AMERICAN POLITICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19372, 6 July 1926, Page 10

AMERICAN POLITICS.

Although the next Congressional elections in the United States are not due for some months, there is already begun a search for issues on which it will be fought. There haß been throughout the session a conflict between the President and the Republican majority dominant in Congress. He has with difficulty obtained support for a reduction of taxation, ratification of certain war-debt agreements with other countries, and adherence to the World Court of International Justice, with important reservations that have been communicated to the other Powers. These achievements are offset by a large number of failures to carry the Legislature with him. Interest in the coming electoral campaign has centred upon the agricultural situation in the Western States. Various measures of relief have been submitted with a view to check a continued movement of population away from the farm areas there, but there has been so bitter a conflict of opinion among members that these have almost all been killed in preliminary committee debates. It is not unlikely that a political swing may happen in these States and change completely the complexion of political affairs. At the elections one third of the Senate's seats and the entire membership of the House of Representatives will be involved, so that there are untold possibilities. At the moment the Republicans are threatened by a party cleavage on the prohibition question, and the Democrats are seeking to seize their opportunity by initiating a campaign for a revised tariff. With the adjournment of Congress the alignment of parties is likely to begin in earnest.