CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ?'^^r»JWasl^if^3torvT6 7oar Co^/Le^s 3y C^'^e^lOift Co IC CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY iiiinniiiuiniiiiiiiii TiiiJljiiiiniiJijjl.nn.iiijilliiiiiimiiLil 'WWashinjionTo Four Corners*, A SECOND STORY OF HOME, LOVE, WAK AND POLITICS Dy Cy re/7 us Co'/e: "The world demands a sober contemplation of the existing order and the realization that there can be no cure without sacrifice, not by one of us, but by all of us."— PRESIDENT HARDING. "The aggregate prosperity of manufactures and the aggregate prosperity of agriculture; are intimately connected." -VICE-PRESIDENT COOLIDGE. "The problems before this congress have been as hard as any that 1 have encountered in my half cen- tury in legislation. 1 marvel how well we have been able to solve them " -J. G. (Uncle Joe) CANNON. "We shall be glad to stand on the record, which proves conclusively that this congress has been dili- -gent, that it has to its credit much wise and construc- tive legislation, a remarkable history cf economy." — FRANK W. MONDELL. Republican Floor Leader. CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA THF. TORCH PRESS J 1922 1 PRICK iO CENTS . c »s-.V ~»ii-~ PUBLISHER'S NOTE Although told in the form of fiction, the matters of fact re- lated in this little volume are all stated correctly. They ajj taken from official records in Washington, D.C. By weav]| them into a little story and by using the conversational meti[ it is believed that human interest is added to statistics, and t^ the facts are stated so clearly that all can comprehend them.l^ The purpose of this volume is to show the bad order in whicl the Harding administration found everything in Washington,^ and to set forth the results of the efforts that have been made to straighten them out and to start the country anew. Those who want to help the cause, are solicited to heL^ircu- late this booklet — especially campaign committees. C^^ be supplied for $7.00 a hundred, or $60.00 a thousand. For $1.00 ' 12 copies will be mailed postpaid to as many addresses, the mail- ing being done direct from this office. THE TORCH PRESS CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA Compliments of the Republican National Committee Copyright 1922 by Cyrenus Cole P\/ 'Newspapers are permitted to print extracts, or to print the whole Bi of this story in serial form, withotit further peiTsrSSon FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS CHAPTER I How W-atson was Invited to loiOa "Speaking of Watson," said Mark Miller, Sr., to his son, Mark Miller, Jr., "why- don't you ask him fo cojne and visit us?" "I've asked liim to come again and again, but he's always too busy," the son replied. "There seems to be a lot going on in Washington at the present fime." "I know there is," said the father, "and that is why I want him to come out to see us. L want to talk things over with him. I want him to tell me what they have been doing." Those who read in 1920 a booklet called "From Four Comers to Washington," inay recall these names and characters, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Miller, Sr., Mark Miller, Jr., their son, then known and still known as the Lieutenant, Mary Mills, the army nurse, and Clarence Watson, the Washington newspaper man. In that account the elder Millers journeyed from Four Corners, wh;ch is in Iowa, near the town of Storm Lake, to Washingtpn to visit their son, then recovering from a lingering wound received in the service in France.' In the hospital they met the nurse; with whom the Lieutenant was in love, and Watson, the Lieutenant's "pal" both 'in the service and in the hospital. Two years have passed since. Watson is still a writing man in Washington, interested in politics; the Lieutenant and Mary were married in due time and now have a baby of their own, whom they call Mary, Jr. They are living on the, old Miller farm while the father and mother are living in Storm Lake in serene retirement. "If you would write the letter now, I could mail it tonight," suggested the father a little later. "If you will think it out, I will take it down on my typewrit- er," suggested Mary. , ■ , . "I see you all want Clarey to come," the Liebteh^iit/ireplied — ' ' how about you, mother ? " .1 "If the president himself can't come, by ^Ueine^ns, have Watson come," Mrs. Miller replied. ' ' > ■ / > 4 FEOM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS "All right, Mary; come on," said the Lieutenant leading the way into the house, from which he soon returned with this letter: "Dear Clarey : This is the seventy-seventh and last invita- tion from Four Corners. It 's now or never, old pal. "This is Mary, Jr.'s, third birthday — she has a birthday every month. You can see if you don't come soon, she'll be too old for even you to fall in love with 'her. "Dad is waiting anxiously to talk over "Washington politics with you. Mother says to tell you that if the president can't come by all means you cbme. "Your room is ready, and the water turned on for your first bath. There's plenty of chow here. A- hundred broilers are ripening daily on their yellow legs.- They are real flappers. We cut the ham and roast beef thick — no slivers at Four Corners. We fry eggs in the juice of bacon, crisp and curly on the edges and soft in the center. "Come and stay a week, a month, or all summer." "That will fetch him, if he has a heart left," said Mr. Miller. "You mean a stomach, not a heartj" said the Lieutenant. "You are all mistaken," said Mary. "It is Mary, Jr., who will bring Watson to Four Comers, if he comes at all." CHAPTER II Watson Arrives at Four Comers "Delighted!" exclaimed Watson as he stepped from an early train almost into the arms of his old friend. "Clarey, the delight is all mine," said the Lieutenant. "And h^ere is my old friend," Watson said, shaking hands with Mark Miller, Sr. "Heaven bless you for getting up so early to meet an old newspaper vagabond from Washington, as if he were the president of the United States!" ' ' You call this early, do you ? ' ' said Mr. Miller. ' ' What time do you think we get up in th^ country?" ' ' And tl^is little girl — this isn 't Mary, Jr., is it ? I hope thej don'tgbw thaVfast in Iowa, or do they?" . "No, this isn't Mary, Jr. — this is Dorothy -— Dorothy Dee.' "f)orotby< D," said Watson, "and what's ber last name?" ' ' TMtV^er last name — D-e-e, Dee. ' ' FROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS 5 "I need not ask where she is from," said Watson, "for she looks as if she came right from heaven to meet me ! " Dorothy was so overcome that she did not dare to say a word until they were in the automobile. "I'm going to love you at once and forever, "-said Watson to her as he lifted her into the car and seated her on his lap. "I like you, too," the child managed to say at last. "Aunty Mary told me I must like you while you are here."' "And that's the only reason for liking me," said Watson, "when I've already told you I love you." "No, sir," she replied, "I think I'd like.you anyway." "You'll be out this afternoon, won't you, Dad, and bring mother with you," said the Lieutenant as he dropped his father out at his home in Storm Lake. "Yes, I reckon pretty early," Mr. Miller replied. ' ' Till then, so long, ' ' sang out Watson in his .breezy way. "We must hurry, breakfast is waiting," said the Lieutenant, as he speeded his car along the graveled road! "And I'm as hungry as a bear," said /W^atson. "Have you any bears out here, Dorothy, and are they. bad bears?" "We have no bears, except those in my story books," said Dorothy. "In one book three bears are after Golden Locks." "What bracing air you have here," said Watson, after he and Dorothy had disposed of the bears. "It rained j'esterday and it cleared off northwest." "From Medicine Hat, I suppose," laid Watson. They were soon far out in the country" — the country where the tall com grows, mile on mile.