Evening star., 1936-06-24

Senator was quick to pierce the IN
consistencies OF the Republican plat
form at Cleveland. particularly lts
inept handling of the reciprocal trade
agreements. which. despite their Re-
publican origin, are now denounced by
the Republican platform. He mace
the expected defense of spending
az simply the necessary and lneVltaole
corrolary of the relief problem.
One Gross Error.
But Barkley made one gross error
II is unexplainable because his COL
leagues in Congress made the same
mistake and attention was called IN
the newspapers Of the country from
coast to coast at the Time tne
mistake. or rather the trick, involved
in Juggling figures. Yet the misstate-
ment now is repeated in speech as
irportant as the keynote address at
national convention. 1t happened
this way:
The Kentucky Senator spoke OF the
increase in public debt during the
Hoover administration as being about
four billion dollars. Then ne pointed
out that the increase in public deot
during the Roosevelt administration
was about ten and half billion dol
lars. He then said:
when we deduct from the net IN
crease in the public debt the more
than s5,OO0,000,000 which will be re-
psid by those who have borrowed from
fhe Government because of the vii
Iingness or inability of other lending
agencies. we find that the net increase
In the public debt is but little more
than that of the previous admlnlstra-
tion. which had little to show Tor us
extravaganza"
Now what are the facts as they can
be ascertained from the pubic rec
ords?
Deductions for Hoover, Too.
During the Hoover administration
the net increase in debt was about So
10000. 900, but, out of this sum, loans
and other recoverable or repayable as
sets amounted to S2225 900 900, so
that, if there is any deducting done, 1t
should be done as of March 4, 1888. in
order that the comparison with the
succeeding administration may be ac-
curate.
In other words, the Hoover net debt
increase would then be about sl,775,-
100000, and the Roosevelt debt in
crease would be s7,725, 900, 900, or more
than four times the Hoover net debt
increase.
Four times a certain sum is hardly |
describable as but little more yet |
Senator Barkley can hardly be blamed |
for assuming his figures were correct, |
as they were no doubt furnished him |
by the publicity experts as Substi- |
tute for the three long years" theme |
song of the Republican Convention. |
The Kentucky Senator emphasized |
that the "12 long years" of the Repub-
lican administration would be COM
pared in the campaign with the three
long years" of Democratic rule.
A Break for Republicans.
The Republican chieftains will prob
ably welcome the comparison. For,
taking the II long years as meaSur-
ing unit. the Republicans reduced the
public debt by having a total surplus
over expenses Of around S5,000,000 900.
Also, if the Republicans are permitted
to use II long years as basis of COM
parison, it will be found that wages
and incomes reached the highest level
In American history, and so did gain
full employment
Likewise. Barkley's proposed defini-
ton of IAN object of interstate COM
merce" as being every article that is
grown or mined or fabricated in one
State and destined for another by
whatever means of transportation
simply announces that, when the Con-
stitution is ever amended to validate
that definition, the Federal Govern
ment, byreaSon of its right to regulate
interstate commerce, will have as COM
plete control over the business, manu-
featuring, agriculture and labor of the
United States as any Fascist govern
fnent in Europe.
On this point the campaign will hear
q good deal spoken, for 1t is the basic
philosophy of the new federalism
which is espoused by the New Deal.
While Senator Barkley delivered the
deeper and more penetrating criticism
of the opposition party's platform and
promises, the palm must be handed to
Postmaster General Farley for political
suavity AS he stood before the dele
gates with his typical Tammany tones
of voice, he looked the part of the old
fashioned political boss of the Charlie
Murphy, Tom Taggart and Jim Smith
days of Democratic politics. But they
never had a chance to ascend the ros-
trum.
The Postmaster General, who is
also chairman of the Democratic Ma :
tional Committee. incidentally made :
a slip almost as bad as that of Sena-
tor Barkley. He said:
Behind the Republican ticket is {
the crew Of the du Pont Liberty
League and their allies, which have
80 far financed every undercover
agency that has disgraced American {
politics with their appeals to race s
prejudice. religious intolerance, ETC."
Flashback to 1928.
Farley forgot that the du Points
financed the Democratic party be- 7
tween 1928 and 1882 and some of /
them gave substantially to the Roose- {
welt campaign. Also 1t will be noted c
that John Raskob, who is now promi- i
nent in the Liberty League, was Far I
leys predecessor as chairman of the c
Democratic National Committee and h
Alfred e. Smith probably will testify il
that he was beaten for the presidency ]
in 1923 by religious intolerance and o
it was not financed by his supporters, p
the du Points, either. a
But the delegates applauded Far n
S~x- ~,,,m tS,>s q A.,n nNra ftoSa