Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1919 — WILL THE REPUBLICANS ACT? [ARTICLE]

WILL THE REPUBLICANS ACT?

Inertia among Republicans in congress in respect to the high cost df living is susceptible of any one of several explanations, none of which, however, will unburden them of responsibility or satisfy the people. One hypothesis advanced by the milder critics of the Republican majority is that its leaders and members are unable rightly to appraise the significance and urgency of the prcftlem. There is, besides this, the view that the Republicans regard the whole situation as a political game in which clever playing and maneuvering, rather than sincere statesmanship, are the prime requisities. Still another interpretation of their recalcitrance and opposition is that the Republicans fear to attack.the question of high prices and profiteering lest they give offense to special interests which are at once the chief beneficiaries of this greedy exploita-

tion of the public and the largest contributors to Republican campaign funds. Whether It Is incompetence or chicanery or open complicity that accounts for the inactivity of the Republican majority in congress, will soon be disclosed, for the Democratic administration, from President Wilson down, is in motion to find a remedy. Investigation and legislation will be necessary to determine the causes of excessive prices and to furnish relief. What is required in the way of statute to solve the problem must come from the Republican congress. If, in the light of the facts, Its leaders and members fail or refuse to give this support, they will have confessed judgment as political bankrupts.