- They saw stubblefields' with shocks of grain, green pastures with sleek cattle, hay fields, %roves, orchards, and the most prodigal sunshine. "I have never seen anything so lovely," exclaim,ed Watson. "Home!" said 'the Lieutenant as he swung his car through an open gate up a tree-lined driveway. "Mary, you are still just Mary to me," said Watson as, he stepped out of the car and greeted her. "And you'll always be just Watson to me," said Mary. "Please, carry my luggage in," said Watson in a lordly way to the Lieutenant as he walked off with his wife. "Then show me my bath and breakfast,- for I am as dirty as a tramp and as hun- gry as a bear — wash and eat, as we used to say." "You haven't changed ^ bit, Watson," said Mary. 6 FEOM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS "But you have," he replied, "you'r6 so plump and rosy that I conclude that a farm is better for you than a hospital." "But where is that wonderful Mary, Jr.?" asked Watson as he came down stairs cleaned Up. "You never thought of her till now," said Mary, somewhat peevishly. "I've a, mind not to let you see her at all." » "Oh, come on, "said Watson. "Believe me, if it hadn't been for that baby I wouldn't have come to Four Corners how." "Well, I'U forgive you," said the mother, leading the way to the nursery. ."There she is!" "Isn't she the sweetest thing ever?" asked the father. "Prom what I know about babies," said Watson, "I would say this is a perfectly lovely specimen." "She's normal," replied the mother. "She has two feet, two hands, two eyes, two ears, one nose, et cetera." "And ten toes, and ten fingers," added Dorothy. "We're satisfied, and even fond of her," said the father. . "No, you mustn.'t disturb her,""' enjoined the mother when Watson offered to pick the baby up. "You may look at her, but you may not touch, taste, or handle her now." "It's a scientific baby, Clarey," said the Lieutenant, "that's what you get when you marry a scientific nurse. ' ' "It means I have a theory," explained Mary, "and my theory is that babies should be disturbed as little as possible — they should be allowed to eat, sleep, and grow." "I guess the theory is all right," said Watson, "although I don't l^now very much about babies." When they sat down to breakfast, the eggs and bacon were just as Watson ha^ always liked them, and the cofEee was so good that he almost asked for a third cup. "But where is Four Corners?" asked Watson when they were out on the porch. "It's right over there," said the Lieutenant, pointing. "Pour Comers is where two roads cross. ' ' "I thought it was some place out here." "It is, isn't it?" replied the Lieutenant. FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 7 •CHAPTER III First of the Political Conversations It was a t)eauti£ul day, and Mr. and Mrs. Mark MiUer, ^r., arrived at the farm home early in the afternoon. "I am running a little "ahead of schedule," he explasned, "be- cause of something I read in the morning paper. ' ' ""What was it about?" asked Watson. "Why, it said that the Democrats are hoping, and boasting of electing a majority of the next house. '.' "Oh, politicians always hope and they always boast," replied Watson, laughing, "and the newspaper boys are willing to print anything as news nowadays. Do you recall on what they based these hopings and boastings?" "It said the Republicans had failed to make good." "To make what good?" asked- Watson. "To make good what they spoiled during and after the war ? I think it is safe to say the Republicans will admit that they have not yet made every- thing good that the Democrats left in bad order. ' ' "You don't mean they'd plead guilty of failure?" "No, no, understand me, Mr. Miller," said Watson. "Per- haps I can illustrate. Suppose you had turned this fine farm over to a tenant for ei^ht years, giving him full power over all things here. And suppose that the tenant let cockle-burs and thistles overrun your land and by careless plowing, let rUls and ditches ruin your hillsides. And suppose he let the fences fall "flown, the foundations of the buildings crumble, with paint off everything and \ lightning rods askew. And, finally, suppose he :^ut down your fine trees and despoiled your orchard — can. you suppose all these things?" "I can. I have seen tenants no better than that." "And now suppose that at the end of the eight-year period that tenant said to you, 'Here is your old place,' run it yourself.' Then do you suppose that you could make everything good that had been spoiled and do it, say in one year and four months, with the old tenant as a 'minority party' hanging around, sneer- ing, finding fault and even obstructing your work?" ' 'Why, it would take several years to get rid of the cockle-burs alodle," said Mr. Miller, "to say nothing of getting the trees back, any fool knows that much, " 8 PROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS "Well, what we have supposed about your farm, is about what the Democrats did with this country. I am not exaggerating and while I am here I propose to show you the bad order in which they left this country on March 3, 1921." "But will you show me that the Republicans have made rea- sonable progress to normalcy since?" asked Mr. Miller. "I will show you that the progress ha? been more than reason- able," Watson answered. "It has lieen almost beyond belief. While I am at Pour Corner^ I am, going to tell you a few things that not only you, but everyone ought to know. ' ' . "And you don't think the Democrats can come back?" "Not yet, Mr. Miller. Not this year. It is still in the nature of an insult to the intelligence of people who have memories even a yard long to think of the Democrats being reentrusted with the powers that they used so incompetently, so extravagantly, and so destructively to all national morale. What would you as an intelligent land owner say to that unfaithful tenant if he should ask you to let him back on your farm after all the damages he had done to your land and buildings ? " "I'll tell you what I would. say, after the women folks have gone into the house," said Mr, Miller. ■--is:;f After iv The Old Farm and Dorothy's Story "If you men are going to talk politics, Mark, for goodness sake get out of the car," said Mrs. Miller. "No," replied Mr. Miller, "before I do that I want to take Watson out and show him the old place in this little thingajig that we call our car. Jump in, Watson." Watson got in the front seat, followed by the Lieutenant and Mary and Dorothy in the back seat. "Pine, grand and glorious," exclaimed Watson as the rural views were unfolded to him. "But the fences don't stand up straight to siiit me'," said Mr. Miller in a;n apologetic manner. "But look at my first alfalfa, over there," said the Lieut^n^^l "They said I couldn^t do it, but look at it." "' ' The alfalfa looked so good tha,t Watson iiisisted on getting FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 9 out of the car and walking knee deep in it, followed by Mary and of course little Dorothy. , "It looks so good I want to taste it," he said. "Eat your fill of it," Mr. Miller called to him.' "There is plenty of it and all kinds of livestock thrive on it." . The three went far afield in the clover, DQrothy chasing but- fprflies and Mary conversing with Watson. "She is a wonder child," said Watson, of Dorothy. "She's at least wonderful to us," said Mary, "and to her mother she is a gift of God. Her mother's name also is Dorothy. Her brother and Mr. Dee, the father of little Dorothy, were in college together. They were the first to enlist when war was declared. They went through some training and then came the glad news to them, that they would be sent to France. Dorothy hurried east to say good-bye to her brother. Of course, she met Mr. Dee, and they fell in Jove with each other. They were mar- ried a short time before he sailed for France." "The same story over," said Watson. "He wrote often," Mary went on, "until about the time their baby was born. Then for a long