The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-18
DAVIS DRIVES HOME A TRUTH


 Monday, in Missouri, John W. Davis addressed an outdoor gathering estimated at between forty and fifty thousand peo- pie. As the candidate himself said, it was probably the greatest throng that ever assembled in the open air to discuss the affairs of government. Of course, it was greater than any throng that ever assembled at one place indoors for any purpose. Some may draw adverse opin- ions regarding the American people from the fact that their greatest gathering was to witness prize-fight. But the dis tinction is that the prize-fight drew from all over the country and was widely her aided through every possible form of publicity, whereas the Davis assemblage was drawn chiefly from small area within a state, and was not advertised far beyond the limits of that area. The size of the audience was partly due to the fact that it was barbecue picnic, didate for governor was one of the hon. orees, partly to the fact that the Demo- cratic candidate for president was to be there. But most of all was it due to the anxious thought the people of the Middle West are giving to their government.
 This intense concern of the people springs primarily from their belief that their own affairs have suffered because of the policies of the Republican admin istration, but, having their own situa- tion as index, they may easily believe that public affairs in general have suf- 1ered in like manner And such is the case. MT. Davis made the people of Missouri realize anew that the duty on wheat was merely blind to cover from the eyes of the wheat growers the fact that in reality the duty on articles the farm CTS had to buy was the boon bestowed by the Republican tariff upon favored in terests. While, on the one hand, the farmers were led to believe that the phantom duty on wheat would benefit them, on the other hand, the real bene- ficiaries of the tariff were continuing to mulct the farmer by piling unearned profits on the price of merchandise re- quired by the farmers.
 The Democratic leader reminds his readers of an important fact that many people have forgotten, when he says that the Republican congress enacted a tariff (which the Republican papers of this country from ocean to ocean condemned on the next morning as an outrage and an imposition upon the consumers of the country" This was we'll shown by the editorial in this newspaper the following Sunday, in which were quoted extracts from numerous leading Republican jour nals emphatically denouncing the tariff act and predicting party disaster as a consequence, to say nothing of the pub lie disaster such an unjust tax would en- tail upon the American people. To cap all this, MT. Davis continues: "And now, even such good Republican authority as the candidate for vice president publicly admits that a law fixing a duty on a commodity of which we export a sur- plus is so many words written in sand"
 Arguments such as these, set before the farmers in the plain and direct lan- guage of Mir. Davis, cannot fail to make a deep impression. His hearers know that he speaks the truth. They have bit terly paid for their election of the Re- publican ticket in 1920. They know that, although the federal tax has been greatly reduced, yet the tax the American peo- pie pay into the pockets of private inter ests is tribute which in it's proportions engulfs any relief that might otherwise come from tax reduction. The farmers are being addressed in a sensible man. ner by a man who has studied his sub ject and who is sincerely seeking to out line a policy that will raise the agricul- tural industry from it's depression. Un- doubtedly, when the time comes to vote, the farmers will not again place their necks in the yoke that has taken toll of their strength without giving them recom- pense in any manner.