OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN 4 MHIINMIlMaHMIHM Mr. McAdoo, we are told, knows just what is the' matter with the farmer. He needs more markets, lower freight rates and higher d prices for his products. Mr. McAdoo has these in his lower vest pocket. Europe wants to buy, but cant finance her purchases. All wejieed to do is to straighten out everything in Europe, is the best of all the straighteners. If given a and chance he could compose Europe in a couple of months. Of course' Europe is buying more of our farm prducts than she did before the war, but when Mr. McAdoo gets the European standing armies dissolved and the soldiers back on the farms raising stuff in competition with the American farmer, it is clear that the prices of farm products will rise. Wheat may go up to 65 cents a bushel, where it was under administration in the summer of 1913. the Wilson-McAdo- o Then the farmer should have more of the consumers dollar. With organization and credit facilities Mr. McAdoo will tend to this. It was all done once before when Mr. McAdoos party was in full charge of the government for six years, and this and all other pressing economic problems were solved as per promise. But someway the thing has slipped, and we have to dig up more remedies for what economically ails us. The interests of the farmer and the south deserve governmental consideration as much as the. Mr. McAdoo made a bit of ship owner and the steel manufacturer. a reputation himself as member of a law firm that was busy in Washington seeing to it that some ship owners had their rights. The Fordney-McCumbtariff bill, an economic abortion in the eyes of enemies of the protective tariff, must make way for the tariff law, perfectly satisfactory to everybody, that Mr. McAdoo has concealed in his mind. The. American valuation plan, subterfuge for excessive increases in tariff rates, must be discarded. Mr. McAdoo has been too busy in law and moving pictures to notice that the American valuation plan was not adopted by the framers of the present tariff law and is not a part of our present system- From an American standoint, it is unfortunate that the American valuation plan was discarded. This plan provides that tariffs shall be levied on the basis of the price at which an article is offered at wholesale in this country, not at which it is bought in debased currency abroad. Whenever a Democratic politician figures the increased cost he alleges is caused by a tariff rate he does his arithmetic on the home price basis. Mr. MqAdoo is for a soldier bonus that can be paid without costing the taxpayers anything. He is for economy and efficiency in public administration as it was practiced under the national administration he served as secretary of the treasury. He is for the league of nations without European entanglement. He is crystallizing the liberal forces about himself and if you dont believe Mr. McAdoo and his crowd are liberal, just ask the cost-plu- s contractors, the wooden ship builders and the rest of the boys who flourished around Washington during the wildest saturnalia of waste and incompetency the world ever witnessed. The magnitude of the McAdoo campaign activities proves that some pretty liberal people are putting up for it. President Wilson has no sons. The best the country can do to In doing so recognize an heir apparent is to take on his they may be assured they will be let in for everything that happened to them during the last Democratic administration with the exception of the idealism that at least was often talked about, even if quently applied National Republican. left-han- Mr-'McAdo- o co-operat- ive er - son-in-la- w. HARDING PAVES WAY. President Hardings suggestion for universal conscription of both men and property in time of war, is the best plan ever suggested for promotion of peace and might well be awarded the Bok peace prize, in the opinion of the Republican publicity association. The Bok peace prize offer has stimulated renewed study of plans for the elimination of war. It is said that 22,000 schemes have been submitted in competition for the award- One of our leading daily papers has put forth the suggestion that all the citizens and all the wealth of a nation proposing to go to war shall be drafted into the - 4 HMIIIIM national service, the young and vigorous men for the fighting forces, and all others assigned to positions according to their ability. All employment of services and wealth are to be without profit. Announcement of such a policy by nations at peace would have the effect of avoiding prospective wars. It is easy for a country to se(Ji two or three per cent of its people to fight, but if all its citizens are subject to immediate draft upon a declaration of war, to be arbitral ily assigned to tasks by the military forces, and at wages fixed by them, there will be a long hesitancy before that nation rushes to arms. j The plan is full of merit, but it is not new. The late President Harding sensed the domestic evils of the late war, and suggested a remedy not only for them in. possible future conflicts, but also as an influence to prevent wars altogether. In his inaugural address he gave first expression to that policy, and amplified the thought in his speech at Helena, Montana, in the course of his fatal western trie. v On the lettar occasion, Mr. Harding said: Viewed in the retrospect we see more clearly than ever the sordid. side of war. I have said before, and I choose to repeat it very deliberately now, that if war must come again--Go- d grant that it shall not then we must draft all of the nation in carrying on. It is not enough to accept the voluntary service of both women and men whose patriotic devotion impels their enlistment. It will be righteous and just, it will be more effective in war and marked by less regret in the aftermath, if we draft all of capital, all of industry, all of agriculture, all of commerce, all of talent and capacity and energy of every description to make the supreme and united and unselfish fight for the national triumph. When we do that there will be less of war. When we do that the contest will be aglow with unsullied patriotism, untouched by profiteering in any service. That is the Harding plan, not only for the conduct of any possible wars that may come upon us in the future, but as an effective means for discouraging the waging of any wars. The Bok peace prize offer called for the best suggestion whereby the United States could aid in the restoration and maintenance of world peace. President Harding died before that competition was proposed, but his plan for a universal draft seems like an anticipation of Mr- Boks contest. Mr. Harding could not submit his suggestion to the committee which will award the Bok prize. Nevertheless it is there for the committee to consider and pass upon. What possible plan can there be that will exceed it in simplicity, in strict adherence to the principles of the constitution, in maintenance of our independence unimpaired by foreign entanglements, and in general righteousness? President Harding shed much glory upon the nation while he lived, but after his death it may be that the full worth of his ideals will be realized, and by following them the United States can render its greatest service to mankind without surrender of any of its own institutions. , . - WHY NOT BUTTER? Now that price-fixin- g appears to be the order of the day, the Dairy Record, on behalf of the creamery industry, demands a mrfti-mucents a pound for butter. government guarantee of seventy-fiv- e Of course this demand may seem outrageous but it is about the price which is necessary to enable the most inefficient and unintelligent dairy farmer to make a profit from his cows. We of the dairy industry have always felt quite capable of taking care of ourselves but if there is to be a fixed minimum for1 wheat, why cant there be one for corn, oats, beef and butterfat? Lets all get in the swim. Somebody will have to foot the bill, of course, but what do we care? Well tax somebody. Not the city laborer because weve formed a political alliance with the labor unions and we mustnt gelff.n bad with them. Industry has already been taxed to the point where investors can see nothing but tax-fre- e bonds, and excess profits have been spoken for by proponents of a soldiers bonus. Of course, theres middle class the clerks, and doctors and small always the merchants; they are already struggling to keep body and soul to- - m so-call- ed |