time no letters came. Finally came the news that both the brother and the husband had been killed in the same action. It was in a drive in July. . ." "God be merciful, " exclaimed Watson, "they were with the American boys who helped to turn back the enemy from Chateau Thierry to Soissons! The ground upon which those lads died, advancing, was never regained by the enemy. It was the be- ginning of the end. Having been so born no wonder she looked to me like a wonder child." ."Mrs. Dee is now returning from: France where she went "to jvisit her brother's grave. Her husband's burial place no man toows. They say he was horribly mangled. He sleeps in an unknown grave. " "I am glad to know the child's story," said Watson. "Now I shall love her more than ever." And little Dorothy wondered why Watson picked her up, when they returned to the car, and carried her on his shoulder. "The child is just like her mother," Mary told him. "She has her mother's eyes, her hair, her smiles and loveliness." "Then the mother must be a wonder woman," remarked Wat- son. 10 FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS CHAPTER V Was CoiMtry Prosperous When Turned Over? Wlien they returned, Mr. Miller recalled that the article? in the paper stated that the Democrats had turned the country oyer to the Republicans March 4, 1921, in a prosperous condition.: "That statement," said Watson, "fs what Mr. Roosevelt would have called a lie. It is not true that the country was in a pros- perous condition when it was turned over to the Republicans." "What i§ the best answer to their claim?" asked Mr. Miller. "The answer to any lie is the truth," replied Watson. "On the 4th of March, 1921, the country, was far from prosperous. Nearly four months before, E. T. Meredith, a citizen of your own state, then secretary of agriculture, in his annual report com- plained that the crops of that year, 1920, grown at war costs, were worth $3,000,000,000 less than the smaller crtops of 1919. That was four" months before they turned the country ovet. " "That's good evidence," admitted Mr. MiUer. "There is plenty of other evidence," said Watson. "In the senate the other day a Democratic member from Alabama said, 'Can you imagine a situation more cruel or desperate than that which confronted the farmers of the county in 1920 and 1921?' After asking that question the Democratic senator exclaimed, ' Grod forbid that another distressing time like that shall ever come upon our people/ You^can find this language in the Congres- sional Record, page 11873. This Democratic senator told the truth. . He admitted the panic came before his party turned the country over to the Republicans." ' ' I can remember it myself, ' ' said Mr. Miller. ^ "No man's memory can be so short that he does not know that prices began to fall late in the summer of 1920, while the Dem- ocrats were still in power, and that in March, 1921, when they turned the country over, the country was in a morass. They left it for the Republicans to pull it out. ' ' "I guess the truth is answer enough," said Mr. Miller'. "In Washington it is no secret," said Watson, "that the Democrats at that time were trying in every way to kjee^things going ^ usual until after the presidential election. J^%y in- voked even the aid of the banks, and the banks foolishly did aid them. The Federal Reserve banks were liberal with credit and PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 11 local banks all over the country were encouraged to loan freely. The result was a most dailgerous inflation, wild speculation, over buying and over selling: Even neckties were worth $15." "I remember it all," sighed Mr. Miller. "But in spite of all their efforts to keep up the appearances of prosperity," Watson continued, "prices had tumble(^; before, the ballots were cast in November. ,Then scared at their own promoted inflations, they turned to deflation. The Federal Re- serve banks raised rates, and local, banks began to press pay- ments. The farmers, almost first of all, were called uppn to liquidate. They were forced to sell their products in pai;iic markets." "Those were dark days for us," confessed Mr. Miller. "We lost all hope at times. One farmer dumped his hides in the river rather than sell them for the prices offered. A load of hides would hardly bpy a pair of shoes. An agricultural paper' advised burning corn, and in one eotinty the supervisors decreed com a proper fuel for schools* and courthouses." "And those were the alleged prosperous conditions in which the outgoing Democrats turned the country over to the incoming Republicans," said Watson, in a sneering tone. "Five million - men were without employment for when the farmers had to quit buying they had to shut down factories in the industrial centers. All business came to a partial standstill. ' ' "But these conditions we will have to admit continued under the Harding administration, "suggested Mr. Miller. "They 'did — for a while," Watson admitted. "The ava- lanche downward could not be stopped over night. We almost wondered if it could be stopped at all." "On the farms we almost despaired," said Mr. Miller. "Such were the conditions and such were the problems that confronted the new administration," said Mr. Watson. "Never had harder problems been presented to an incoming administra- tion. There was impatience and discontent 'everywhere, and Bolshevisrd showed its head. President Harding immediately addressed himself to these tasks. He summoned congress in ex- traordinary session, and laid before it an emergency program." "About that I want to hear," said Mr. Miller. "But that is another chapter," saiS Watson. "First, let us take a drink from yonder frfend, the pump." 12 FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS CHAPTER VI On the Way to Normalcy Refreshed from the well, Mr. Miller and Watson carried on their discussion unmindful of the sun, until the Lieutenant called them uftder the trees. " Oh, I don't mind your Iowa sun, ' ' Watson told them. ' ' The air is so- invigorating and the subject so interesting, " "We were speaking of what President Harding and congress proceeded to do to turn things/' suggested Mr. Miller. ^ "Before they could get under way," said Watson, "the land had become a seething mass of theories. Every man had a cure- all. There was no end of quack remedies, for in times of distress all the political nostrum makers become active. Some wanted the government to print more money, after the manner of the Soviets. Others wanted the government to buy u{) all farm products and hold them for fixed prices. In their minds they built big warehouses and stored them full of grain, without thinking of taxes or shrinkage. " " -^ "There were lots of new ideas rife" admitted Mr. Miller. "But the ideas were not new, as a matter of fact. All of them were very old ideas. They were experiments that had been tried before, some before Christ was on earth. But in every recurring period of distress some one thinks of them as new ideas and they always have followers. The Harding adminis- tration had the courage to proceed along well-tried economit^. paths." ' " "But how was the trick turned?" asked the Lieutenant, "It wasn't a trick," insisted Watson. "It was business. First of all there was enacted an emergency tariff to take the place, of the revenue tariff of 1913, to stabilize industry and to stop threatened floods of foreign products. This Was supple- mented with an emergency restriction of immigration. To stop the feared influx of the derelicts of the war in Europe." "Naturally we wanted to put our own house in order first," observed Mr. Miller. "That is what we proceeded to do," said Watson, "and an immediate stabilization of conditions and a restoration of confi- dence followed." "And what was next*" asked "Mr. Miller. PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 13 "Having closed the gates both to foreign goods and to foreign laborers, ' ' Watson answered, ' 'we looked