Show HEARD BEEN SEEN SEENa d HEARD around the National Capital l iT I iBy Dy CARTER FIELD Washington The extreme left wing of ot the administration Is split almost precisely ID lu half halt on what is Is' Is actually a fundamental factor In 10 the whole recovery re- re cot erl covery ery program The question Is II whether to stimulate foreign trade which means holding hoMing down the price of articles this country must export or whether bether to concentrate on boosting boost boost- Ins ing American standards of living regardless regardless re re- of ot the fact tact that this may mRY so boost the cost cust of ot exportable hIe articles that Amerl Ameri-a Ameri a will be forced to be he I self sufficient At one extreme stands Mordecai Mordecal Ezekiel right bo bower boer er of ot Agriculture Secretary Wallace lie He has recently In public painted a dire picture of ot what will wilt happen to this country unless unless un un- less lesl International trade Is Increased At the be other stands Sidney labor leader who Is for far more concerned concerned concerned con con- with forcing higher wages and shorter hours hour f for r Amerl Ameri American an workers of ot all sorts denies that he heIs heIs Is II Is an Isolationist but believes that for forthe forthe the time being perhaps until the rest of the world sees the light fight America had better be content with Its own markets ra rather ther than cut production costs so as to make escorts nn Meanwhile the State department Is III I supposed to be proceeding though proceeding though with characteristic diplomatic pace pace pace- with what whitt amounts to reciprocity treaties Only one has hOll been consummated con summated that summated that with Cuba But nut about six III others are scheduled to be proclaimed proclaimed pro pro- claimed In about six months That seems a long time In view of ot the fervor fervor fer ter vor with which the Peek move to encourage encourage encourage en en- courage trade and thus reduce the necessity for tor plowing under crops and killing pigs was WIlS begun But the ways way of ot foreign offices are slow It Is rather curious that Ezekiel who seemed a year ago to represent one extreme In the Agriculture department department depart depart- ment while George Peek represented the other should now come out lOUt with such luch a blast actually on Peeks Peek's side aide In that famous controversy But nothing so devastating to opponents of ot the treaties has come out as the recent barrage laid down by EzekieL For example the effect of ot a drying up of ot foreign trade on the railroads inthe In Inthe the United States leading to the ports The Idea of ot the South changing Its crops so as to get the mount amount amount of ot cotton cotton cotton cot cot- ton down to the total that can be manufactured and consumed Inside our tariff walls Ills ill remarks about what would happen to shipping docks dock etc were not so 10 potent because they thel had long been n realized and had never stirred up the excitement their economic eco eco- economic worth perhaps rated Buy Foreign Goods Good Ezekiel accused by many conservative conservative conservative conserva conserva- tive critics some lome 1 18 months back of ot being a Bolshevist hammered alone the line so often otten made but so seldom carried to Its logical conclusion about the necessity of ot buying goods abroad If tf we wished to sell any In exchange This country he be pointed out had tried to escape that logical conclusion In over every wa way possible For Instance by buying foreign goods good which In too many Instances were now worthless so 10 o that the goods bought with the proceeds proceeds pro pro- proceeds were actually gifts to foreign na nations By plain Inference he suggested that It would be better to take goods which would have some value than promises to pay which had ver very little But Dut this tills runs directly counter to the logic of ot and his bis tell fellow ow theorists the the- theorists who are not worrying at all about the cotton growers grower who want to keep on growing cotton and sell It abroad They Thel are worrying About the American workers who could be employed at fabricating the goods with which the foreign countries would buy the cotton and other exports of ot thus this country Boiled Rolled down this difference of opinion opinion ion In the left wing Is II precisely theold the theold theold old economic difference supposedly difference supposedly at least least between between the Democrats and the Republicans In the period between Reconstruction Re ne- construction and William Jennings Bryans Bryan's Introduction of ot free sliver silver It promises no more ready solution now than It did then Home Mortgages Pressure from all over the country to have the government go proceed without limit to take up all the home mortgages mortgages mort mort- gages cages anyone may desire at 8 IS per cent and thus thul definitely force torce the mortgage rate to that ft figure ure will not be the determining determining de de- factor In what the President President dent decides shall be done I Two factors will determine whether er the resident President has haa congress Increase the amount of money for home mort mort- gages cage First whether private capital capital cap cap- ital through the banks building and loan associations Insurance companies etc Itc seems to be Oiling filling the need and supplying necessary funds at reasonable reasonable reasonable reason reason- able rates of ot Interest Second whether er tr there should appear to be danger daner of ot a new wave of ot t a ures ure Which Is reali really two ya 1 of ot sayIng say say- Ing lag the same flame thing will thing-will will private capital capItal cap cap- ital function on the administrations administration's terms or will It not noU Already there Is In process enough political pressure to stampede congress congress con ron gress under normal conations Fortt For Forit If tt there Is a senator or member of ot the bouse house whose office has hll not been o deluged In the last week or so 10 with demands demand that this or that mortgage loan be made whether the money set aside for tor the Is II purpose exhausted or not be ha Is 11 singularly fortunate Th The point li is there are enough letters letter Inthe In la Inthe lathe the order