Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-02


Haugen farm-aid bill, which is as
sumed to have contributed TO the
failure of that measure in Congress.
gave new material for the argument
over the tariff system and its rela-
ton TO the agricultural problem. The
Secretary, writing in response TO an
inquiry from farm interests, object
ed to the principle of the Haugen
bill saying it would result in higher
prices of the farmers products at
the expense of the country at large.
Analysing the attitude of Secretary
Mellon, the New York World Gnde-
pendent Democratic) says: He would
not lift a finger to make money out
of his official position; he would not
consciously suit his policy TO his
own advantage. There is every rea-
son to think that he honestly be-
lieves every one of his policies is
for the benefit of the Nation and
that he always acts with the sense
of being high minded. And yet,
curiously enough, the net result,
stripped of all the ornaments, is al
ways exactly the program of the
most hardboiled section of Penn
sylvania big business"
The Dayton Daily News Demo
cratic) adds that 80 far as the analy-
sis of the farm bill, given in a let
ter to Representative Haugen, the
original author, is concerned, it has
been made in the manner charac-
teristic of the Secretary of the
Treasury, unanswerable from the
standpoint of economies and COM
plete in statistical detail. So far as
it went" continues the News. the
The Haugen plan undoubtedly is
wrong in principle, because 1t would
lay a tax on the American consum-
err. But the tariff also lays a tax
on the consumer. and Mr.. Mellon
said nothing about that. He has
lectured the farmers for wanting
what he and his associates have de-
manded and secured. The farmer has
made appeal and lost; when next he
comes, it will be with a demand
which may not be denied.
x x \
Secretary Mellon" in the opinion
Of the Des Moines Tribune Gnde-
pendent Republican,, has not made
it any easier to get ready for 1928
by what he has said. and the Presi-
dent, by letting the Secretary do the
talking, Is greatly minimizing his
own and Republican chances" The
Waterloo Tribune independently up
holds the farmers position with the
statement: steel sells abroad,
freight paid, cheaper than II does
at home, yet the Secretary thinks
this perfectly all right Why is it
different to sell corn or cotton
cheaper abroad than at home. when
this is done in steel and other prod
ucts? Steel and other products are
organized to do it on their own ac-
count. The producers are not. There
Is where the Government would
come in-help finance the morgan
lied to do the same thing that or
ganized business Is doing. with the
Governments help by its keeping the
products of other countries out by
way of the tariff"
"The farmer inquired for the reac-
ton of the Haugen bill on agricul-
ture," says the Chicago Tribune dnde-
pendent Republican,, but Mr.. Mellon
described it's reaction on Eastern 1ndus-
try 1t is true that industry and agrl-
culture must both be prosperous II the
country as a whole is to prosper. but
the prosperity must be simultaneous
and parallel If industry must suffer
slightly that the farmer may benent
a little, that, as agriculture sees 1t, is
no more than fair" The Davenport
Democrat Democratic) adds its com
ment that 1.-THE farmers will be right
in concluding that Mr.. Mellon, IKE
any other man blinded by class in.
terest and self-interest, approves OF
special privileges for. himself which
he would deny to others
X X X X
1.-THE statement of Secretary Mel
lon," in the judgment of the New York
Evening Post independently, 'undoubt-
edly played a significant part in bring
ing about the final result. as did also
the speech Of Senator Glass of V1r-
ginia. The Coolidge administration &C.
cepted the responsibility for fighting
this dangerous economic fallacy, and
will proudly accept responsibility for
it's defeat" The Philadelphia Evening
Bulletin independent Republican, also
approves the result with the assertion
that 1.-The grain growers of the West
will be saved from disastrous disap-
pointment, and the country, at large
from a burden of lost money and un-
necessarily high prices. and also from