about to provide finan- cial relief for our own industries. Money was scarce and credit timid. The banks were 'frozen stiff' and they could not func- tion. The War Finance corporation was revived. Half a billion assets remained in this dormant organization. This money was immediately used particularly and exclusively f oi* rural financ* ing, including the promotion of exports of farm products. ' ' . "They said that helped the banks," said Mr. Miller. ' , ' ' That is what ever-present critics tried to make out, ' ' admitted , Watson, "but1;hey soon had to admit that the situation was mate- rially relieved. Money was advanced not only through the banks but through properly organized cooperative associations. This financing proved the magic key to rural normalcy. ' ' "I remember we begftn to feel easier on the farm around Christmas, 1921," said Mr. Miller. "Yes, that was the beginning of the turn," said Watson. "When prices began to rise, those who watched almost gasped, and then they feared that it might be only a temporary mani- festation, the result of artificial stimulation. But with the com- ing of the new year, 1922, things began to assume a very per- manent aspect. The whole country rejoiced when in January com on the farms crossed the lialf dollar mark, with oats follow- ing, and hogs ten up." "Then we began to sell again," said Mr. Miller, "but we were stUl a little suspicious about buying for we felt that urban prices had not responded to rural prices." "I know you felt that way out here," said Watson. "We all felt a little suspicious of the other fellow.. Each one of us thought he had been hit the hardest. But as a matter of fact we aU suffered even if we did not all suffer alike." "I should say that it was a panic with a short turning point," observed the Lieutenant. "That is what it was," said Watson quickly. "I do not be- lieve there is in all American history the record of a downward market being so quickly turned into an upward one. Most panics, for that is what the depression of 1920-21 was, ha,ve run their course in not less than three oir four years. But here we had one that hardly outlived its first year. When the Harding administration came in things were headed downward. Within ten months they were headed upward. I say that's a record." 14 PEOM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS "And you think it was done through the legislation that you have named?" ,asked Mr. Miller.. "No, I would not say all of it," said Watson, "They were needed and remedial measures that were passed. They stabilized and they restored confidence. But the faith that the people had in the principles and policies of the Republican party also helped. And let us not forget the personal element of Walft-en G.' JIarding, a man in whom all people had both faith and con- fidence. The psychology of public confidence must never be over- looked." CHAPTER VII "■ "Bonli Forget the Facts 'Mr. Miller'* "Don't forget the facts, Mr.Miller," said Watson, accompany- ing him to his automobile when leaving timte came. "I'm going to spring some of those facts on the boys at the club tomorrow morning," Mr. Miller assured him. "And the facts to remember," reiterated Watson, "are these: First, that they inflated us and then that they deflated us." "They blew us up like a balloon and then tlfe dam thing 'busted,' that's about it," said Mr. Miller, i "I think they played horse with us," said the Lieutenant.^ "The other facts to remember," insisted Watson, "are that the reaction began late in the summer of 1920, that it was well under way in October and November, Tvhen the secretary of agriculture issued his Tvail, and that widespread unemployment followed during the winter months, with millions out of work." "I follow you," said Mr. Miller. "And that it was in the face of such alarming conditions that President Harding assumed his office March 4, 1921. It was far from, a period of prosperity, as they now try to make out ^ For six months from September to March, the Democrats were still in office, and they did nothing to check the declines. They sat helpless in the midst of the accumulating ruins. ' ' "It reminds me," said -Mr. Millet" ruminating a bit, "of what the same party did sixty years before. I remember my father telling me that President Buchanan cried and prayed but did nothing to check the spread of secession before going out" PROM WASHINGTON TO "FOUR CORNERS 15 "I hadn't thought of that parallel, but it ia splendid, histori- cally," said Watson. "As Abraham Lincoln received a legacy of secession", so Warren G. Harding received a legacy of indus- trial, agricultural and financial chaos." "I guess he had his hands full," said the Lieutenant. "Remember also, Mr. Miller, when you address the boys at your club on this subject," Watson said, "that the Harding ad- ministration took immediate steps to check the declines aild to stop the panic. As I have said, he summoned congress in extra session, lie-counselled with all. In Washington there was held a big conference with farmers and those engaged in allied in- dustries. It was one of the notable gatherings of the year, for a time dividiQg interest with the disarmament conference then in session. Wise laws were^ quickly enacted, administrative influ- ences exerted, and as I have said, within ten months there was a , change all over the country." . "Gosh, I wish I could make a speech like that to the boys at the club tomorrow, I'd stump' them," said Mr. Miller, ' "You think then that.it was a sort of a Democratic panic, do you, Watson?" asked Mrs. "Miller. "Oh, no, Mrs. Miller, I do not want to be so partisan as that. In fact, I do not want to be partisan at all. Following the war we were bound to have declines. What I do think is that the Democrats then in power handled the situation very poorly, through their systems of inflation and deflation, and by the con- tinuance of ofScial expenditures, with consequent taxes, on an extravagant, incompetent and wasteful scale. About these things I am going to tell you more some other day." "All I know is," sighed Mrs. Miller, "we suffered most." "You on the farms suffered much," said Watson, "but do not assume that you did. all the suffering. Others suffered too. Those in the cities often suffered more than you on the farms. They had no cribs or bins well fllled, no pens or yards well stocked, neither garden truck nor dairy products to which to turn for food. Here on the farms you suffered in the midst of plenty. In the cities they suffered in the midst of poverty." "You always think of the other fellow," said Mrs. Miller.. "We all need to think more of the other fellow," Watson re- plied. "We recite that in our Bible texts, but we do not always " practice it. The other fellow has his troubles too. But nowa^ days we think largely of ourselves. ,We want what we want. 16 FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS "We demand it from congress, if we cannot get it in any other way, and with each class and section striying for itself, our law- makers must often be hampered in trying to serve all alike." "I believe there is something in that," said Mr. Miller. "It's all in that," said Watson. "We have not been willing to accept the fact that after six years of destructive war we all . had sacrifices to make long after that war is over. The unwill- ingness of so many to accept that fact has only multiplied the woes of the world." CHAPTER VIII Watson Talks to Dorothy But Not of Politics The next morning when they woke up, it was raining hard. , "It's you and I today, Dorothy," said Watson. Of course the little girl was delighted to lead the big man into what was her own little room. "Dolls, dolls and more dolls," said Watson. "What a lot of dolls, but not one that can smile or talk." "This one smiles, can't you see her?" said Dorothy- . "Yes, she smiles in a sort of a way," admitted Watson, "but she can't talk like your aunty's real baby." "Oh, Mary can't talk yet," laughed