Evening star., 1926-03-07
CONSTITUTION AS ISSUE
OF 2 NEW PARTIES SEEN
Little More Than Names Mark Differ
ence of Present Political Divisions.
Both Seeking Live Platforms.

changing conditions. and then by the
! appointment of Tariff Commission
and adoption of the So-called elastic
! tariff" this subject no longer affords
! the same opportunity for political
| division as formerly.
While. under the Constitution. the
| making of tariff must always be n
! prerogative of Congress. and there
| fore subject to political mutations.
, economically ii has been removed. at
least in the minds of the people, as a
| bone of contention.
Old Labor Appeal Gone.
Nor does the old Republican slogan
| of protection of American labor,
American industry and American
! farmers any longer serve as a rally
! ing cry. This is equally true of the
| Democratic talisman of a tariff for
! revenue only" or a tariff for revenue
| with incidental protection. American
skilled labor through organization
| feels itself amply able to fight its
own battles and take care of itself
without any artificial props. So
labor no longer responds to the APP
! peal as it did i'm the old days when
/ it's Docketbook nerve was touched
! by the charge that the tariff in the
! last analysis meant the wage en-
| Velope.
American labor is further pro-
| teCted by our immigra ton laws. 1t
! was not enough To keep out the
| product of foreign labor but il be-
| came necessary to keep out foreign
| labor itself from competition with
| skilled and comparatively high paid
domestic labor.
Hence. we find that the tariff queS
| tion, SO prolific q source of partisan
! ship has lost much of its savor and
charm-and what else have we upon
which political parties might divide"
The question of taxation or its re-
ductiOn. has just been removed from
the political arena hy the non-par-
tisan bill passed with practical
unanimity by Congress. Upon the
subject of economy in governmental
expenditures we find the pla tformS
of all political parties proclaim for
retrenchment in expenditures and for
a buSinesS-like budget. The cur
rencY. which at different times in our
history has supplied a live political
issue IS. no longer in the realm of
mooted questions. The Federal re-
serve act. the result of many years
of Ia Dor on the part of both parties.
and the perfecting amendments to
that act. have placed us securely
All our circulating medium and its
distribution.
Scramblinc of Parties.
What then shall divide men and
women in their political utilization and
en2ender partisan animosities, other
than natural predictions. mostly in
herited. for one party or another?
This question is not easy to answer.
hat IN, . I,n .i.rtn Of -
men and women in and out of Con
gress the time is rapidly approaching.
if it has not already come. when par
isanShip will he revived by the SCram-
bling of present-day parties. and then
reorga nization into two other great po-
litical agencies. one including within
it's membership the conservative ele
ment and the other embracing the
moderately radical elements.
Such parties would not he. sectional.
The line of cleavage would he diagonal
rather than horizontal. In Congress
To-Day may be found men of the North
and men of the South who are in
actual harmony with respect to the
fundamental principles of govern
ment as they understand them to be
embodied in the Constitution. These
men feel that late practices, for which
both political parties are in part re
from the old ships moorinES and into
dangerous shoals and rocks, away ont
OF our course shoals and rocks upon
which other nations. more or less ia
NOred than ours. have gone to pieces.
ON he other ha nd. there are men in
Congress who are representative Of
widespread feeling in the country in
favor of giving Congress greater pow
ers. In favor of more ces1traliZa ton of
government and less regard for our
dual syStem--State and National.
These men argue that State lines are
broken down. that they are more theo-
retical than actual and that tranSpOr-
tation and other modern facilities have
so annihilated space and there has
been already such close union and CO
operation between the Federal Gov
ernment and the States in respect to
So many matters which in their iudg
ment have proved beneficial that they
would still further expand the powers
of he National Government. diSclaim-
ing at the same time that they are es-
tablishing state socialism.
They Are Progressives.
They regard themselves as moder-
ately radical. or, to Use a much abused
term, Progressive"
Conservatives in both the present
political parties deny reactionarN
tendencies and claim for themselves
a truly progressive spirit. But they
say they want progress with order
and orderly progress, which to their
minds means they want to return to
a government under the Constitution
which would restore to the States their
powers over local matters and leave
to the Congress, with provisions for
fairly liberal Interpretation, those
specific powers-and none others
granted to Congress by the Constitu-
tion.
1t may we'll he conceived, therefore
that we may emerge from this modern
era of good feeling when the lines of
battle between the two great parties
are ill.defined. and enter upon a new
era ot partisa anship--non- sectional
the great issue being as to whether
we shall continue to function upon
the principles wrought out by the
founding fathers. or shall go still
further outside of the Constitution
and continue to change slowly but
surely our form of government from
on the one hand. or a strong central
government with autoCratic tend
pncies. on the other?
Some years ago we used to live
strictly by the Constitution, but talked
today we are talking great deal
getting further away from it in our
lives.
What shall the harvest be?