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The Commoner
, ffiok 21, NO. 10
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ofllcors. Whon thoy got charge a swarm of prof
iteers gathered in Washington hunting contracts,
fastening unfair bargains on the government,
md robbing the people -while our boys were uy
ing on the fields of Prance. It is idle to charge
that those men wore Democrats. The army of
ficers have never wanted to surrender the pow
er placed in their hands during the war, and the
Republicans in this House have beon their
staunchost defenders in their efforts to main
tain that power. Every time there has beon a
reduction in the army or navy appropriations, or
in- tho sjse of the army or navy, Democrats in
this House havo forced it.
Aftor all that could bo done by those of us
who were trying to break the hold of the oiriiiy
ofilcprs and relieve the people from the burdens
and" oxtrnvagance brought on by the war and
navy departments, tho present Socretary of the
Treasury says that wo are to spend for the pres
ent fiscal year more than $1,000,000,000' on the
military establishment of the country, and in the
face of these statements you have tho face to
talk about economy and reduction of taxation!
The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Fordney)
indulges in unkindly criticism of President Wil
son and the peace conference at Paris. I did
not think President Wilson should have gone to
Paris, ar(d I'said so then. But at that time tho
eyes of evory nation on earth wore fixed upon
him. 4 He was tho outstanding, dominating fig
ure of the World. Not a man on your side of the
aisle dared to open his mouth in criticism. I do
not know of a more serious indictment ever
brought againat your party than youradmisslon
that you failed to function even as an opposi-
tion party. "Heaven alone knows what will be
come of tlie Country if you have complete con
trol of it Very long.
When we entered the war we committed our
selves to the policy of conscription to raise an
army, and we. determined' to tax tho wealth of
tho country irt financing the war. The gentle
man says tho war is over.' ' J deny it. The fight
ing is over. ' Our boys have done their part, and
thoy did it, nobly. They , have finished the job
wo gave them. They wrote a glorious page in
the records of this Republic which will bo read
through succeeding centuries.' If one of those
boys had complained against those to whom he
owed obedioiice, ho would have been court
martialed. Ifrho had runaway from tho duties
Imposed upon him. ho Would have '.been tried
fbr desertion-and shot, The financial burdens, of
the war havo not been d'scharged. Pay day is
at hand. I Will not say that all the millionaires
nnd multimillionaires may bo so classed, but
every profiteer who is now seeking to1 shirk hfs
duty 'to tlio government should be' branded as' a
selfish, Cowardly deserter. '
It would be an everlasting' shame,' a stigma
upon every man responsible f6r it in any posi
tion; high oi Ibw, to allow' Jthesb men to! take ad
vantage of watf to accumulate billions while our
boys were facing Gorman shells and passes and
thousands of them dying to Vindicate tho sover
' eignty of? out government, "and then be allowed
'to "pocket their billions, leaving the boys who
fought the war to stagger- under a bonded debt
tho rest of their lives. ' '
The "American people are, not going to stand
toiit, gent omen. What are you saying to.;the
, boys Who f.ouglit the war in answer to tho ap
peal for assistance to tido them over the dis
tressed period following the conflict? Your an
swer is. that the government must economize.
But you are spending a billion a year on the!
army and navy half of it unwisely and unnec
essarily. .And ydu are granting relief of over
half a bJUlon a year to those who made their
billions during the war apd much of ,it by rea
son of tho war, ,
tJ reS V10 gentleman from Michigan
$rT't$!FdnfV tot one of. the great mistakes of
the Wilson administration was taking over tho
railroads. But. It was not a party matter- it
was done because it was, thought necessary to
the successful conduct of the war. The Wilson
administration took over he roads and operated
them during the stress and excitement of war
and, of course, it proved expensive. A Renub-
""S88 ?mZ of peacQ iberately re
stored the roads to the control of the owners
but continued government liability. Under the
guaranty in the bill which a Republican con!
gross- passed the government lpst in a ierlod
of six months nearly $1,000,000,000, to say
noting of the incroas.ed charges imposed by S
roads during that time under the provision lr
me same bil,l, amounting to nearly $10?0 000,-
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.' TInj government took over the rallrnnrf t
assists theconduct of the wa? and upSn the
- insistence of the owners. When they were re
turned to private control the owners asked con
gress to guarantee prosperous earnings until
the period of readjustment should be past. The
Republican congress unhesitatingly wrote the
law just as the owners of the roads demanded,
and the government has been paying the bill.
