The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-11-11
THE GREAT
GAME OF
POLITICS.
Copyright by the Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by
special permission.
A Test For The President
By FRANK R. KENT

observers believe that fairly early in
the session of Congress to convene
next week there will be an opportunity
to judge Mr.. Roosevelt's attitude to-
ward the 1910 Presidential nominal
ton. They hold that the extent and de-
gree to which he eXerts himself to
make good on his most recent and ap-
parently very earnest declarations
concerning economy, taxation and
budget balancing will be an infallible
indication Of his intentions.
The reasons for regarding it as a
test are clear. While it is true that
every year since his first inauguration
Mr.. Roosevelt has held out the prom
Use of balanced budget and instead
mas consistently increased the debt
and deepened the deficit. In the past
he has always had an eXcuse-not a
sound one, to be sure, but nevertheless
of reasonable plausibility. The pump
had to be primed, the price level had
to be raised, more abundant life"
had to be provided. In the past five
years the incredible sum Of seventeen
billions of dollars has been expended
for these broad, general purposes, a
considerable part of which has been
wasted.
The immense weight of indirect
taxes bears today more heavily upon
the poor than it ever has before, and
the country distinctly is not on its
feet. On the contrary, the present flat
state of business threatens d disaster
that has alarmed every Administra-
ton adviser and brought the President
to a point where his protestations con-
corning Federal finances have ring
of sincerity they heretofore have
lacked. Word has gone down the line
from him that the pump printing days
are over, that in the future every APP
preparation must carry its liquidating
tax, that the equilibrium of the Fed
eral Treasury must be regained-and
without delay.
1t is all very reassuring but it will
be much more solidly so if these ear
nest expressions are followed by
equally earnest action. 1t is the quality
of what he does along these lines
rather than what he says by which the
President will be judged in the next
few months. The only way i'll which
he can make any progress toward a
restoration of national solvency is by
taking two steps, concededly unpopu-
lar with the large groups in which he
has his great political strength. One
of these steps is the reduction of eX-
penses, the other the increase in taxes.
x**
No President can do either without
losing popularity among the classes
affected, but this President, far more
than any other, has built himself up
politically by posing as the national
Santa Claus, lavishly distributing bill
lions for the benefit of the poor; at
the same time promulgating the idea
that the taxes came out of the veal
thy. The point has been reached now
where he can no longer continue do
ing either without extreme danger to
everybody. The high cost of living
daily demonstrates the utter fallacy of
the notion that the rich pay the bill
and the poor ride free. Yet, TO cut off
| the flow of funds and increase the
number of taxpayers is intensely re-
| pugnant to a leader such as Mr..
Roosevelt, who has gone so far in the
other direction and convinced so many
people that there was no limit to the
Government largess and no reason to
worry while the New Deal prevailed.
To reverse himself now may make
him less popular with the classes he
has taught to think that the Govern
ment must take care of them, and Mr..
Roosevelt dearly loves to be popular.
The argument is that if he puts his
| full weight back of his words, cuts and
taxes as he must if he wants to
achieve a balance, it will mean that he
has put politics and personal ambition
| out of his head and is free to do what
he knows ought to be done with all his
might. And if he does not go the limit
for economy atd taxation, if he is per-
functory, as he was in his opposition
to the soldier bonus, if he does not
really fight to get US back or an even
keel, it will be a sure sign that he has
not dismissed politics and that he is
thinking in terms of 1910.
Of course, if he now puts all thought
of politics and popularity from him
and hews to the line, his ultimate place
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