Dorothy, "but this doll can almost talk, just listen," she Added, pinching' a sad faced doll. "She does that when I tweeze her." "But I think it's mean to tease a doll, don't you?" "But I don't tease her, and I'm not mean to her," insisted -the child. "I just tweeze her to make her cry." "That's what I said, you tease her." "No, I just tweeze her." Mary, who had dropped in, began to laugh. ' 'You poor man, ' ' she said to Watson. "You can't understand baby talk any bet- ter than Walt of Gasoline Alley. The child is trying to tell you that she squeezes the doll to make it squeak. There are a few words over which she still lisps. " "Oh, squeeze, now I understand, Dorothy." "Yes, I said tweeze," reiterated Dorothy. "All right then," said Watson. "And now we have this" settled, I am going to tell you a story." FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS IT ' ' Then tell me a long, long story, ' ' suggested Dorothy, climb- ing on Watson's lap to listen. ' ' Once upon a time there was a little girl who ran away from home, and she ran and she ran . . . " "Why did she run away from home?" asked Dorothy. "Because her father had scolded her." "And why did her papa scold hisi little girl?" "Because she had been naughty. . . No, don't ask any more foolish questions," insisted Watson; placing his hand over her mouth, "Or I'll never get my story told." "But did she come back?" asked the mischievous little girl as soon as her mouth was released. "Of course, she came back." "Then she didn't stay runned away, did she?" "Of course she didn't stay runhed away. . . Biit as I was saying, she runned and she runned until she came to a big woods, and then she runned and runned still faster, for it was dark ih the woods and she could hear wild animals howling. ' ' "But they didn't catch her, did they?" "No, because she runned so fa§t, just like little Golden Locks in your picture book. And when she got through the dark woods, she met Peter' Pan. She stopped and talked to him and he taught her how to fly, and then they flew and flew together, ever and ever so fa;r and ever and ever so high until at last they came to an island which was up'in the sky. " "What's an island, and how is it in the sky?" "No one, ever knew;'how it got up there, but there it was, and the little girl and Peter Pan on it," "What was the island like?" asked Dorothy. "Always asking questions, — why, it was just like an island .ought to be, land with water all around it." "But there 's no land or water in the sky. ' ' "Oh, yes there is," said Wktson. "You can't see the land for ii is on the other side of the blue tent that you call the sky, and as for water, doesn't it rain out of the sky?" "Then when it rains the blue tent leaks?" "Something like that," said Watson in desperation, "but now, let's not forget the little girl is still up there." '■'I know she is," sajd Dorothy, "and how's she ever going to get down again?" "Well, after playing with fairies who live up there, the little 18 FEOM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS girl began to think about her own mother, and she began to realize that her own mother had always been nicer to her than even the fairies could be, and so she wanted to come down. Then she hunted and hunted for a way to climb down, until she came to a bean stalk, when she said good-bye to all the fairies and to Peter Pan and slid down right into her mother's arms/' "It must have been a very,^ very big bean stalk." "So it was, so it was, Dorothy." CHAPTER IX War Contracts and Other Debris "I stumped the boys. at the club, all right, ill rights" boasted Mr. Miller when he returned to the farm and met Watson. "I told them how the outgoing Democrats had left a panic on the White House doorstep. I proved it, too, to the satisfaction of all, except one who. still thinks he is something of a Democrat, but is a bit ashamed of it. " . "That panic, Mr. Miller," said Watson, "was not the only legacy that the outgoing Democrats left for the incoming Repub-. licans. I'm going to tell you about other legacies and liabilities that they left. It's a sad story, biit it needs to be retold, lest the people forget and blunder again." "Wellj what else did they leave that was as bad?" ' ' They left so many things in bad order that I could not tell you all in a week," answered Wartson. "And now they ask' to be returned to power, forsooth, because they say the Republi- cans in the short time they have been in have not cleared away all their rubbish and laid new .foundations." . "They have their nerve,, as I told, the boys at' the club, to be asking to be voted back into power. " - "But their nerve will get them nothing," said Watson, "fora majority of the voters have not yet taken degrees in idiocy." "But what's the debris?" asked Mr. Miller. "This morning," said Watson, ".I am going to tell you some- thing about the war contracts which they left unsettled." "You had a rumpus in congress about that the other day?" "Yes, a little one," admitted Watson. "Some of _ the ex- service men think the department of justice has not" made enough FROM. WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 19 haste about trying these cases. I' don't blame them, although we must have patience. Things are in bad shape. They left things mixed up — papers lost, witnesses hard to tind, and what not 1 The task of uncovering these frauds is so large that con- gress voted $500,000 more, to prosecute the work. A special grand jury has recently .returned ten indictments." "But why didn't the Democrats themselves punish the scala- wags and recover the loot?" asked Mr. Miller. "You tell me why they didn't. They didn't even make an effort. When the Republicans in congress in 1919 began inves- tigations of these frauds the Democratic minority members ob- structed them in every way they could and in minority reports invariably white-washed the guilty. But now these same Demo- crats pretend. to be impatient over Republican delays, so-called." ' ' The crocodiles and their tears ! ' ', exclaimed Mr. Miller. "Before they surrendered control of _ congress, on March 2, 1919, they passed the Dent act, giving the secretary of war and his satraps blanket power to settle with all contractors, which they proceeded to do without auditings. Under that act 30,000 settlements have been made. The Republicans are now auditing what they did not audit and they find that in ten per cent of the cases the -claimants were actually overpaid." "As if their contracts didn't contain enough fat pork in the first place," sighed Mr. Miller. "In some cases these overpayments actually amounted to $9,000,000," said Watson. "Congressman Graham, of Illinois, who was one of the congressional investigators, stated on the floor the other day that under the Dent act they had paid' out $484,- 425,566.11, 'much of it without the, existence of a contract, most of it without an accounting, and p/actieally all of it without any legal justification at all, except the language of the Dent act.' It is now up to the department of justice to review and recover all that Was paid out so carelessly and much of it even fraudu- lently." "Some job, I should say," said Mr. Miller. "Some job indeed," said Watson.' "It will take the courts many years to^elean up this Democratic debris." "How many cases are there to try?" "Probably thousands," replied Watson. "The attorney gen- eral has started on 276, alrfeady — think of it!" "And how much is involved in money?" ' * 20 PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS "Hundreds of millions, probably a billion. The 276 cases involve $192,000,000 to begin with." "Can they recover half of that?" ' ' I doubt it. As I have said, they left things covered up, scattered or lost and many of their contracts were verbal or written on scraps of paper. ' ' "AU because they uspd no business sense," sighed Mr. Miller. "And sometimes invoked crooked business," said Watson. CHAPTER X How Foreign Loans Were Made "I have