Evening star., 1926-03-24
Politics at Large
BY e.. Could Lincoln

What may be regarded as the key
note speech OF the Democratic cam
paign for the congressional elections
was delivered today before the Demo
cratic State convention at Portland
Me-. by Representative William ~
Oldiield OF Arkansas, chairman OF the
Democratic national congressiOnal
committee and Democratic whip of
the House. In his address, Mr.. Old
field labeled the tariff as the out
standing issue Of our party and he
proceeded to tell his Democratic audi.
ence the iniquities of the Fordney
McCumber tariff act, declaring they
placed a $4,000 900 900 annual burden
on the shoulders of the consumers oi
the country and also have resulted III
the formation Of monopOlies by Tor
eign countrieS--as in the case OF cofree
and 1lIbber-which hold up the Amer
lean consumer for millions OF dollars
Mr. Oldtield mentioned other issues
as follows: 1.-The do-nothing attitude OF
the Republican Congress and admins
tration," "the abuse of his appointino
power by the President and the
complete domination of the adInints'
tration by the ultra-rich and heavy
campaign contributors to the Repub
lican party" He took a shot at the
administration OH it's failure to inter
vene in the anthracite strike.
| n X *
The picture drawn by Mr.. Oldfield
with regard TO conditions in this coun-
try under the Republican administra'
ton differs vastly from that painted
by the head of the Republican party,
President Coolidge. in recent ad-
dresses. and the voters of Maine are
| iaf {a h.at
Oldfleld denied the country is eH-
periencinG general prosperity. lie
denied that the administration is prac-
ticing the strictest ecOnomy'--in fact,
he denied everything that IS claimed
by the Republican leaders. lie In
sisted that business was good only IN
spots" charging that the agricultural
industry was being destroyed. that
the textile mills and shoe mills III
New England were running only part
time. In fact, the picture painted by
Mr.. Oldfield of conditions in this coun'
try under Republican rule, when 1t
comes to gloom. suffers nothing when
compared to recently published re
ports of conditions in Europe under
the Lea que of Nations. There are
plenty of political observers who are
predicting that until conditions In the
United States actually become very,
very gloomy. there is little chance for
a victory by the Democrats.
= Il X y
The Maine elections come in sep.
! tember. the only State left which
does not conform TO the general rule
of November elections. AS Maine
| goes. so goes the Nation. has been
| a tradition for years-thOugh 1t has
not always been truly indicative of the
rest of the country. However, II must
usually be considered more than a
| straw in the wind. and the Demo
Gratis are going to do their "durndest
this year to make a good showing
there At present the State is repre-
| sented in Congress by two Repubilcdn
Senators and four Republican Repre-.
sentatives, an entire Republican dele
CATION. In the election in 1924 Presi
dent Coolidge ran so far ahead of
John W. Davis and the late Senator
La Toilette in Maine that there was
nothing to it," He received about
lac. 600 votes to 45 900 for Davis and
II 900 for La Toilette, using round
numbers If the Democrats are to &C
complish victories in the elections oil
the four members of the House there
must be quite a turnover this year.
Mr.. Oldfield in his Maine address
flayed the Republicans in Congress
for not doing something for the
! farmers. 1t appears now that the
Dickinson bill, advocated by many or
the farmer organizations. is not going
to get far. probably not out of the
| House committee. But the Repub-
liCans believe they have the farmers
| with them, and they feel that there
| is little danger of the farm vote III
the West turning to the Democrats.
While Mr.. Oldheld was inveighins
against the Republican tariff in
Maine. the Southern Tariff Associa.
ton was giving out statement here
declaring that the South Is deter
| mined to hold all the protection the
| Fordney- -McCumber tariff act gave 1t
and wants more of it." This was
! demonstrated. the statement said. by
the filing with the Tariff Commission
of a request from the governors of
nine Southern states by l.. Il. Jack
son. manager of the Georgia Bureau
of Markets. that the duty on veSeta-
bic oil be not reduced. An application
for a reduction of so per cent in the
duty on vegetable oil has been filed
with the commission by soap manu-
facturers. under the flexible provi'
sions of the tariff act.
Secretary James j. Davis Of the
Department of Labor has officially set
at rest reports that he intended tC
run for the Republican nomination
for Governor of Pennsylvania In the
primaries in May. He is not going &c
run, He has informed his friends ir
i the keystone state that he has beer
| requested by President Coolidge tc
remain on the job as a member oi
( ind SpCre
tarv of Labor to fill Mr.. Davis place
would be a tough job for the admins
trntion. and the decision of Mr.. Davis
to remain in office cannot but be graft
flying to his chief.
The senatorial campaign in Penn
| syivania is swiftly under way. Sena
tor Pepper and Gov. Pinchot have Sc
; far provided most of the pepper II
, the contest, issuing statements anC
writing letters in the vernacular II
which they discuss the lack of quail
fication Of other candidates thar
themselves. Senator Pepper, II !:
reported, has thrust into verse, as FOL
! lows:
"All you
: Upstate folk beware,
\ vote for Pinchot
Is a vote for Ware
Senator Pepper seems to be angling
for the dry votes. which ordinarily
would go to Gov. Pinchot. by tryin&
to convince the voters that failure
to support Pepper might mean vic
tory for the Philadelphia machine
boss, Mr.. Ware, who is running OIL
an out-and-out wet platform. The
MELONS have burned their bridge!
behind them and stand solidly out
for Pepper, as was expected. Incl