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PTTt V I! W II N SECOND SECTION AND EVENING CHRONICLE HOME NEWSPAPER" CHARLOTTE, N. C, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1921. President Harding Starts Fight For Life Of The Republican Party SUNDAY EDITION cLJJ H A 1 UK LATER CHARLOTTE'S PARIS CHEERED BY INCLUSION I W AGREEMENT Trance Feared Conference Would Reduce Her to a Second-Class Power. GIVES U. sTa CHANCE. lluhes' Move Assures U. S. a Seconding Voice in the New World Alliance. BY GRANT GORDON. tnff Correspondent of The IVeTf. Special Cable Dinpatch to The Nevrs. t mi.vrlslit, 1921, by ew Publishing Co. Paris, Dec. 10. At a moment when seemed to the people of France that r, vi attempt was being made at Wash : "j ton to isolate France and reduce her ; -i a. second-class power, word has come i ; it the United tSates has insisted that Thi country be included In the "Big I'o'.vers" agreements or treaties of the Washington conference. The French view rapidly was growing: i hat the Anglo-Saxon powers were com ining against her. They were convinc .i Germany had sensed the situation at Washington and had seized the oppor tunity to widen the breach by over uses to London and Washington. Tne gratifying word from Washlng ; n. that France is to be included in the r'our-power treaty" concerning Pacific .vi Far Eastern questions, came at a '..nif when France's stock was very low i 'iroughout Europe. Anti-French dem- i.t rations in Italy the pretext of which were alleged misquotations cf Premier Briand by a French writer reveal a state of feeling which goes far deeper than mere pretexts. Moreover, the same feeling has pre vailed in England and anti-French de monstrations there, while less spectacu lar than in the exoitable Mediterranean lt-ninsula, were none the less signifi cant. Furthermore, thes popular manifes tations have coincided with official dip lomatic manifastations. British and !; ihan statesmen it has seemed, far trcin ndeavoring to stem the tide of riitii.u nt hostile to France, have en- ouva'ivd it. The ciutstion naturally had arisen 1 !f--fnre as to whether the end of the Knro)K''iii entente cordiale, so often her al.ktl. was at last in sight. There has- it a t fling here that British inter ests at Washington were working a.tainst France, were trying to alienate :Ik' I'nited Stales from France, and ;h it. in reaching understandings as to tin future conduct of the world, France virtuPJy was to be left out of consider- ion. Hut ths news which came to France n Friday has put a new light on mat : r-. To lie frank, this news is very i :! tr. Frenchmen as yet. It np that France had been kept in the ;nk as. to the negotiations at Wash ivrt.ir. France had become a sort of mr.tt ft ted looker-on. French hope i ih ' conference rapidly was dwind- H:r. fithough at one time it had been : 'iliiiuly high. The French dele--.ito. ever .since the departure of Pre i ifi Iliiand, had been anxious to quit Washington and some home. k was realized that Premier Briand '(turned home without any prom of assistance from Washington and vrhout any definite substitute for the ui-"',Man entente, which admittedly iias li-'en so near the breaking point. Now, however, France is to be in-'wl'-d in the "understandings" among 'Jrfat Pritain, Japan and the United .-a'ls. It is known here that the Washington agreement is to be the out--!ovtn of the British plan for a tri i 'lrti-. understanding with Japan and 'iif I'nited States, to serve as a sort suhfnitute fr tne Anglo-Japanese liiancf. It was the British plan to -nw France in this connection. So f;.r as can be learned here today, j was the initiative of Secretary ; ujfh"s which has brought France c rh- limelight once more and the j KC'iHion forced by the American ehair 'j i an of the conference may have a i 'i i jv far-reaching effect than he im- I '' ' It U perhaps realized here that Ihe 5 niteii states would have felt in a mi-, j nority in a Pacific agreement with I reat liritain and Japan. These two nations have been in close alliance for I i yvnt many years, and, in any dis ' 'i!te with America, could easily have outvoted hf-r. France will serAe in the i"v entente as a sort of balance of oower. utr traditional friendship with i he l iiited States, her constant desire j !o continue this friendship, is certain ! fio have a great influence in the dis- cHHsion of matters within the new en- tcnte. There is further importance world ; -oiportance in the fact that France Great Britain are to have a new I :',i"t of contact in the Pacific entente. i I his will be good for the relations of ; two countries, now strained almost fie breaking point. It is appreciated here that the United S;ates has wanted to stand by France, I the fact that France, through I ' negative position at the Washing- ,on conference, has alienated some