Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1934-02-22
National Topics Interpreted

Same Sf;cb do any shouting In
the campaign next
fall about the graft and corruption
that has taken place while the other
party Is In power. The clothing of
each party bears indelible stains on
that score. and II one could overlook
the serious character of the malfeas-
ance that has taken place. there might
be occasion for a laugh. That Is to
say, neither party can point the finger
Of scorn at the other and plead purity
before the voters.
Just as Senator Black of Alabama,
Democrat, head of senate investi-
eating committee, turns up some ''pay
dirt" in digging into fraud In the
award of ocean mail and air mail con-
tracts under the Hoover administra-
| ton, District of Columbia grand jury
turns out indictments charging fraud
In the award of contracts for the pur-
chase of millions of dollars worth of
motor trucks for the army under the
Roosevelt administration. Actually,
the disclosures came within "a hours
Of each other, although naturally the
Black discoveries were of incidents
that took place about two years ago.
1t does not change the picture, how
ever, from the political standpoint.
Each party has found slime in its own
household, and neither can deny it be-
fore the voters next November.
In addition to the motor contract
fraud charges that the Democrats
must explain away, there have been
numerous cases throughout the coun-
try of petty graft in connection with
Civil Works administration affairs.
None OF these have been of more than
local consequence in that they usually
involved only one or two persons hard
ly known outside of their own commu-
mites, but they have made up In num-
bers that which they lacked In size.
And from the partisan standpoint, they
constitute the basis of trouble for the
party in power when they occur. The
reason is that the average person in
those communities will know all about
/ that kind of crookedness. whereas a
gigantic conspiracy Of the type al
legged in the air mail contracts or those
involving the motor trucks seems
rather outside of the picture because
they have no local connections. In
other words, we don't know the people
concerned.
But, the President has moved with
considerable speed on the charges in
each instance. He ordered Postmas-
ter General Farley to cancel the air
mail contracts, not one but all of them.
and turned the job of carrying the air
mail over to the army. He ordered
Attorney General Cummings to go aft
er the alleged crookedness in the motor
truck case, with the resulting indict-
ments. All Of which seems to give the
present administration the advantage
In the political battles that may be
expected in the campaign. yet the opin-
ions l hear around Washington do not
support that view. The observers and
analysts insist that neither political
party can make much use of the ar
gument about fraud without stirring
up a fresh mess for itself.
There Is, and always has been, a
sharp difference of views about grant
ing subsidies for
Mail carrying the air
Subsidies main and the ocean
mail. Aside from
the fraud charges, it appears there is
natural basis upon which opinion
may be divided. Roughly, those who
favor the subsidies do so because it
Is the one way in which our govern
ment may encourage by direct aid the
expansion Of an industry. Those who
favor subsidies point out, for exam
pie, that the millennium has not been
reached and that war Is not banished
from the earth. Why. then. they ask,
should not the air craft industry and
the shipping industry be encouraged to
go ahead, develop, expand, experiment,
produce bigger and better ships and
planes? II there be war; those ships
and those planes are available for gov
eminent service. They are built; they
are ready. and the government can
command them. Besides, II there be
war. the industries concerned will
have plants and equipment and plans.
Production of ships and planes for war
can go forward at wartime speed.
Thus. say the subsidy advocates, sub
sides for air mail and for ocean mail
actually are for defense Of the realm
in their full effect.
Then. there Is the question of Amer
lean predominance In the field Of COM
merce. Other nations substitute their
shipping, their air craft industry. 1t is
only by use of the subsidies, which
means paying more for the service rem
dered than 1t actually is worth, can we
keep pace with foreign nations In
those two fields.
As a matter of cold fact, the use of
subsidies is the reason why the Amer.
lean air craft industry has grown and
now equals or exceeds the same indus.
try anywhere else in the world. AS
further matter Of fact, the use of sub
sides has kept good deal Of Amer.
lean shipping alive and, thereby. has
kept American exporters from falling
into the clutches of foreign shipping
companies who would have no compe-