heard enough about these war contracts to make me despair — may we~never have another war," saidMr. Miller. "We may wish that for more than a monetary reason," com- mented Watson. ' ' Two years ago when you came f roin Four Cor- ners to Washington, I told you of a few of the worst wastes. How -they spent $1,051,000,000 for aeroplanes without getting a single American combat plane on the fighting front. That was Persh- ing 's own testimony. You know how they built the cantonments, smothering them. in waste and fraud. In one place in the then favored south, they put in forty miles of concrete rOad at $150,000 a inile. At Camp Humphrey, under the, shadows of the national capitol, they paid favored contractors six or seven thousand for cheap shacks called cottages built of government materials. They were^ still spending the balance of what they hoped would be $36,000,000, when the Republicans got cpntrol of congress in 1919 and hastily passed a bill ordering all work on such con- struction stopped. ' "We gave them too much money to spend, we bought their liberty bonds too. greedily," thought Mr. Miller. "They not only overpaid contractors," said Watson, "but they overloaned foreign nations, and without security." ' "Yes, tell me something about those loans." "There is much to tell, Mr. Miller, and it is of'the usual kind. It was the same carelessness, incompetence and all the rest. la making those foreign loans they did not follow the laws of either j3ongress or finance. They blundered. " . "Just what do you mean, Watson?" PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 21 "Congress authorized them to buy the bonds of nations which were at war with our enemies," explained Watson. "To help along these nations we were to buy their bonds, just as you and I bought the bonds of our own government. But they did nothing so business-like. If they had bought bonds we would now have positive evidences of the debts owing us, with interest rates and dates of maturities fixed. But all we have for much we loaned are scraps of paper, variously signed and unsigned." ' ' Is that the way they did T ' "Yes, that's the way they did, just as they did everything else, these men who now want to come back and run this govern- ment for us again. They loaned $300,000,000 to nations jwhich were not at war with our enemies. This was in violation of the' law. They kept on loaning after the war to the tune of $1,300,- 000,000, all of which also was contrary to the law. They loaned almost two hundred million dollars to some one in Russia> not then known and still more or less unknown. That is, no one knows what became of the money. That makes a total of nearly two billions that were illegally or questionably loaned." "How much of it will we ever get back?" asked Mr. Miller. "I don't know how much of this two billions," replied Wat- son. "To clear up this Democratic financial debris congress has created a commission to confer with "representatives of the debtor nations and this commission will probably work out a solution." "But all unnecessary work and contention,- if they had fol- lowed the law, and used business sense," said Mr. Miller. "But in spite of their lack of business sense then, now they thinfe they have enoixgh of^ that kind of sense to run the govern- ment for us again," said Watson. "They'll have to show me as a voter," said Mr. Miller. "I think the voters will prefer to let them stay at home until we have -paid for their financial orgies £ind debaucheries of the past," suggested Watson. "We will be a long time doing that," sighed Mr. Miller. "Indeed we will," said Watson. "Mr. Graham, of Illinois, to whom I have alreeidy referred as one of the war contract in- vestigatorSj stated in congress the other day that the wastes of that period amount to $14,800,000,000, two-thirds of our debts." "Whew!" exclaimed Mr. Miller. "I heard much of the testimony in those investigations," said Watson, "and I bagard the statement that one-third of our 22 FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS twenty-three billion dollar debt represents waste and fraud — money for which we got nothing as a nation. ' ' "And still the doers of these misdeeds this year are hoping and even boasting of coming back into power, ' ' said Mr. Miller. eHAPTER XI Here is Muscle Shoals Again "I see Muscle Shoals is still up," said Mr. Miller, after he had recoyered from the first dose of leavings. "There's some debris there," said Watson, "but of which we are trying tapick a little salvage." Just at that point two big automobiles loaded down with huskjr young men, and some not so young, turned into the Miller gate. "We've come to get a drink, Mark, and to hear the wise man they say you've got over, here from Washington," one of the husky lads called out. "AH right, there's the well arid here's Watson," said the Lieutenant, proceeding to introduce his friend. "Watson was just going to tell me about Muscle Shoals," said Mr. Miller, "and now you can all bear it — it's great!" "That's the Henry Ford plant," said a lean man. "No, it's the one Henry wants," said a fat man. "To make fertilizers for us, farmers," said a man neither fat nor lean, but with a very quizzical eye. "When Muscles Shoals was built," said Watson, "there was eiiacted one of the worst orgies.^ it was a scream and a screech.*' "What do you mean?" asked the quizzical fellow. "It was to cost around^thirty millions/' Watson went on. ' ' So congress appropriated twenty inillions as a starter. It was only a starter. Hesitating to ask congress for more, the prea- dent kindly gave them forty millions out of his funds which he could spend at his discretion. That made sixty millions and that is probably more than was put in -honestly. " "How much was put in dishonestly?" asked Mr. Miller. "The whole thing cost one hundred six million dollars, and the birds probably got forty odd millions," said Watson. ' ' What birds -^ crows ? ' ' asked the fat man. ' ' No, they were hawks «iu(J buzzards, ' ' sa,id W^-tS^n. ' ' In some FROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS 23 political way, Tammany men were in control at the Shoals. It is a long story. Suffice it to say now that the wastes were prodigious. Every boss and sub-boss had a car and a chauffeur. They spent two million dollars on cars, and paid- eighty thousand doilars a year for drivers. They also l^ad two hundred thousand dollars worth of horses, with fancy saddles." "And did no one call them down?" asked the lean man. "Yes," said Watson, "some investigators were sent down from Washington, but the Tammany gun men intimated to them that it might be healthier elsewhere. They took the hint." "And they made no reports?" asked the lean man. • . "Yes, one investigator reported he had found a 'gang of Tam- maiiy rough necks' in charge, and another, described " them as 'simply ward heelers, aiid cheap but "faithful Democrats'." "They loafed and looted," sighed Mr. Miller. "There is no doubt about the loafing," said Watson, "and $106,000,000 disappeared." "And what's it all worth now?" asked the fat man. "You tell me," my jolly looking friend," replied Watson. "I am sure I don't know. Henry Ford has offered five millions for it, but even this paltry sum is on condition that the government' shall spend thirty or fo*iy millions more to complete the works. But this, let me add, Mr. Ford will repay in the course of a hun- dred years, but he wants the money at four per cent interest." "Would Mr. Ford lend money to us for that?" asked one. ".He doesn't believe in interest, so he says," said Watson. ' ' It looks to me as if an idiot in the dark could invest a hun- dred and six million dollars and leave more salvage in it than that," suggested the fat man.' "But Mr. Ford will give us cheap fertilizers, won't he?" ' ' He says he will make nitrates, which are used in fertilizers, ' ' said Watson, "but I think he stipulates that he is to get eight per cent on his money in the way of profits, which