetisni. The Republicans
fear the damp also, but they seem to
think that they have enough quinine
and other things in the closet TO keep
them from succumbing to either the
fever Of fear or the ague of appre-
hensi0u.
Veterans Retain Influence.
Congress has good many old men in
its membership. The old ones still are
active and are very much in it. The
middle-aged ones outnumber the young
and the old many times, but there is
certain influence which the elders
have which cannot be gainsaid. The
extremely young men in congress are
not numerous, and neither are they
ordinarily influential in counsel, but
they know that later they will come
along.
Probably the man who because of
his influential position in congress has
had more written and said about him
than any Of his colleagues is Henry
Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, Repub-
lican leader of the senate Senator
Lodge as chairman Of the committee
on foreign relations has in his keep
ing the World court proposal of Presi-