Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-20
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

will somebody please raise the tune
of The Worlds Upside Down'?'
That song was familiar to American
patriots at the time of the surrender
of CORVALLIS at Yorktown. when the
news seemed so truly revolutionary as
to be almost unbelievable Now again
THE Worlds Upside Down." since the
Solid South" and the Democratic
party platform afe upholding the prin-
ciple of protective tariff for the benefit
of American labor Heretofore, only
Republicans dared advocate such a
doctrine, for which they were duly
mathematical as the alleged protectors
of American monopolies" with their
high cost of living"
The 1928 Democratic platform con-
tains startling modification to the eff
feet that "the tariff should be measured
by the difference in cost of production
at home and abroad"-which is the
historic position of such protectionists
as Clay, Blaine Mckinley, Dingley
Fordney and McCumber.
There has been considerable specula-
ton of election prophets as to how far
Mr. Hoover can break into the Solid
South" Explanations have been vouch-
safed to the effect that the South is
conscientious about eccleSlaStics and
temperance, hence it will support Mr..
Hoover to surprising degree, but little
has been said of the development of
the industrial South which is awaking
to the Importance of home market
for its factories, with consequent Stabi-
lization of employment and wages.
Last June, James w. Gerard treas
urer of the Democratic national COM
mittee and former Ambassador to Ger
many, declared: The tariff is no longer
partisan political issue, and ought not
to be so regarded by the people and the
Democratic party. / am one of many
Democrats who are not afraid to say
that protection without robbery Sched-
ules is essential to industrial prosperity
and the continued employment OF
labor"
His years of residence in what was
then the leading industrial country OF
Europe gave him an insight into the
unfair competition faced by American
industry at American wages and scale
of living. He saw that we could not
pay So to $40 day wages against Ger
many's 50 or SO and expect to sell as
cheaply in our own market. If we ad-
mitted the German goods in COMPETE
ton, we would be forced to come down
to European rates of wages.
So long as the South was dominated
by its agriculture, without factories, 1t
wanted manufactured goods at lowest
possible cost, even if produced abroad.
But the Houston platform. accepting
the principle of protection to American
wages, was drawn up by such outstand-
ing Southerners as Senator Caraway
of Arkansas, Senator Tydings of Mary
Do Ia Of
sippi Senator Blease of South Carolina,
Senator Glass of Virginia ard former
secretary of the Navy Josephus
Daniels of North Carolina.
Agreeing with Ambassador Gerard,
! the Manufacturers Record, the leading
Southern magazine of industry, pub
! fishes upon its cover of the September
number an eloquent appeal to break
| up all sectionalism and declare for
Americanism. on the ground that pros
| perlty and patriotism demand a broad
err recognition that this Is one country
and not two-no longer South and a
North, but all American.
| The editor, Richard H. Edmonds, a
loyal Southerner of Baltimore, says in
his appeal:
What blessed thing it would be
for this country, and pre-eminently for
the South, If the people of this section
could say, I am not Virginian, nor
Carolinian, nor Georgian nor a Texan
first, but first an American! America
| is my country and I glory in all its
achievements, and can sing with hearth
ness My Country IT'S of Thee, Sweet
Land of Liberty.
Viewed from the business standpoint
alone, the politicians of the South to-
day are doing all in their power to