is a business- like proposition, I will admit. " "I guess Henry is just like the rest of us, but only more so, and he knows how to get away with it, ' ' said the fat man. "Bamum alive would die of envy, "said the lean man. "But fertilizer is fertilizer, just as pigs is pigs," said Mr. Miller, "and any salvage is something." "We have this white elephant on our hands, a somewhat un- gainly thing to leave on one 's doorstep, but I hope we will realize something out of him. There ought to be some ivory in him. ' ' 24 PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS "Why can't 'the government operate it?" asked one, "Heaven forbid/! said Mr. Miller. "See how they operated our railroads, and I hear they're doing worse with our ships." ' ' Tell us about them, ' ' said the fat man. . "Before we start on that, let's proceed to the well and drjuk hearty," suggested the Lieutenant, leading the way. CHAPTER XII How They Built the Merchant Marine-, "Now that I have taken on enough water to float one of their shipSj ' ' Watson resumed, with thirteen men grouped around him on the grass under a tree, " I will tell you the weird story of how they built 2,288 ships and did it for little less than four billions." ' 'What ! ' ' exclaimed the lean man, leaping up. "Calm yourself," said WatsoUj "and listen to a tale such as no ancient 'mariner ever told. Let me show you the hole in the bottom of the sea into which we have been dumping money for 'five years, and the dumping is still going on." ' ' It must be some hole, ' ' laughed the fat man. "When we entered the war," Watson went on, "we needed ships. We had men and munitions and provisions to get across the Atlantic to do our part in the war. The cry was for 'shipW and then more ships. ' .We talked of bridging the Atlantic with ,.Ships, so our boys could walk across. Congress, sharing in this enthusiasm, on June 17, 1917, gave to the president almost pleB- ary powers to build the ships. An Emergency Fleet corpora- tion was created." "And they found the hole?" asked the fat man. "Well, they soon got Us in a hole," replied WatsOn. "Some of the emergency men thought Americans could transform any- thing into a ship, -whether wood, concrete or steei. When we started on wooden ships. General George W. Goethals, who had built the Panama Canal without a scandal or a failure, told them that wooden ships would be a waste of money and material. He told them it was ridiculous to think of building ships out of wood while the birds were still singing in the trees. When they would not listen to his advice, he resigned in disgust. They let him go and they dubbed him an old fogy." FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 25 "How many wooden ships did they build?" asked one. "Before they quit building them they had 589 of them and they set the treasury of the United States back to the tune of $375,000,000 — and all of it was spent in vain." "You mean all of it wasted, and that the ships were no good," asked the quizzical man. "I think they took one of those ships as far as Halifax," said Watson, "but as it had sunk a couple of feet on the journey, the sailors, being superstitious, "refused to bring her back. It had been built out of green lumber — the kind with the birds still singing in the trees. The other day 205 of these ships were»sold as junk for less than half of what any one of them had cost." "And what about the concrete ones?'.' asked one. "That is about the same," said Watson. "They built thirty at a cost of $27,000,000. I don't know where they are, but they say they ought to be dumped bodily into that hole." "And how many did they build altogether?" "As near as anyone knows, they built 2,288- ships of all kinds, all sizes, all designs, and all theories," said Watson. "But the exact number is hardly known. They built So many in so many different places that they probably lost track of some of them. They are like the Thousand Islahds, no one ever counted them. ' ' "And what did they cost?" asked Mr. Miller. "They cost, it is alleged, $3,300,000,000," replied Watson, "but these figures also are a little indefinite. No one really knows all they cost. The bookkeeping on them wte simply 'aw- ful.' The present head of the Shipping Board is credited with the statement that it would take 5,000 clerks 5,000 years to ^.udit their books, and many of their books are only scraps of paper. They did not know such things as vouchers, and as for account- ing, what's that amoiig friends, and While the people were buying Liberty bonds in billion lots. With interest and deficits and claims paid added their Emergency Fleet foots up something like $3,900,000,000." ' "Thank heaven, they stopped short of four billions," sug- gested the fat man with a ruddy grin. "Yes, there's always something to be thankful for, as PoUyan- na once upon a titae remarked, " said Watson. "And they did all this during ^e war?" asked one. "Oh no," replied Watson. "On Armistice Day only 450 of ^ese ships had been delmreoil know, the revived War Finance Corporation is loaning lg,rge sums of money for cattle paper, for co-operative associations, and for farm financing in general. A recent state- ment of this corporation shows that up to -June last, $284,874,582 had been loaned for such purposes, and 80 millions more had been authorized. Of this amount $54,122,221 had been loaned to livestock companies direct and $18,232,117 to co-operative associations, $38,604,051 to promote farm exports. That all these loans have been made on sound basis is shown by the fact that from January 1 to July 31 of this year, $105,840,920 had been repaid. All they needed was temporary help." "It has been fine financing," said Mr. Miller. ' ' The Republican floor leader of the house, Frank W. Mondell, referred to it the other day as the salvation of the cattle industry, and as Mr. Mondell is from Wyoming, he ought to know. ' ' "But will this financing be continued?" ' ' The War Finance Corporation will be Continued for at least another year and by that time, it is hoped, congress will be able to enact a system of permanent financing along these same lines. It was to this that President Harding, the other day, pledged his administration. I see by the papers that just now this corpora- tion is financing many wheat growers ' associations, and that ad- vances to cooperative marketing associations have been teiitative- ly approved for thisi season to the amount of $87,000,000, all to provide for what is called orderly marketing of grain, instead of precipitate marketing by which prices are depressed. ' ' ' ' You are getting into the right system in Washington. ' ' "No administration, Mr. Miller, has ever addressed itself so seriously and so sanely to these urgent problems. The lessons we learned in our late distress will not be lost while Mr. Harding- is president and the Republicans control the congress." CHAPTER XXIII When the Midwest Speculated While in Sioux City, Mr. Miller called on an old friend, a man with whom he had had dealings in cattle, and he brought this friend back with him for luncheon in one of the cafes. PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 47- "I am an. old-line Democrat," said Mr. Burt, when he wa» introduced to Watson, "and you're a Republican, I understand." "There's but little difference between an old-line Democrat and a new-line Republican," said Watson. "You old-line Dem- ocrats at least do not believe in the soviet or any Americanized form of it. The soviet idea is one that we can both fight." "Speaking of the soviet in Russia," spoke up the Lieutenant, "I see well authenticated figures show tha* Lenin has executed in his regime over two million of his 'subjects' — and yet there are fools in America who think of that as the 'new' liberty." "I understand,'" said Mr. Burt, "that you have been tell- ing my friends, the Millers, about the wonderful farm financing that you Republicans boast of in Washington." ' 'They don 't boast — they