Now we are confronted with a proposit on to
hand the railroads a half billion more and take
chances on getting back the money. How can
you look a brave boy in the face with your an
swer in the light of these facts? Nothing for
tho bravo boys who risked their lives on the
fields of France all for reducing the taxes of
the rich and paying the railroads their loss!
As I listened to gentlemen on the Democratic
side in the debate, it occurred to me they were
unfair in. one respect. In going over the items
of tho bill and setting forth the figures they
omitted one item which the rich have been pay
ing. The gentlemen have not given credit for
the enormous campaign funds contributed to
Republicans last year, both in the primaries and
in t4ie general election; and, of course, they are
going to be called on to make larger contribu
tion next year!
Thoy say this legislation was indorsed in the
Democratic platform. I deny it. It was not
in the Democratic platform. It was not in the
Republican platform. It was not in any plat
form, and it will never be in any platform
adopted by any great party in this country. You
would no more have made known to the Ameri
can people in your platform that you intended
to do what this bill does than a burglar upon
entering a house would wake up its occupants
before he tried to get away with his loot.
You know I have really been sorry for some
of you gentlemen yesterday and today. I
looked over at you when the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Garner) was hurling his shells over
on you in his masterly speech yesterday after
noon, and I was really anxious about 'you. This
morning you came in looking as if there was a
little more hope of life. ABut when "Billy" Old
field got after you with his unanswerable array
of figures you sank down again as if you had
stood all you could, and when the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Cockran) was speaking
it looking as though some of you would not
survive!
The gentlemen from Ohio (Mr. Longworth)
seems to, rejoice at the absence of the gentle
man from Scotland Neck, and well lie may. If
Claude Kitchiri had been here you could never
,have survived the operation without an
anaesthetic. In this connection I desire "to read
a telegram;
."Scotland Neck, N. C, 3:40 p. m. Aug. 14, 1921.
"C. H. England, Washington, D. C. , u
, "Wif;e ju,st got your telegram.- I am a little
tired; ;jusf have finished my minority report
Have never felt better in my life, ,and,am now
ready to take a good rest. I wrote on statistics
t too .hard. Ought to have Price to help. But it
is-over now. Tell those who read the reports
of my relapse to, read my report on the reven
ue b'll and see if it sounds like that of a re
lapsed invalid. Will send report to Oldfield to
night. . t CLAUDE KITCHIN."
The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Longworth)
' refers sarcastically to the telegram from Scot
land Neck to the Democratic caucus. You had
a lot of trouble as it was when your caucus was
held, but if you will call a caucus and read tho
unaswerable argument in the message from the
great Democrat of Scotland Neck and reneal
your rule and Unshackle the members of this
House so. thoy may vote under their oaths of of
fice and their responsibility to their constituents
the members of .your own party will strip the
bill of more of its outrages and- amend it until
its authors would not recognize it.
I congratulate you upon the changes already
made in the original draft of the bill. Every
hour the .discussion lasts in this House wit
nesses demand from various quarters for other
changes. Every one that has been made h
improved it In fact, there is no danger of ?he
suggestion of any amendment Uat Would not bo
helpful. But yoU gentlemen who are supporting
this bill are a long way removed now from thoaS
who will be most desirous of changing it when
they find out all that is in it. You will iTever
know the complaint that exists until you get
back home among the plain people of this nnnV
try. Tlio truth is you gentlemen who are vnHr
for this bill ought to call off all plans for a
cess. The work and worry that awaits" you when
you get home to explain this bill will mak? the
strain of the summer's labors here seem ifiro
vacation. If this bill ever becomes a Yaw von
who vote for it are going to b kept bulyx
plaining from now until next election t3I
of you will be relieved after ttlt in tte nSrt
campaign you are going to have to tniir C
hings that the peoplero familffr w h n
tho last campaign you talked about the thing
you thought tho Amerimn people know
about. That is always the RenuhHonn
of campaigning. " You never dare go before
uuvu. vr ..,, iwoyuuncan mfi,ft,
of campaigning, xou never dare go before IE
people a second time on tho same definite Li
Why, we all remember how your nartv " ..e;
when the Democrats, back in the nineties T
gan the fight to enact an income tax law to u
the idle wealth of this country. During to
Civil war an income tax was levied to rak!
