The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-25

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 republican national committee for framing" democratic senator be- cause he dared to do the right.
 In this campaign let the conscience less leaders of this administration de- eide investigations. Let them accuse the Congress of deteriorating let them continue to shield those who conspired against the government; but in this dark drama the American people know and prefer the highly patriotic and cleansing work of Thomas J.. Walsh to the foul infamy and thievery of AL bert J. Fall,
 Nothing in burlesdue or opera bouffe is comparable ,to' the scene recently enacted at Cleveland in the efforts of the silent Sphinx of the Potomac to exile and expatriate those republican senators who dared to oppose his mandate. It is somewhat pathetic story-the treat ment there accorded our republican senatorial friends.
 But yesterday the word of Caesar might
 Now lies he there, and none so poor to do him reverence.
 They dared to vote an investigation of member of the Presidents official family, and they are penalized for their decency.
 They dared disregard the protest of the world profiteers to respond to the appeal of the soldiers who fought our battles on the fields cf France, and they are punished fer their justice.
 By every device known to trained camoufleurs, by every subtle process of legerdemain, the Republican nominee in true pharaisaical fashion, sought to divorce himself from his former com rades in arms. The plan is obvious {; the plot is futile. Neither the president nor his Falstaffian army, headed by General Butler and Sergeant Stearns, can conceal the ugly fact that the Cleveland convention was the most highly organized, boss-ridden, and olea- ginous ever held in America. The, American people will not be deceived. They will not permit themselves to be used as pawns ip game of. hide and seek"
 It was peculiarly appropriate that the Republican nominee should have conscripted one of the "best minds" from far away Mexico to write the platform for his campaign and lame duck to preside as the permanent chair man of the convention. Both assign ments for that convention were most fitting. One was available because of the theory that distance lends enchant- ment to the view" and his lack of knowledge of things that are; the other because he was the only public man in the United States willing to offer him. self as a living sacrifice upon the sem atorial altars of Wyoming in defense of the Teapot Dome.
 The mask is off. Piercing through the political machination of that con vention we see the sinister lips of spe- cial privilege. The leopard does not change his spots overnight. Neither can the republican party be reformed by resolutions nor by presidential ukase.
 The American people will know
 that they are dealing with 8 Sys-
 tenn: that even though Hanna,
 Quay and PenrOse are dead, their
 spirits go marching on in the per.
 sOnages of the Three MuSketeers
 of present-day republicanlsm--
 Butler, Stearns, and Slemp. These
 bosses are doing business in the '
 same old way according to the same
 old rule.
 The republican organization is now trying to salvage something from the wreck of the old party. The proceed ings and platform of the Cleveland convention portend the loss of the Con gress, and they are now madly fighting to save the presidency.
 With an administration honeycombed with graft and corroded with corrup- tion it is refreshing to reflect upon the innumerable republican investigations into expenditures of the preceding dem ocratic administration. Following that period-the most momentous in our country's history-a period that called for the mobilization of our strongest and best, period that necessitated the expenditures of $40,000, ,000, 900 to pros ecute and win the war-no similar pe- riod ever called for such a readjust- ment of governmental agencies and the prompt prosecution of expenditures Following our country's triumph in arms and victory in the chancellories of the world, through a campaign of lavish expenditures and appeals to the prejudices of groups, we lost control of the Congress.
 As soon as it was organized the re- publican party inaugurated a scheme of investigations that were the most far-reaching and costly in the history of the government. Fifty-one separate committees were appointed, controlled by 61 separate republican majorities. They searched every democratic rec ord they followed every hint. Like a dragnet, they mobiliezd every bit of gossip and ran down every rumor. In- vestigations covered the whole country and extended beyond the seas. What were the results? Where is the tainted dollar spent2 Where was the defrauded soldier? Name the democratic cabinet minister disgraced. Those republican investigations, partisanly and relent- lessly conducted, did not point to a single act that reflected discredit upon any democratic official. call upon the republican nominee, Calvin Cool idge; call upon the members of the republican cabinet; call upon every republican member of Congress-I call upon the republican party to name the democratic culprit.
 Not Graft Alone
 But 1t is not graft alone that offers in the two administrations such happy comparisons. During these little more than three years we have seen the pres ent administration float along, tossed by every current, famed by every breeze, without purpose, program, or policy. It's leaders have not led, and its organi- zation has not functioned. Upon a thousand issues they have hoisted the white flag of surrender. Amid all the confusion that has divided this admins tration domestic problems have gone un- solved. We have felt the slowing down of industry, the increase of unemploy- ment, the diminishing purchasing power of the farmers dollar. Starving herds,