The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-02
PARTISANSHIP !: HAS NO PLACE,
 SAYS CANDIDATE
Religious Freedom Again Advocated By West
 Virginian
fContlnued From Page One)

public treasury has been plungered ana the public domain given away, they cry that the constitution is in danger. When. we point to the unjust burdens that psices artificially raised by laws hye placed on the American consumer. .isssy offer us the comforting reflection that the average American eats 17 pounds of butter per year.
 "Great questions of. naked right and wrong cannot be evaded by methods such as these," MT. Davis said at an- other point. Questions that. appeal to the moral sense. and test the moral fi- bre of the American people are before us. They address themselves to the con science of the nation for reply and call only upon the moral law for their solu- tion, We shall better know ourselves and the world will better know us by the answers that we make.
 Honesty Comes First First and foremost put the stark question of honesty in government. It is one which no political party trusted with power can be permitted to escape. Whenever under the rule $of any party corruption becomes widespread and mo- torious, whenever it extends not only to mere underlings, but to those in seats of highest power, the party in whose ranks it appears must expect to pay the penalty imposed by an outraged public opinion. It is no reflection on the hon. est man and woman who make up it's rank and file, it is no reproach to any ' left in office whose virtue is still in tact, to insist that the party organiza- ton to which they belong shall stand Or fall by the record it has made.
 .sThere is a dead line which no party Il L-L A. Svr1r rNrfNn r- ty. There is degree of corruption which calls for stern rebuhe even by the adherents of the party itself, unless by their complacence they are willing to take upon their own shoulders a share of responsibility for the crime.
 'Not Some, But All"
 q cannot believe that the country will rest content with the statement of President Coolidge that the wonder is not that the corruption involved sol much and so many, rather than it was so little and so few. We cannot be ask ed to accept in American government any lower standard than that of abso- lute and entire honesty. We have the right to demand that not some but all of those who serve us shall prove faith ful to their trust. l appeal not only to democrats but to all patriots of what ever party, to express at the ballot box their determination to, accept no lower standard. "On a great issue like this, ot moral right and moral wrong, there is no room for division among Amerl- cans on party lines. And especially do I appeal to the fathers and mothers ot America in whose hands rests the train, inc If our future Citizens, to make an sxArhple' that coming generatinns will &Snaember of those who degrade public bffice and betray the public trust. as
 .4There is the question of efficiency i,, royernment. No political party has The right to ask renewal of its power ,Inless it can show that it has kept its promises in the past and is able to per form them in the future. If 1t IS to invite the public confidence it must nresent leaders who can lead and fol lowers who are willing to support that leadership.
 aI cannot think that under our
 system of government the duty Of
 excutiye leadership is discharged by
 abortiye vet0es, or that a party IS
 entitled 10 confidence when 1t exhi-
 bits an inability to agree, in con
 eress or without, upon party poii-
 cies.
 saThe contending forces that have split the republican party in twain will not he reconciled merely by republican yictory. Their struggle will but be be- gun again upon a new battle-ground ana renewed more fiercely thar. before. Their differences of outlook and or interest are too profound to be bridged Dy any temp6rary comprise Stagnatlon VI chaos. or an alienation Of the two' will reign in Washington.
 si~.. Ina moral Issue Ol uriyiliege in government; whether It IS morality right or morally wrong that governmental power, drawn from all fhe people, should be used to enrich inc few at the expense of many; or to reward political friends and punish political enemies.
 @ Never More Br0zenly
 "Neyer in American history has privilege Haunted itself in the streets of the national capital more brazen and unashamed than during the last three and one half years. It was not alone the desire for illicit gain that lost to the nation the naval oil re- serves, it is now struggling by legal process to recover; it was equally the wish to use governmental power to ad- vance the interest of personal and political friends. It was not primarily n desire to enforce the law that united the department of justice with the republican national committee in put. ing spies and agents on the trail of senators and congressman; it was willingness to use the power of govern unent to punish personal and political enemies. ,.., E.,
 nriviIage as a governmental policy
 fhak led the administration to favor
 a subsidy to shipping interests
 running to a gross total of $7SO,-
 GlOOOOO. And in the passage of the
 Foriney- Met Cumber tariff privilege
 cauie into it's perfect flower. The
 license to plunder which this act
 extends was bought and paid Tor
 by those who profit under it and
 who hope, by political eOntribu-
 tioils during the present campaign,
 to Insure it's perpetuatiOn. In view
 of the grossly excessive rates which
 it gotail,s, it is painful to near
 President Coolidge pronounce it the
 lowest tariff which the Republican party has enacted since 1890.
 ''In the name of the Democratic party I promise the American people relief from so unjust a law. We shall rewrite the tariff without malice on the one hand or favoritism on the other, and with a full sense of the / relation all schemes ofAtaSation bear to tho economic life of the country. ''N35 least of the moral issues which weigh upon us is the towering question of the contribution America shall make to the great cause of disarmament and