THE UNITED STATES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18751, 3 January 1923, Page 7

THE UNITED STATES

WHAT OUR ELECTION MEANT. Written for the Otago Daily Times. By FBANK H. SIMONDi. WASHINGTON, November 21. r With the passing of 10 days and the proach of another session of Congress, the ; meaning of tire recent election is being emphasised in a fashion wholly unpleasant' to the present administration. Already, warnings from Borah, and minatory messages ■"/ from La Foflette nave served to foreshadow -) what is to come. It is with a full recogm- 1 tion that what is not accomplished by the - • present Congress in its final meeting will - not in all probability be- accomplished at ■ all, in the present Administration, ■ that! v political observers are looking forward to the next few months with tense interest. That thing which seems io-day most likely i: is that the Radical Republican Senators will j be able to achieve the end Mr Lloyd Georgehad hoped, for himself—namely, the oocupar- ] tion of the centre between the Democrats*;,., and the Republicans. They will be able to' furnish the necessary votes to defeat Republican legislation, provided it does not • fall in with their extreme notions. There- , fore, the Republican majority will have to' choose between surrendering to the Radicals', and confronting the country two years hence, . in a national campaign with a small record cf achievement and with a divided party. . ' In other words, every Washington ob-c server is looking for two troubled years in ’ . which a small but. determined Radical ~ group in the Senate, coming from tho Middle and North-west, will hold the balance of power. Already there has cornel from this group plafh warning that the at - tempt of tho President to fore© a ship sub-i sidy measure through lire present Congress ’ will provoke hostilities there and reprisal in the new Congress, when the recently and re-elected Radicals will actually b© in a position to dominate. ' ■ Quit© obviously tho Radical Republicans > will make their first effort to control the regular Republican machine—in k word,- to make a real Radical Party out of the Be- . publican organisation. Failing ire this;‘ there is always the Third Party threat, ■ which can be transformed into fact and/ ; so far as anyone can now see. would ensure:-'* a Democratic victory in 1922 on the lines cfT< that-of 1912. - Following such a defeat for ■*: tlie Republican Party, the Radicals calculate-'» that they would be able to recognise -it..oh their own plan. So you are bound to'seo f < , for at least two years, and *probotd.y. for , ; T / longer, a desperate effort to make the Republican Party a thoroughly Radical Party. TMeantime a curious counter-offensive being carried on by a certain number ofi A Republican journals. It consists in a rather obvious attempt to' promc*© a Wilson re- js vival by encouraging Democrats to interpret! Ti the recent .election as a change of sentiment! ijwith respect To League of Nations (issues... If the friends of the ox-President and Mr - Wilson himself could be persuaded that the;.-*, t moment was ripe to commit the Democratic; Party anew to the old ideas, then a, factional , fight would be ensured within the' •’ cratio Party, and some of the worst perils. incident to the coming Republican" split /- avoided. ' ' 1 • One may doubt if this move wilf: have much success, because there is every indication that the Republican split will come., first and occupy tho centre ol the stage, anti that Democratic unity will be promoted by the prospect of profiting from Republican internal troubles two years, henpe. .But, fol- : lowing things from Europe, one might! easily conclude there.was a real Wilsoniaj| .iv revival, whereas, in fact, there is little ,to ; * suggest it. "j Ope fact in the recent election is attracting comment, and , that is that, on tha whole, _ Labour voted with more qridgpfc solidarity than in any' previous cleqlibn.,...;; Pomerehe, in Ohio, and Beveridge, in . diana, would both have been eleptedh liacl,,-,; ■ they not incurred , the . displeasure ,bf 1 ganised Labour, which, to defeat these Tnen, voted Republican in Ohio and Democratioia/;, • Indiana. . _ ■'■ ‘ J-y-I It_ is very easy, however* to foreign observers by too definite and finished) -, analyses of the political future baaed upon\-7, tho "recent election. ActuaUy the,.striking,".; thing is the profound uncertainty-which haaT followed the final report of the results; the interpretations point to trouble. Thfe break in the Republican Party is pretty 7 ; , • plainly indicated in all 6ummaries t for the ) future, but after all, looking to the future, ; (he immediate ,future, there is vastly'more speculation than prophecy going on.- ’ ''- "t 'lw There is a widespread appreciation of the rfact that- the reaction to'normality, which followed tho retirement of Mr Wilson, has j... not Worked out as was expected. It was ; -'- .- the effort of those responsible for the leadership and policies of the Party to give the American people ; an old- W. fashioned Republican Administration, to-,go ,/ I. back to the days of M’Kinley of sound money, sound business, and high-tariff,''to W; > crown the efforts. . Now it is plain, as some independent', / Republican newspapers like - the Nf w York Herald pointed out in advance, that par* ' ticularly in the matter of the tariff" the - reaction went too far, much further .than / the people desired. Moreover, there was >'s( plain conviction in the minds of those who controlled Republican affairs that tho death - : cf Colonel Roosevelt and the break-up of' tho Progressive Party had put a term to ) progressive ■ movements within the Ropuh- , lican Party. -- ; r I It would seem, hpwever, that Radicalism; ‘ • has survived the loss of the great leader and the temporary eclipse incident to thy’ War and the crusade against Wilsonian ideas' and that after a temporary obscuration the ~ old ideas and the old Radicals are coming - 7 back with new strength, while the Conservative wing of tho party is conspicuously tlacking in leaders at a critical moment. At the moment, with Congress just com* -iting back, Washington is buzzing with every sort of fantastic rumour and improbable W legend. Tho British elections and the T Turkish embroglio \coutinue to command j - headlines, as does the new German Cabinet—crisis, but neither the executive nor the" - legislative branch of government is thinltr ~ ing about anything further east, say. thaa-i New Hampslm-e, which recently elected its ! second Democratic Governor in 60 years.. . \ The problem is to get through Congress f before the present body automaticnly disappears on March 4 such legislation as the ■> President and his advisers believe necessary -> for Republican advantage. in the election-': two years hence. For when the newly-• elected Congress comes, although the Re-- 'y publicans will still have majorities in both : bodies, it has small hope that they will ba -W more than paper majorities. „• <-.• So you see that while for eight years nCW^t-ir , ever since the outbreak of the world war.v-;-our domestic politics have been coloured ana;; - ., even dominated by-foreign questions, • evert " when they were made local party jssues, we. - are now going back to the old order and. . . wliat is exceedingly curious, we are taking up domestic politics about where we left off with them, just as if there had been me- ; world catastrophe and Pershing s army had -. never repaid Lafayette s visit. ■ . All of which makes for absorbing domestw.-*, - interests and the increasing neglect".of all . foreign questions. . ..',-T