The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-20

of the local members of his cabinet claim, then the record of Mir. Coolidge as vice president, as an ex-officio mem- Der of MT. Harding's cabinet and as president of the United States for the past fifteen months takes on a new im- portance. The burning of the ques- tion in this campaign is graft and cor ruption at Washington. This issue transcends every domestic and interna- tional issue, because the death of the republic is inevitable if bribery and corruption in high places are to pollute the administration of public office. There can be no government unless it is clean. What is the record?"
 The latter then outlined the cases involving the leasing of the naval oil reserves, the investigation of Charles k. Forbes administration of the vet erans bureau and the senate commit tees inquiry into the department of justice.
 "Mr Coolidge it continued,
 ''haS not yet uttered one word of
 condemnation of these men nor of
 these scandals nor given evidence
 of that blazing indignation which
 would be the inevitable expression
 of those moral values of which he
 so mOvingly speaks.
 MT. Coolidge has no sympathy with the common men and women of Amer ica. Their cause is not his cause. He is always inarticulate where they are concerned, but when privilege is threatened he speaks. He would not approve law granting even tombstone insurance (as Senator La Toilette has aptly phrased it), 10 the veterans of the World war, but he upheld the Mel lon plan which proposed to give the largest precentage of reduction in taxa tion to the wealthy classes and to spe- cial interests which had benefited most by the valor of those soldiers on the field of battle.
 "He vetoed the bill to increase the compensation of under-paid employees in the postal service but he is strong defender of the Fordney-McCumher tariff bill which taxes every man, wom- an and child in America for the bene- fit of privilege and private monopoly. In particulars he uphOlds the privilege, granted by the Fordney- -McCumber bill, to the aluminium trust, chiefly owned by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mir. Mellon, to tax every household in the land, no matter how humble, on the kitchen untensils they employ in the preparation of food
 { "He vetoed the bill to give small increase in the pensions of the aged and infirm veterans of the Civil wal 1 to make their dying years more easy but he refuses to reduce the tariff on sugar although it is stated that the tariff commission recommended such re duction months ago. The. sugar monOpo ly and all the other mOnOpolies must be perimtted to tax the old soldiers, the World war veterans, the underpaid postal employees, the over burdeneC farmer and all the people for theil particular benefit so long as Mir Coolidge controls the situation. Billions for monopoly-but not one cent of re lief for the people. He prevented tht passage of agricultural legislation in th' last congress, although these importan measures had been recommended by hi: own secretary of agriculture and were supported by the liberal and progressive democratic clements in both houses o congress"
 An Amazing Indifference
 Asserting that he would not deny tha the president is honest. he declared Mir Coolidge had shown an amazing in difference" to the acts which Ina, brought reproach upon the administra tion."
 Mir. McAdoo asked why trials O those indicated had not been held
 'Why the delay until after NOvem her four?" he asked. Were the trial postponed because the administration was afraid of the effect the evidence would have on the election?"
 Concluding, Mir. McAdoo, after de nouncing the record of the administra