Evening star., 1932-10-20


tcrate"
bring the millennium of abolished pow
erty) came the complete collapse OF the
1890 and 1890 administration fScal
policy.
Truth Leaked Out Later.
The truth abcut tire sha.tering effcc.
CT all these hoTing here's es b-gcn to
leak out cs the Summer of 1881 ed
vanced. 1t is my opinion that In the
conduct of national finances. as in the
conduct of corporation finances, or
family budgets. if things are not going
as we'll as one had hoped, it is far better
to face the truth than to try to hide
it. That is why it was far more harm
full to the Nation last Autumn, and all
through this year, to have the facts
leak out than it would have been to
have had them boldly and frankly dis
closed 10 us when they were actually
happening.
My friends. the result of such COM
bination of disquieting revelations was
inevitable The very basis of conf
dence in our economic and financial
structure both here and abroad was i'm
paired. A fresh wave of liquidation
ensued. Foreigners took gold back to
their now shattered backward and
crippled countries a ccol billion
had been drawn from our reserves. 1t
was the stygian climax to the black
business year of 1881.
I emphasize this history because our
opponents have now become almost
frantic in their insistence that this en-
tire sequence originated abroad-that
no American policy was in the least to
blame, and that to say otherwise is
what they call "hideous misreDresenta-
ton" The foreign cause" alibi Is like
ascribing measles to its spots rather
than to its Characteristic germs.
Grundy Tariff Hit.
No we need not look abroad for
scapegoats. We had ventured into the
economic stratosphere on the wings OF
Mr., Hoover's novel, radical and un-
orthodox economic theories OF 1928
the complete collapse of which brought
the real crash in 1881. The Grundy
tariff accentuated the drop. AS hard
reality rushed up to meet our fall. TINS
administration did not see fit to adapt
its fiscal policies to this inevitable con-
sequence. 1t is a responsibility which
no campaign alibi can avert, and to-
dav the day of reckoning is here.
TIE recent administration strategy
in this campaign is a direct appeal to
public sympathy for their agony oi
spirit in the dark hours Of 1872,
when retribution for our chasing after
strange economic gods overlook US
They protest against any assessment OF
Just blame. But they protest in vain:
/ want to say, with all sincerity. that
I recite this record with reluctance. No
man with a spark of humanity can
fail to sympathize with our responsible
leaders in hours of crisis. Politics or
no politics, I pay my tribute to the de-
votion OF the President. 1t Is not true
to say that he has not been unremit-
ting in his efforts, and I for one have
never heard it said. But I do indict
his administration for wrong action
for delayed action. and for lack OF
franknes5 and courage. Before the ad-
ministration partisans complain OF this
arraignlnent, they must remember that
the American people are now about to
exercise their democratic right OF self-
determination of their own fate and
future. They must make choice. The
administrations appeal for sympathy Is
not based on anv frank acknowlede-
ment of the failure of policies sc
clearly portrayed by these tragic events
It. is, on the contrary, denial that
these principles have failed. Indeed. it
persists in the same course and even
pres,lmes to ask admiration for the
stubborn ruggedness of that persist
ence.
New Phase Entered.
In such circumstances I should fail
utterly in my duty to the American
people If did not fearlessly portray
1;y11r n
the havoc which they have brought
and which they threaten to continue.
The Autumn of 1881 witnessed. then,
the complete wreckage of the admin
istratior program to that date-the col
lapse of its entire economic philosophy.
The convening of the Seventy-second
Congress last December marked a new
phase. The President appeared with
his December. 1881, budget message.
That was a fateful moment. That was
the time for an honest demonstration
to the world that might have set the
whole world trend of economic events
in an upward direction, or at least
checked the decline. All that it wa1
necessary to do was finally to end the
two years of vascillation and secretive-
ness-to tell the truth to the Congress
of the United State5-to relv on it to
balance the budget and establish Amer
ican credit in the eyes OF all the world
This administration specifically &C
knowledged the necessity for that. II
said it was going to balance the cudget
Then it said it was balancing the bud.
get, and finally, it said it had balanced
the budget, and now, months later, it
insists that because it has balanced the
budget, it has saved the Gibraltar OF
world stability and prevented the over
throw Of our form of government. II
all this is true, the administration has
cone well. If it is not true, then the
administration stands convicted of g
pew and fatal trif1ing with the welfare
CT our people and the credit of our
country.
Quotes Treasury Statement.
Let us not waste words. I now quot
from the daily Treasury statement at
the end Of the first quarter OF the cur
rent fiscal year. made three weeks ago
on September 80, 1882:
Excess Of expenditures ove- racs-pas
402,013,0o2."
For the corresponding Gu1rser CT las
wear the deficit was only $3.50, ass, ,564
out at the md of the year y was s2,a33,'
COO. 900. There is, thcr fore. strong In
ger:ng deficit. If tie present rate con-
tinues. the true deficit as of June 8
next year will be o"er 81 100000 900
not as large as it was in the unprece-
dented fiscal year of 1882, but so great
that it makes us catch our breath.
regret to say that the appeal OF this
administration for applause for it
soundness and courage last Winter Is
simplv not based on facts. The bIcge,
is not balanced and the whole -]ot
must be dcne over again in the mex;
session of Congress. Who is to blame
that question better than to refer yoa
to the dispassionate review of the last
session of Congress, made last Friea7
by my running mate, the Speaker ol
the House, John Gamer. No cne wne
win take the trouble to read that speech
will doubt that the patriotic determine.
tion of a willing Congress to balance
this budget at any cost was frustrated
by the same kind of concealment ano
vo ciIIation that produced the Stagg 2-ine