of 1 ") close friends. -fter all is said and done, the new ''Ur-I'ower pact to be signed at Wash :'on may be regarded as a world- ' ontrolling body if it desires to exer- 'ie that function. If it brings about a better feeling between France and 'r,;t Britain due to the intercession "f America in France's behalf it will ;;'Vt- nelped to solve the troubles of :uir,p,j. The combination of the n i, rl States and Japan in preserving ""'f and order in the Pacific makes ' tranquility in that part of the or.! where many experts had pre u't(i the next great conflagration 'v,,,i!'l break out. , IVance as yet knows little of the proceedings at Washington, but little knowledge that she has1 had ''' io new hopes as to the future. IMMENSE DEMONSTRATION. , Ariioy, China, Dec, 10. An immense '"inonstration in protest against the "n 1'osed settlement of the Shantung "fion took place here today. Thou 'ino.s of persons marched through thp '"ets of the city, tshops and schools French And German Brides Of Doughboys Renew War On Ship Muscle Shoals Not The Correct Title Muscle Shoals, Ala., Dec. 10. "Mussel Shoals" it would be, not "Muscle Shoals." ; This spot on the Tennessee River used to be a rendezvous for Indians to feast on the fresh water mussels. But, when the Government pre pared the first formal map of the river, some clerk inscribed it "Mus cle" instead of "Mussel." Women Throng Stores Look ing for Bargains; Gamble on 'Exchange. SPECULATION IS RIFE. With Fall of the Mark Everybody is Speculating More or Less. By GEORG BERNHARD Editor-in-Chief of the "Vossiche Zei tung," Berlin. Berlin, Dec. 10. Speculation and a buying fever . mark the people of German cities today. A few weeks ago I mentioned here that the German workman has to work for two days in order to earn the German value of an American dollar. In the meantime, the Berlin rate of exchange for one dollar has risen to 300 marks from 80, so that one dollar is nearly equal to seven days' work. It is true that you can still buy more for 300 marks in Germany than for one dollar in America. But will thfr last? The permanent sinking trie German rate of exchange has pro - dur-ed a state of mind which can only be fully understood by the man who knows the conditions prevailing here intimately. Of course wages and salaries have already risen with the growing dear ness which began in the fall. The average- daily earnings of a simple workman may, it is true, be as high as 70 marks. But this is of no account if you consider that the rise of prices gees on incessantly. Of course wages will go up, too.' But the rate of these rites is dependent on the length of tariff (wage) contracts and before wages are raised, debates must take place be tween employers and workmen, so that, when the raised wages at last are at the disposal of the workers, the buying power of the sum gained has again visibly decreased. That is th j reason why everybody who has a few marks tries to buy a store of whatever goods he can find. SHOPPING FEVER. A sort of shopping fever has come over the ladies. They fill the stores r.nd all the shops which have a name fcr some special thing- or another. The owner of one of the largest linen stores told me a few days ago that sales last month were three times as high as those of the preceding months, although, as a rule, a sort of dead sea son usually takes places shortly before the Christmas business. Unsaleable articles which had been in stock since before the war and could not be sold oven in the stress of war time, are IMS A DIMMf fA AftO liUfilUJlilUUUUUt) a rAOJiuifViin in-iqfivpri unon. The German shopkeeper! has never suffered from overpoliteness - - i towards his customers. Today, how ever, the shopkeepers sell their wares for dear money to the begging cus tomers with the mien of a king dealing out favors. And the ladies leaving with their goods have the air of people who have won a prize in the lottery. A sure sign of the times is the patience of the German buyer. The Berlin markets sold nardly any pota toes until a few days ago, because the farmers refused to sell for less than a hundred marks a hundredweight. Still the women came day by day with their' baskets, ana fought for the meagre art of poor stock. And when the farmers, having gained their object, at last sent their potatoes to market the buyers gladly paid their mark nerli pound. Still,, these were not the poorest of the poor, who at present can not even pay for the meagre potato food. The poorest of the poor are not the work men, but those of the middle classes who have no income but their salaries. NEED FOR MONEY. But a large part of the people could not make both ends meet if specula, ing in stock were not the chief means today of increasing one's income. The rapid siting of the German rate of exchange at first induced many people r.o buy a great or