funds with which to support tho union armiv
but soon after tho war the Republican party 5
pealed the law. In its stead they adopted 1 lhi
method of levying taxes, not according to ill
amount of property owned by the taxpayer nor
the ability of tho taxpayer to meet the burden
but according to what the taxpayer consumed'
You levied the taxes upon the head of the
family, not in proportion to his wealth but ac
cording to how many children he had to be bud
plied with the necessaries of life. When the
Democratic party began the fight to restore 'the
income tax you opposed taxing incomes of rny
sort or size. You denounced us as anarchists
You said wo were . trying to destroy property
rights and strike down the constitution. So
if you had had your way during the recent war
we should have witnessed the spectacle of th's
nation entering the home and taking the eon
from his mother's arms and sending him across
the sea to fight the battles ot a government that
dared not levy a dollar of taxes on the incomes
of our millionaires and multimillionaires with
which to support our armies on the firing line.
You appealed then, as you did last year, to
the fears of the people. But since that fight
was won and injustice and absurdity of your
position established you searched always for a
new issue on which to attempt to mislead the
people. You have never dared fight any battle
on an issue upon which the people were edu
cated or upon which contests had ever been
waged before. Last year you seized upon a
question of international law to find a new is
sue an issue that even the most intensive advo
cate of popular sovereignty among those who
framed our government never dreamed should
be settled by popular vote.
I warn you now that the next contest is going
to be fought out in normal times and along
normal lines. The league of. nations will not
be the issue. You -are going to have to face the
plain people of America and give account of tho
deeds done in this congress and the outraged
perpetrated against them. Their vengeance will
be as overwhelming as it is deserved. You will
not be permitted to make the appeals made in
the last campaign.
U. S. WON'T BACK VISIONARY AIMS ON
ARMS JLIMIT.
Arthur Sears Henning, in his special corre
spondence to the Chicago Tribune, says: Presi
dent Harding has taken a- firm stand against tho
pacifists who would have the United Stales re
duce armament even though other nations re
fuse, and his views are shared by the American
delegates. The other nations at the council
board will learn that reduction of armament js
acceptable, but not imperative from the Ameri
can viewpoint. If other nations are unwilling
to enter into a fair agreement the United States
will continue naval building with resources that
Will enable her to outstrip Great Britain and
leave Japan far in the rear.
An indication of the advantage' of the United
Stater if the naval buildings contest should con
tinue unabated is afforded by the statistics
which place the annual earning power of the
American nation at $68,000,000,000, of Great
Britain at $36,000,000,000 and of Japan at P.
000,000,000. FORD PLANS DRIVE TO CLEAN POLITICS
An Iron Mountain, Mich., dispatch, dated
Sept. 28, says: Henry Ford today declared no
would go into the state of every senator who
voted for a "whitewash" of men accused of po
litical corruption in using money io obtain their
seats in the Senate and "carry the issue to tno
people." .
Mr. Ford plans a nation-wide campaign
necessary to clean up politics. This announce
ment, ho said, was to emphasize the telegram
he sent to the Senate Monday night demanding
that body "clean its own skirts" in handling tno
Newberry case. t
"The Jssue, not the parties involved, is Mi
Js prompting me to make this fight," sa'cl Mr.
Ford. "I care not who occupies the Michigan
seat so long as it is not one of those direcw
connected with the late debauchery. I have no;
the slightest ill-will toward Mr. Newberry, ui
this issue rises above all personal consideration.
Free government cannot survive the wholesa
corruption of the electorate."
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