Evening star., 1926-04-28
Politics at Large
By G.. Could Lincoln

are seeking desperately 10 Iildhea AS-
sues of the settlements OF the united
States with it's foreign debtors and OF
the situation which has developed in
Congress over farm relief legislation.
The debt settlements with Italy, Bel
gium and half dozen smaller nations
are practically accomplished facts.
The bills have passed both houses and,
1t is expected, will be signed by the
President at an early date. Those VINO
oppose these settlements characterize
them as gifts" amounting to billions
of dollars of the American taxpayers
money to foreigners, because OF the
favorable terms accorded the debtors.
The approval of these terms has given
rise TO charges in Congress that the
boaSted economy OF the administra-
ton is CT the pennyWise and pound
foolish variety. Senator Reed of Mis-
souri,, Democrat, referring to the re-
duction in the salary of d Senate en-
ploye, who has been on the rolls for
years, at the very time the Senate
was agreeing to the foreign debt
settlements, declared that the admin
istration was wasting at the bung
hole and saving at the spigOt." Not
only is the money pouring out of the
bunghoie of the Treasury cask, he
said, but both heads of the cask have
been smashed in.
X n
The administration, on the other
hand, insists that it has treated its
foreign debtors in d common sense,
business way, and generously in those
instances which warranted generosity
| to former allies in the war. Half d
loaf is better than none, is the burden
of the arguments made with reference
to the easy terms accorded some OF
the debtors. and the argument is ad-
vanced that to push a debtor beyond
his capacity to pay is as silly for the
creditor as it is harmful for the debtor
The opposition TO the foreign debt
settlements is hopeful that American
| taxpayers, and particularly the Amert-
can tarrLOr, who has been hard hit in
recent years and is still not altogether
out OF the woods, will regard these
settlements with disfavor. They will
doubtless be used as talking points
against some of the candidates for the
Senate and the House in the election
campaigns this Fall. There has not
been solid Democratic opposition to
these settlements, by any means, in
either house Of Congress, however,
and, furthermore, they were negoti-
ated by a bipartisan American debt
commission which reported them
unanimously.
Representative Harry 3. Halves,
Democrat, representing the eleventh
congressional district of Missouri, has
burned his bridges behind him. He is
out for the Democratic nomination for
, the Senate and for election to the Sen
ate TO fill the seat once occupied by
ha lufn
and now held by Senator Williams.
Republican, under appointment Of the
governor. Mr.. HaWeS has resigned as
a member Of the House, effective next
Fall
The Missouri primaries take place
August 3. 1t is confidently predicted,
although other candidates for the
nominations are in the field, that
Senator Williams and Mr.. Hawes will
be opponents at the election Novem-
Der 2. Should Mr.. Hawes win, he
takes his seat in the Senate as soon
as that body meets after the election,
since the governors authority to fill
vacancies in the Senate temporarily
extends only until time an election is
held. Senator Spencers term would
have expired March 8, 1927, and he
would have been a candidate for re-
election this Fall Mr.. Hawes and
Senator Williams, therefore, will con-
test not only for the uneXpired short
| term, but also for the long term,
which begins March 4, 1927, and runs
for the succeeding six years. Senator
Williams is one of those Republicans
who opposed day in and day out Amer
lean adherence TO the World Court.
His supporters insist today that his
position on the World Court will be a
large factor in the election campaign.
The World Court, they say, is as un-
popular in Missouri as it apparently
was in Illinois, when Senator Mckin'
! lev who voted for the court. went
down to defeat in the primaries on
| April 13. Mr.. Hawes, unlike Senator
Reed of Missouri, has not been a
| strong opponent of the court.
| X x X
The Democrats in Iowa claim they
occupy a strategic position which Will
| prove much in their favor in the
| senatorial election there this year
While Senator Cummins and former
| Senator Brookhart, not to mention
Howard Clark. prominent Des
Moines attorney, are striving for the
Republican nomination, the Demo
Gratis are trying to make up theil
| minds whether to put forward, as
their nominee for Senator, Claude
| r. Porter of DeS MoineS, former as
sistant Attorney General under the
] Wilson administration and former
counsel for the Federal Trade Com
mission. or Ray Files of Fort Dodge,
who has been prominent in Demo
cratic politics in the State for some
time.
The Democrats figure an advantage
| to their candidate from the Republi
| can dissensionS in the State whichever
way the Republican primaries go
] If Senator CumminS be nominated
then the Democrats hope to win with
the votes of disgrunted Brookhart
| followers. On the other hand, II
| Brookhart be nominated, the Demo
| Gratis look to win with the aid OF
stalwart Republican votes-the same
votes which made it possible for Sen
ator Daniel F. Steck, Democrat, to be
elected in 1924.
Iowa, by the way, is the center ot
the so-called farm revolt against tbs
policies of the administration.
The extent of this so-called farm
revolt is of no inconsiderable impor
| tance to the administration. Some say
it is extensive; some say it isn't. TIL,
revolters are backing the Haugen bill
now pending in the House, and the ad
| miniStration forces are lining up bacl
of the Tincher bill. The Haugen bill
provides s375,OOO,OOO out of the Fed
eral Treasury to handle the expor
surplus corps, with a proposal tha
the operation of the equalization fee
which is to lay an excise tax on th'
farmers to make up to the Govern
ment the amount taken from th'
Treasury to finance the export surplus
crops-be postponed for two years
In other words, Mr.. Tincher of Kan
sas insists in his opposition to tn,
Haugen bill that the 1915, 100000 is t,
be subsidy to the farmers pure ant
simple. The Tincher bill, on the othe
hand, provides a fund of $100,000,00'
which is to be. loaned by the Gov
ernment to farm cooperative asso
Citations to aid in the export of th'
surplus crops. The administration ha