small amount of foreign money. The German middle classes today are as Intimate with the greenback as with any German bank note. Everybody has some dollars in bis possession. Chauffeurs who take the strangers home from places ' of amusement always ask to be paid tl-eir fare in dollars, which they store up and the value of which they reckon every day according to the rate of ex cherge. The sinking of the German rate of exchange of course brought about a rise of shares, and as the Exchange tends to rise continually, a large part of the population has soon learned that the quickest way to make money is to borrow a sum and invest it in shares. All ears are ' open for tips, though it dees quite as well to draw lqts and to buy the share that comes out first. The young people, who in this way earn mountains of paper money, get Cantigny Brought Back 63 Gretchens, 12 Suzannes and Some Husbands. FIRST BATTLE VOCAL. But Hair Pulling and Other Female Instruments of War Soon Figured. BY C. G. MARSHALL. Staff Correspondent of The Nem. Copyright, 1921, by News Publishing Co. New York, Dec. 10. General Sher man never traveled on an army trans port from Belgium to the United States, especially an army transport with 63 Gretchens and 12 Suzannes aboard, or j he would have amended his famous re mark and included life on the ocean wave in the same category as war. For they had It on their way over, the husbands cf these enemy wives, as well as the officers of the ship. Placing 63 German wives of American soldiers and a round dozen of French wives of American soldiers on the tame vessel was a happy thought for those who did the booking and remained behind. Oh, yes, they were .ood mixers. They mixed it from the very first day out. They loved each other like a lot oi strange bulldogs. At the start of the memorable voy age of the Cantigny from Amsterdam to Brooklyn, with 602 soldiers returning from the Rhine on board, the battles between the women were largely vcral. They sang at each other, with wnora in every note. The French wives say the Germans started it, and the Ger mans say it was the volatile French who lit the fires of discord which blazed all the way across the bleak Atlantic. Naturally the 12 Suzannes were some what handicapped, vocally and physic ially, when it came to close quarters with the Gretchens. They were still further handicapped by the fact that there were 36 war babies among the German contigent and not a single, sol itary doughboy junior among the whole dozen of French matrons. But it was said by those who made the eventful voyage that, what the French wives lacked in numbers, they made up in pep and agility. BATTLE OF CANTIGNY. The French wives had not met the German wives until they got aboard jthe'TfSfisp6rtrTThen - tne trouble began, 1 0 flo, fr.nm ra ri TQ. Qr,i i; curled in feminine scorn. As with all great battles, the second battle of Can itgny for it was at Cantigny that the American soldiers made their first at tack in France began with outposst skirmishes. Then came the inevitable mass formation. The French wives, a dozen strong gathered on the deck and began singing the "Marseillaise." This was a challenge direct to the German wives and they were not long in accept ing battle. German re-inforcements poured from the state rooms below un til 63 German voices, all trained to the moment, were ready for action. They met the enemy with a grand and ever swelling chorus of "Die Watcht am Rhein." The battle of songs waged furiously for a time, but finally the peacemakers arrived. They arrived in the form of 75 khaki-clad husbands. The peace makers' lot is always a hard one and this occasion was no exception to the rule. "Lissen, all you battlers," cried a ser geant, "there's just one song that goes on board this good old lugger and that's the Star Spangled Banner. Get your selves set to sing that, or they ain't go ing to be no singing. Ye understand?" They had all heard the American an them many times and they knew the words about as well as the average American, so pretty soon they had it going with "Oolalas" and "ump-pa-pas" that rose in quite an impressive pa triotic chorus THREATENED WITH BRIG. But the problem wasn't solved by j any means and the American melting pot had not begun to melt. The French wives said they hated the Ger mans and the Germans said they could forgive anybody in the world anything, except being French. The song tattles were renewed daily until the Cantigny was only about two days out of New York, and then the strain became too great and French wives and German wives mixed it sure enough; mixed it with hair pulling and face scratching, and all the gentler arts of modern feminine warfare. This time the peacemakers had their trou bles for fair. This time the command ing officer took a hand in it, and he had to threaten the whole lot