The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-12

"daily paying their taxes through their \ living expenses" as indeed they are, it \ nowhere offers any promise of re- duction in tariff duties, but lauds the existing bill as the summit of human wisdom. Is there not something of humor as well as honesty lacking in those who in one and the same breath can promise reduction of the cost T of living and praise statute which raises the price of tie elemental neces- !, saries of life; who can demand, as they should, the payment of our for eign debts but refuse to accept from the debtor the goods in which alone payment can be made; who clamor for an American merchant marine but de- ny it the cargoes necessary for it's ex- istence?
 When a reduction in the burden of in- come taxes could no longer be denied, the country was presented with the Mellon bill, offered by the administra- tiOn to the people as the last word on that subject. When it met the test of impartial analysis here, too, there appeared the motive to favor the few I possessOrs of swollen incomes beyond the many of moderate means. Under democratic initiative and democratic
 
 so changing the weight and emphasis of the proposed reduction as to give the greater relief to those whose tax pay ments pressed upon their scale of liv- ing. Although the executive approval this bill received was grudging and re- luctant, not even the submissive con- venti0n at Cleveland dared to suggest that the Mellon bill be revived and adopted as substitute.
 Follows Platform. ,~
 We assert in our platform that the republican party believes that .na- tional prosperity must originate with the special interests, and seep down through the channels of trade to the less favored industries, to the wage earners and small salaried employees. It has accordingly efthroned privilege and nurtured selfishness." I repeat the words and register the emphatic dissenB of the democratic party from that doctrine. ..- l7,.
 charge the republican party with corruption in administration with favoritism to privileged classes in leg s- lslation. charge it also with division in council and impotence in action. No political party has. the right 10 hold the reins of government unless it can exhibit the cardinal virtues of honesty. sincerity and unity. Of these the last is by no means the least important. No matter how lofty the ideals or how pure the purposes of any party, the country is not served unless it DOS sesses both the will and the power to carry these ideals and purposes into effect. When it becomes a leaderless and incoherent mob it must give way to some rival better fitted for the task of government.
 Need l dwell on the picture that the last twelve months presents: On one | side the executive, on the other the members of his party in both houses of Congress, seeking different aims entertaining different views; advocat- ing different measures? The executive proposes adherence to the existing world court. The request falls on dull ears until finally the leader of his party in the Senate brings forward, manifestly for obstructive purposes, an entirely different scheme. The ex- ecutive demands the Mellon bill and members of his party. in both houses | of Congress, regular and insurgent, the adjusted compensation act but Congress re-enacts it by the required twO-thirds majority. Congress passes a measure granting to postal employees in increase in their meager salaries :; the President disapprOves it. He pro- tests against the restriction on Japanese immigration Congress adopts it. Whenever before did n party in control of the executive and of mapority in both houses of Con GreSs present so pitiable a spectacle of discOrd and division? By what right can a political organization so led and so disciplined appeal for a further lease of power? Four years ago the republican party, in snarling criticism of the great leader then in office promised 10 lend executive autOcracy." It has fallen into the pit that it dug, for it's efforts in that di- rection have succeeded beyond it's wild est dreams. An executive who cannot or will not lead, Congress that cannot Or will not fOllOw-how can good gov ernment exist under such conditions.
 Nor is it in domestic matters alone that the symptoms of this creeping paralysis have appeared. Not only have the executive recommendations for adherence to the world court, sanctioned as they are by long Amer ican tradition and example, been flOut- ed and ignored, but no evidence is in sight that the republican party as now constituted can frame and carry to its conclusion any definite and con- sistent foreign policy. Four years ago we were promised, q new associa- tion of nations to be created in order 10 protect and perserve the peace of the world. No single proposal of this sort has yet appeared from any of those wsO so loudly promised it.
 Have Stood POwerless.
 With the reconstruction of Europe weighing heavily on the world; with American economic life dwarfted and stunted by the interruption of world commerce with the agricultural re- giOns of the west sinking into bank ruptcy because of the loss of their foreign markets; we have stood by as powerless spectators, offering to the world nothing but private charity and individual advice. It is well enough to praise in unmeasured terms the charity of the American people. It is not m unworthy pride that makes us dwell upon the efforts individual Americans have made toward the solution of great world problems. But the Ques- tion which presses itself upon the mind and conscience of the American people end will not be denied is what they, as a nation, speaking through their government, have done or dared to do in this great field of action. The