Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-14
By the ASSOCIATED Pres.

| puolISOS CUlluldlOI1S ana attempting u
saddle upon the Democratic party al
blame for industrial depression ant
business conditions over which no polit.
zeal party could exercise any control
Running true to form, they are TODAY
| making dire predictions as to what vii
happen to the country in the event O.
Democratic victory.
II the American people will thinl
back over history, they will find finan.
! cial panics and business depression,
have been as frequent in Republican Ad
n1i11istrations as they have been ir
Democratic administrations. If In thu
administration of Grover Cleveland thu
country passed through some tryins
moments. 1t must be borne in mind thai
the crash came too soon after Inaugural
ton to be recognized as anything else
, than a heritage from President Harri-
son. A panic occurred in the admins.
tratiol OF President Roosevelt In 1907
three years after his election, The fact
Is that the most effective guaranty
against panics ever enacted by law was
the Federal Reserve act passed In the
Wilson administration, which the pres
ent Republican Secretary Of the Treas
ury acknowledges gave the country the
soundest financial structure in It's his
tory and is one Of the most irf1por-
tant factors in the effort toward world
Sterilization"
Republicans Opposed Measure.
Incidentally. let me say that the
Republicans gave but little encourage
nfent to this great measure When II
came up In the Senate originally for
passage. only three Republican Sena-
tors voted for IL and but one came
from state east Of the Mississippi
The Republican party seems to be
represent this condition. There was
no business depression in the first
four years Of the administration OF
President Wilson. The fact is business
was suff1ciently prosperous to warrant
the American people in re-electins
President Wilson
The long history of the Republican,
party discloseS that its tariff argument
is used to cover multitude of sirla,
When presented with any other great
issue the Republican party does not
seriously stress the tariff. Let us look
at the tariff plank of the Republican
platform in 1920. 1t contains but seven
Inns, and it refers to the tine-worn
expression of protection to American
industry as though that were some
thing that belonged exclusively to the
Republican party. Four years later,
however, there is an entirely different
story to tell. Looking for the campaign
issue and in an endeavor TO smoke
screen the black record from 1920 to
1924, we And whole pages Of the Re-
publican platform devoted to the plank
on tariffs In 1923 we find them again
claiming credit for business prosperity
beyond a point where 1t would be pos
sible for any political party to claim
the credit for II. Pages of the plat.
form are again devoted to the subject
of the tariff and the time bugaboo
Is again resurrested IN an attempt to
scare business men and working men
generally and to threaten dire results
to the country and its business pros
perity in the event Of Democratic suc-
cess.
Shines UP Full Dinner Pail"
The old gentleman with his Prince
Al6ert coat. synibo!izing the G. o. P.
is found in the garnet Of the Republican
household shining up the old fun
dinner pail" and acting as though in
the past 3S years the American people
have gained no knowledge upon this
subject and ccntenting himself with the
belief that the American public con-
tinues to pay attention to the fallacy
that Democratic success means general
business depression.
The Republican party and the Re-
publican candidate would have us be-
iieve that the fact that we have COM
parativeiy high level of wages In in
dustry today is the barometer OF
prosperity In the country. This I deny
Aval 80 A "a DAN,rtAliaAa AxaAiAA A q
word for 1t when In his speech OF ac-
ceptance he said:
although the agricultural, coal and
textile industries still lag in their re-
covery, and still require our solicitude
and assistance. they have made SUBJ
stantial progress"
i, What Is the progress and where has
1t been noted? Certainly not tn agricul-
ture. If the Republican platform Is
right, because It, recognizes the dire
distress Of our citizens engaged in that
industry, incidentally one-third of the
whole population of the United States.
The Republican slogan, mo Republican
tariff ever nortsaged farm" does not
make much of a hit IN the corn belt
and in the wheat country.
o." Textile Industries Hit.
The textile industries are In strait
ened financial circumstances and it Is
rumored that the proposed speech of
tbs Republican candidate In the city
of Boston Is intended as en- attempt to
comfort those engaged in that industry
In the New England States. What
ever may be our wealth In spots, no.
body can claim with any degree of
justice that our whole people are pass
ing through a great period Of pros
perity, when a debate in the Senate
last Winter brought to the front a
statement, not successfully challenged
or ccntradicted, that 100000 men out
of work, representing with their de-
pendents upward of 100000 people,
were suffering distress because Of I'M
employment. Certainly nobody can
say that we are passing through a pc
Rod of wonderful prosperity when there
IS recorded $50 bank failures last year
with total liabilities of over $27o.0O0.-
600, almost entirely In the agricultural
regions, as compared with 40 such fail
ures during the last year of the Will
farm people are being driven from
their homes at the rate of about 1,0o0,-
900 per annun.
Lie HepuDHCan party struggles har0
to make us believe that they are Ell
titled to the credit for the new standard
of American wages and American liv-
ing conditions, It requires but the ex-
! ercise of ordinary common sense 10
! know that this standard of wages and
Of living conditions was fixed DURING
the war and during the administra-
ton of President Wilson. In the first
place. the war meant a cessation OF
immigration. THAI naturally narrowed
| the American labor market In the
second place. the war paraly.ed for
eign competition and that left a free
/ field for American production. From
both conditions there grew new Amer
/ lean prosperity and an unexpected en-
| largement of our domestic market. L,
the meantime. the prosperity of the
rest of the world vanished. The result
| was that the whole American economic
structure during the Wilson admins
/ IN NI