into the brig before anything like order ! was restored. The surface was calm when There is a serious side to the arrival of these war brides in America, . how ever, and it is one which is likely to mar the happiness of some of the uniqns. These soldier wives had been living at Coblenz amid all the luxuries that come with the possession of great wealth. It is true their husbands have been earning only about $33 a month, and one would scarcely call that great affluence, but American dollars trans lated into German marks during the last few months tell a different story. Furthermore, the story is intriguing to those who love high finance. The average American soldier on tha Rhine is buying German marks at a rate which would normally be the equivalent of anything from $1,700 tc $2,200 a month. This means any where from 7,500 to over 9,000 marks, for the dollar has been as high as 300 marks in the last few weeks and, when the war brides sailed, was still hover ing about that figure, although it has since dropped to beiow ziv. Of course the German mark, once worth 24 cents, does not buy in these days what it did before the war. The cost of living in Germany has increas ed many fold, but to the family being paid in American dollars, it is still ri diculously cheap. For instance, the German war brides could buy fine kid gloves for 50 cents and very good ones for a quarter. They will find liv ing on thirty-odd dollars a month in the United States very different from that life of luxury along the Rhine. I (Continued on raee Two.) ALL OF EUROPE IS A SAD HOUSE, HARDEN THINKS Frenzied Finance Keeping Berlin and Germany in Continuous Uproar. DISASTER ISAT HAND. Turn Upward in Value of Mark Lengthens Faces of German People. By MAXIMILAN HARDEN, Germany's Foremost Publist. Slaff Correspondent of The News. Special Cable Dispatch to The News. Copyright, 1921, by w Publishing: Co. Berlin, Dec. 10. The American in Berlin the past few days probably has felt like the man who went to visit an insane asylum and was told by an in mate: "everybody here is crazy but me. But I can't talk to you; I have got tc go and unlock the gates for St. Peter." This was particulary true of "Black Thursday", when the American dollar took a one hundred mark tumble in value. Let us say that the American felt a little selfish at first. He was glad, for instance, he had drunk a bottle of fine French champagne, costing less than three dollars. But then he began to re'joince for the German people, who had been complaining so bitterly that the mark had fallen to such a low estate that three of them could be bought for an American cent, whereas the pre-war value of each mark had been 24 cents. Our American visitor, we will say, felt that the Germans had good right to complain. For, with the dollar costing 300 marks, the burden of making re paration payments to France in gold values whichd means American val ues in Europe today could but crush Germany. Our American visitor would understand that it was impossible for private wealth to buy American cotton at such a rate of exchange. It would be impossible for Germany to buy other roreign raw materials, or coffee, tea, cocia, sugar, etc. The visitor would see that German warehouses are almost empty and that huge supplies would be necessary not later than next April. ne wouda realize that shoes, clothes and linens are beyond the reach of our workers. He would appreciate that our factories are running at a loss to pre vent unemployment. But that will have to stop as soon as the last cotton, cop per and rubber is used. HORROR EVERYWHERE And so our visitor, we will say, nat urally expected to see happy faces when the mark jumped a hundred points in value. He would need the humor of a Mark Twain to describe how disap pointed he was. Everywhere he met horrorfied faces. The whole town seem ed depressed. The fashionable cabarets and bars were helf empty. Erstwhile champagne drinkers were imbibing nothing more inspiring than tea, with lemon in it. This dejected appearance of the Ber lin population is explained by the fact that, with the rise in the exchange value, of the mark, our stock market shares fell six to eight hundred points, hitting our speculating cooks and cinema cashiers and office boys a ter rific blow. However, the visitor finds the seri ius business world singing the same lament over the rise of the mark. "All the foreigners filling our hotels will leave," they exclaftn. "Our export business must now meet competition. Our1 factories will close and there will be armies of unemployed and riots and plunderings. Our whole Christmas bus iness is ruined because the rich will economize and the poor will await cheaper prices." Truly our American friends might say it is Alice m Wonderland "stuff" when a country is distressed because its de teriorated money takes a turn