office of ot every senator and nd member member mem mean ber bee of ot the house to force them under ordinary circumstances to believe that whatever may be the right or wrong of the matter here bere Is I. a need so 0 Important Important Im Im- tm- tm that bat It must be recognized But the But the President Is II very Terl much inthe In Inthe the saddle A great many members of ot both houses of ot congress are so fixed that they simply must oppose the PresIdent President President Pres Pres- ident on the soldier bonus Watchful Waiting The President however Is pursuing a course of ot watchful waiting ailing Of ot one thing he Is determined There Is goIng going going go go- li It of at foreclosures ing to be no wave private capital does not Dot finance the country's mortgages on homes the government gOY gay will But be he hopes hopt's private capital will because there are plenty i of ot uses usel for government money and andIn In huge buge amounts to which he would I prefer to devote It For Jor Instance mortgages for tor new home building There Is no limit practically to the amount of ot money the Administration Is eager to pour out In this direction That sort of loan means mean something to the return of ot prosperity It means Jobs for all the varieties of ot building trades It means sales of ot lumber cement beating plumbing fixtures futures roofing beating plants paint and varnish It means meaDS that the workers getting these jobs job I will spend the money monel and boost the sales of ot virtually every line of ot Indus Indus- tY And the same some for Cor the workers In the plants which produce the buildIng build build- Ing big materials even the coal conI miners and the lumbermen In the woods Whereas the funds poured out bythe by byI bythe I the Home Owners' Owners Loan corporation I simply ply represent the transfer of ot otI I debts from private agencies to the government gOY gov government They do not represent a single Job provided for a Jobless man manor manor manor or woman And the security to the government that the loans will be paid back actually Is a little less sound i than the mortgages on new property for tor obvious reasons Silver Sellers Sellera Strike With nothing like the total amount of ot sliver silver In hand that the government had planned to acquire It is apparent that the treasury has run Into shallow water In Its buying campaign Ohms China and India according to latest reports have simply closed up as far as selling sliver liver Is concerned Th They y have been finally convinced that the United States government Is II d determined to put the price up and are waiting for the higher price before selling Which presents one of the most curious curl curi ous and Interesting problems that an any government has ever encountered since coinage began And which has Inside administration officials divided as to the proper course of action The point Is II whether they should hould attempt to go ahead and comply with the terms of ot the silver act buying the requisite amount of ot sliver silver no matter what It may mal cost The alternative of ot course Is II to stop buying and point out the situation to congress when that body bod which passed the law convenes So far tar the governments government's actions action I have had the effect of ot advancing the price of ot silver stiver more than 10 cents an ounce Starting off around 4 45 cents the price gradually rose on government buying until just before It reached CO 50 cents cent the government nationalized at that figure fig fig- ure It simply commandeered all the sliver silver In to the country at 60 50 cents an just as It commandeered all the gold at the old price before marking It up to 33 35 an ounce Since then heavy government bUTIng buy bUT ing big has hILS gradually forced the price of ot silver sliver up In the world market to around 53 55 cents At just about this point the sellers sellers' strike was encountered Thus This was a coincidence which had nothing to do with the price or what the owners own ers era of ot silver sliver elsewhere In to the world I thought It was waa worth before Because the factor that caused the owners of silver sliver In China and India to stop sellIng sell sell- selling Ing was not the price but the fact that they were finally convinced that the United States really Intended to go ahead with Its silver buying policy U. U S. S Put One Over Moreover the United States put one over lver on the metal speculators of ot the world on gold and they remembered It very sharply It will be recalled that Wall Nall Street and I Europe both simply simply sim sim- ply refused to believe that the United States was going to devalue the dollar In gold and hence sold gold to the United States government at way below below be be- low the 03 5 i price despite the fact tact that the President had congressional aut au au- t to fix the price of ot gold In dollars dol dol- lars mars at something like 42 2 They were fooled tooled that time but now comes the United states government doing the same thing to the world price of silver and this time the world sp spec are oro not so eager to sell It Is true that this time they do not Dot have any accurate Idea of what the final goal of ot the United States treasury Is for tor the price of ot silver sliver The old coinage coinage coin coin- age price Is I an on ounce The price being paid for newl newly mined silver sliver is 6 cents The coinage price If It gold Is II devalued the remaining 0 D cents authorized authorized au au- au- au and If It silver sliver Is restored to the old coinage level would be 2 58 So that the they know 62 Gift cents Is It is the positive bottom line of ot the government governments government's govern govern- ments ment's possible objective and 2 Is II the positive top line That Is II entirely too much I leeway wal but since the note to China ended all doubt that the government government gov- gov would pursue Its sliver It Is ts not pOlicy surprising the world worM should bould refuse to sell silver much below the P positive s Iv low figure of ot this goaL country country's Which however presents the flabbergasting flab nab situation of one man man Fran Freak Hn fin D. D Roosevelt being able to fa the worlds world's silver nver price at breakfast morning if be he so d desires lre each O W U |