toward slightly higher prices. Should Wall Street wireless today that the mark has ; fallen back to a third of a cent in i value instead of being worth nearly half a cent, every face in Berlin would be radiant. How in the world, Americans mav wall ask, can you help a people who complained yesterday that the value of their money was so low and today are more trouble tha never because it has been rising? But what really happened on "Black Thursday?" The general opinion was that most shares had gone too high. Common sense, however, says that shares which cost 1,400 marks in 1913 are not too dear, but too cheap when sold today for what actually is the equi valent of 1,000 marks in 1913. In other words, six thousand marks today buy less than one-third of 1,400 marks be fore the war. It would be ridiculous for shares to remain at the same price when street car fares have increased fifteen fold, when butter has increased 33 fold. But the public though that ex change values, interest and dividends did not have rational relations to each other. And so the Bourse was in such a condition that the slightest wind was sufficient to shake the entire edifice. RATHENAU FALSE PROPHET This wind was produced by Walter Rathenau, erstwhile Minister and sup erintendent of the General Elictric Works. Rathenau has varied talents, but he is handicapped by vanity and constantly needs applause. He has no real creative power. In any event he agreed with the British Ambassador" to go to London and offer the electrifica tion of the Mesopotamian Railroad as a reparations payment. It is probable that he also discussed related questions with the British statesmen, bankers and industrial leaders. His trip was de signed to eclipse that of Hugo Stinnes, with its resultant publicity. The campaign was so successful that the people became convinced there was to be either a reduction in the repara tions or a long-term moratorium, stop ing payment of the huge amount due January 15. This, of course, meant it would be needless for the Reichsbank to CConHnned on Face Two) I Opposes Prop osed Irish Treaty Eamon De Valera in his robes of chancellor of the National SevenDaysInLTlOr N' York BY JESSIE HENDERSON. Staff Correspondent of The News. Copyright, 1921, by News Publishing: Co. !NewYork, DecTlo. Once again trie Christmas spirit is bubbling and seeth ing hereabouts and anyone who thinks New Yorkers don't get into the Yuletide mood just the same as other people, ought to stroll around the shopping dis trict. A few minutes will be more than enough. An hour might easily prove fatal. But even a hasty glance will show that New York is anything but cold. People ram and crunch each oth er, glare daggers and fly into a red rage precisely as they do in those other sections of the country which fondly believe they have a corner on the real meaning of Noel. Carloads of Christ mas trees have arrived and, through some remarkable oversight, they are priced way below what has been asked in the past few years. Even at that, they aren't selling with any undue rap idity. All, however, is not wrath and gloom. The real old chimes and holly atmos phere is thick and fragrant in the vo cational classes of the public schools. With materials supplied by the Junior Red Cross, the pupils are feverishly constructing toys of every description. On Christmas Eve these tiny motor cars and monkeys, jumping packs and clowns, will be distributed to children, in the hospitals and to little immigrants who are spending their first American holidays on Ellis Island. SANTA CLAUS HEARS. Oddly enough, one of the happiest Yuletides will be that of an 11-year-old boy afflicted with leprosy. The child is the only juvenile in a leper colony is olated upon an island and the New York Department of Health made pub lic his modest appeal to Santa Claus. He wants a toy automobile and a suit r Capital Men BY ROBERT T. SJIALL, Staff Correspondent of The News. Copyright, 1921, by Kw Publishing Co. Washington, Dec. 10. Secretary Hughes has won such international and undying fame for the mastery of his addresses at the Washington con ference that perhaps it is permissible to tell of one historic occasion when he failed to make any sort of hit on the rostrum. He had not learned in those days to call battleships by their first names or to rattle off ratios like the captain of a well-drilled football team. As a matter of fact, it was Mr. ; Hughes' first political speech and, to i carry the football simile still further, j he fumbled it. The setting for the speech was the j village opera house at Lyons, N. Y., and it was the first night of the ' 1906. Just why Lyons should have been selected for Mr. Hughes' bow to the free and uptrammeled voters of the Empire State, no one ever knew. We had whirled up from New York city through a beautiful Autumn day. We had passed through a dozen pop ulous cities where the opening gun might easily have been fired, but, for some reason or other, the apple farm ers of Wayne county had been select ed as The first nighters. And perhaps it was just as well. Mr. Hughes was fresh from his law office m the city canyons fresh from a law practice which had dealt with big business, including the famous in surance investigation. His mind dwelt upon technical details. There had been a "gas scandal" in New York city as well as an insurance scandal and the Republicans thought that metropolitan gas might be made an is sue in' the campaign. The opera house was crowded with the. aDDle farmers all of them weaxf office after his Installation as University of Dublin. of clothes. In response to public de mand and generosity, Santa Claus will make his first trip in years to North Brother Island. - - " These are some of the thingf-lose to the heart of New Yorkers wh..o they scowl and grunt their way through the vivid shops. This week ke, have had a striking lesson in being careful of our china tea sets. What if Martha Washington had set the plata on the floor for the cat to lick off the crumbs, and had then her sf? stepped on it? What if she had en trusted it for washing to a careless maid who dropped it? The answer is as obvious as it is dramatic. If she had done either of those things, the plate from which George Washington ate at birthday parties would not have sold at the American Art Galleries for $910, or about the price of a real good meal to day. Who called this town the wickedest city in the world? Shame on him, who ever he was. Forty paces from Broad way, the New York University class of '22 Purity League has been founded. In order to become a member of the league, a university man must never have smoked or cursed and almost nev er have kissed or been kissed. There was a. furore in purity circles when it became known that the league's first president, who is also captain of the football team honestly, we ain't fool ing had been accused of smoking swearing and smacking. His past was dragged forth into the limelight of a specially summoned meeting, and, while some were for him and some against, he found himself deposed and Ralph C. Walker, a divinity student, put in his place. Even the Walker past is not absolutely unspotted. There's one kiss uporf it. The kiss was given at a gar- fContinned on Page Two) and Matters in? whiskers and therefore anxious to Cannonism m the House of Represen se'e Mr. Hughts and his own particular tivfs and took from the hands of the whiskerk The apple farmers felt they Speaker the control of committee ap had a bond cf sympathy with the can- j P?mf "lenV ,aa we as th,e . arbitrary didate in those whiskers. So they ap-j rlht . kl" or advance legislation at nlmirWI nnlitelv when the candidate walked forth and was introduced. But then they sat back and continued to just sit through the remainder of a very frosty evening. Mr. Hughes be gan by talking about metropolitan gas, about "bonafldes" of certain transac tions in metropolitan gas, and'the "fi duciary obligations" connected with certain undertakings in metropolitan gas. And he failed to warm up as he went along. The apple farmers looked at him with blank amazement and shook iheir heads.. It was a chilling start. Mr. Hughes felt the icy blast which met his maid en effort; but, in a week's time, he was a political whirlwind. He forgot about bonafldes and fiduciary obliga tions and began to hit out from the shoulder and had Mr. Hearst, his op ponent, on the run. The election be came a personal triumph for Mr. Hughes, for nearly the entire Democra tic State ticket, with the exception of the head, was elected. Before the cam paign was over, Mr. Hughes could dictate a 5,000-word speech in advance, give it to the newspaper correspon dents, and thtn get up and deliver that speech virtuay word for word with out ever looking at a note. The Irish settlement naturally has held an interest in Washington the past few days scarcely second to that of the i.rmament conference itself. And a very interesting point arose in con nection with it. There were some who professed to see a "joker" in the pro vision of the treaty with the Sinn Fein 4.hat the Governor General of Ireland should be named from London (Continued on Pace - Iwo. SEEK RETURN OF PARTY CONTROL AND DISCIPLINE Party Government Has Bro ken Downin Nearly All of the Free Coimtries. SENATE ISXPROBLEM. Plan is to Restore Power to Speaker of House and Demand Action. By ROBERT T. SMALL. Staff Correspondent of The News. Copyright, 1921, by News Publishing' Co. Washingtoin, Dec. 10. President Harding has started a fight for the life of the Republican party. In this fight, the President is to have the support of the political members of his cabinet, of John T. Adams, chairman of the Republican National Committee. and of all the wheelhorses of the Grand Old Party. The fight is to be waged against the so-called "blocs" in Congress, which al ready have had such a disintegrating in fluence upon party discipline, party, con trol and party accomplishment. The President sounded his first note of warning in his address at the opening of Congress and Secretary of War Weeks took up the cudgels in an ad dress in New York Thursday, in which he did not mince words. Secretary Weeks went so far as to intimate that a return to "Cannonism" could be contemplated with equanimity as a means of more effective legislative action. There are keen political observers who see in the attempt of the "blocs" to as sert complete control over the Con gress a reflection of world political con ditions. Party government is breakinp clown, or has broken down, in nearly all of the free countries. Government; are enabled to stay in power only by making compromise arrangements and juggling a combination of loosely-tied political elements. David Lloyd-George, one of the fore most figures of the day, is Prime Min ister of Great Britain only by the tol erance of a coalition "bloc" in the Par- J lament made up of Unionists, Liberals ana .National uemocrats. tie lias no direct party majority back of him and is constantly hopping out of the frying pan and into the lire of threatened political discord, if not disaster. Many old party ties have been sacrificed that Lloyd-George might live. Premier Briand!. of France also is in power by tolerance only, and the thread of his political life is far more slender than of Lloyd-George. The French Premier virtually has no support he can count upon. In the lasi French elections, party lines were pret ty well obliterated and, while a so-called Nationalist Group has a majority in the French Chamber of Deputies, that group has thus far not asserted itself by forming a government within its ranks. CANADA A LATE EXAMPLE In Canada within the current week there was an election in which party lines were dimmed if not broken, and there will be many men in the Canadian Parliament who will not feel the con stant impulse of party regularity. It has been said that the wave of ! greater world democracy, of greater ! self-determination of pepples, growing ' out of the war, has had the effect of breaking down party divisions and blot ting out party traditions. As has already been pointed out in .hesc dispatches, some prominent partv j leaders, both Republican and Demo ! cratic, are inclined to blame the more i recently enacted primary laws for the ; challengee to party regularity in thin j county. It would seem that a party primary system would lead to hard and ifast party regularity, but these leaders declare the contrary is true. Candidates are often Democrats or Republicans in name only and for purposes of election. They owe no obligation to the party leaders in carrying on their fight for the party nomination and, when they attain office, they brook no party discipline. Secretary Weeks is inclined to credit a great many of the ills of Congress to the upheaval which "stamped out ' vvl11- -"cuiy ui. me ai-utLaiy ui War, who by the way, stands high in the estimation of the President, is that the Speaker of the House is chosen as the party leader and given responsibil ity as such. If he abuses his powers and fails in his responsibilities, he can be thrown out by the party which placed him in the chair. But, while in the chair, he should have the author ity to get things accomplished, to block undesirable legislation and to spied the legislation to which his party is pledged. There has been a great deal of quiet talk in Republican circles recently as to the advisability of once more plat ing some of the old power in Un hands of the Speaker of the House There s nothing concrete in the move ment as yet, but, if "bloc" conditions should threaten to grow worse in the near future, there may be an effort to restore power to the Speaker before that restoration is made impossible by a "bloc" control, which would thwart the best effort of the constituted party leaders. While this means remains a possi bility, as to the House, no plan has been worked out respecting the Sen ate. The Senate always is a problem. There is (io way of shutting off debate except by virtually unanimous consent and the Vice-President, the presiding officer of the upper branch, never has been able to exercise anything like au tocratic control over, the proceedings. . PARTY LIFE THREATENED. j President Harding earnestly feels that party life is threatened by ' tlm "bloc" movement and he further be neve:? tnat covernment ty parly, Continued on Tage Twoj' (Continued on raare Two)
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 11, 1921, edition 1
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