simply state the facts. ' ' "Of course, you blame us Democrats for getting the Ijusiness and the finances of the country out of order?" "It is'believed," said Watson, "they were guilty of slight con- tributory negligence and perhaps some incompetence." "But the Democratic^ party and the government in Washing- - ton and even the banks in New York are not wholly to blame for what happened here then financially," said Mr. Burt. "We brought on many of our own troubles Tiere in the midwest, trou- • bjes for which we blamed the government and the banking powers. We had flush times in 1919. We sold corn for $1.75 a bushel and hogs had been $22. Money was easy and we all be- came speculators in our own way. ' We bought oil stocks; aero- plane stocks, rubber tire stocks, automobile wheel stocks, and! every other kind of stock that was sent floating through the blue skies. Here in Sioux City a gang capitalized packing house prejudices and alleged profits, organizing what they called a 55^6peratiye packing plant, in which the farmers were going to do "their own packing business and put all the alleged profits in their pockets. They sold ejght millions of stock in this concern and then they found out that the whole thing had been a swindle with part of the money in the pockets of the promoters and the rest of it to be administered by receivers. Even the banks which ,ought to have known better, for discount pipofits, found them- • selves overloaded." "That's what you did out here?" asked Watson. "That's what we did," said Mr. Burt. ■ "It is estimated that $137,000,000 of good Iowa money was blown in on schemes 48 PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS of this kind, perhaps nine-tenths of it lost. ^ I met a South Da- kota farmer the other day who had put $10,000 of his com and hog money into this Midland morass. I joshed him about it — and he smiled. He said that was the most profitable loss he had ever incurred. He explained that if he had not invested that money in our Sioux City swindle, that he would have bought his neighbor's farm for $350 an acre, a $110,000 transaction. An- other neighbor bouglrt this farm, mortgaging his home farm to do it, and now that neighbor has lost the farm he owned and the farm he bought and is digging in the earth with his hands to make a living. " "It?s the old dog story over again," said "Watson, "that par- ticular dog having a bone in his mouth saw another in the stream, , and wanting both he came out of the water with neither." "Af1;pr we got through buying bogus stocks and speculating in $500 land," continued Mr. Burt, "we fell upon an era of declining prices. The banks called their loans, and there was a scramble for money which sent interest rates sky-high. The farmers who had grain in their bins or hogs or cattle in their pens, and notes in the banks, were told to sell their stuff and pay debts. Thes more they sold the more prices fell." "That's where the Democrats made their mistake," said Wat- son. "They deflated too fast after inflating too hiighi They saw miin coming apace and did nothing to stop it^ They with- drew credit where they should have extended it. ' ' "That's a mere assertion," said Mr. Burt. "No, it is a fact," said Watson. "A representative of the Federal Reserve bank went to El Centro, California, the middle of November, 1920, with a message to the banks. The message was that they must liquidate. . They were told to lend no money^ to farmers. to enable them 'to hold their crops beyond harvest time. ' The purpose was to make farmers' sell so that they could pay their 4ebts, even if they had to, do it at ruinous prices. I cite this El Centro case because it is of record, as you will see by referring to the Congressional Record, page 11873. Similar mes- sages were sent all oVer the coujitry. If the party then in power had extended credit instead of withdrawing it, I believe that- much of the panic might have been averted. ' ' "Well, did the Republicans do that when you came in?" "They did," said Watson. "They did it just as soon as they could. They revived the War Finance Corporation and an- FROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS 49 nounced that they would put in a billion dollars, if necessary, to relieve the situation. Millions were sent immediately into all agricultural states like Iowa. Within thirty days good effects were seen. The financial tightness was relieved, your frozen credits were thawed out. Within ten months after the inaugura- tion of Pr^ident Harding your prices in Iowa had gone up, com from 20 cents to SO. Every farmer knows this to he true." "I recall the relief that came to us," said Mr. Miller. "I will not argue that point now for I must be going back to my oflSceJ" said Mr. Burt. "But what I do want to say is this, that the blame which was put on Washington and our banking systems did not all belong there. Much pf it belonged to ourselves. We spent our surplus of the fat years like drunken sailors — and then damned Washington and the government for our own follies." "If the people blundered that was no excuse for the govern- ment to blunder also, ' ' said Watson. CHAPTER XXIV Watson is Presented to "The Cluh" Upon their return from Sioux City, Watson, for the first time was introduced to the men of what Mr, Miller had called "the club," six or seven men who met or loafed hsibitually in a garage. ".Well, boys, what are you discussing today?" a&ked Watson. "We h'aint bin discussin' nuthin," said one member, "we're waitin' for Mark's oracle," he added, winking at his Compatriots. - "Who's Mark's oracle f asked Watson. "It h'aint nobody if it h'aint you," said the man. "One of the last subjects we discussed," said a chubby, whisk- ered fellow, "was wages, interest and taxes." "A very comprehensive subject for one meeting,'-' suggested Watson. "And what conclusions did you reach ? ' ' "We concluded nothing — couldn't agree." "Well, that proves you're human," observed Watson. "What I would like to have you tell us," said the chubby whiskered man, "is why interest rates were so high when we wanted tq borrow money a year or so ago, and why they- are so low now when men like my friend Mark want to do a little lend- ing 1" 50 FEOM WASHINGTON TO FOURTJOENEES "That's easily answered," said Watson. "There is about it all no malign or even mysterious manipulation, either in Wash- iiigton or elsewhere. A few years ago, so a man in Sioux City told me yesterday, you all bought and sold stocks and land and blue-sky, until you were red in the face. You even borrowed money to speculate. After you had thus wantonly spent, I am .told, $137,000,000 you woke up to find your money was gone and your credit ruined. Banks began to call their loans, and men who had money became so timid that they hid it instead of lending it. The natural result was high" interest rates, if money could be had at all. ' ' "That h'aint so hard to see," said the illiterate man. "But while you are seeing it now," remarked Watson, "I haven't the least doubt that so soon as some demagogue or other, with a palpitating heart and an oily tongue, comes along and tells you that the blame for that situation was all due to your gov- ernment, that some of _you will believe it. I find that there are many men who always want to believe such things, for they are always ready to think) that they are not to blame for their own .misfortunes, and others are as ready to jump at any hope that is held out to them, however false it may be. That is why smooth-tongued promoters can inveigle so many people into buying blue-sky." "I reckon a sucker is bom about every minute," said the chubby man, "but they don't catch all of us." "They h'aint never got "me," said the illiterate member, "because I h'aint got nuthin' for them to git." "Well, in some ways you're happy, my friend," said Watson, "if you have nothing to worry over. 'There is a great deal of sense as well as grace in the old prayer, 'give me neither riches nor poverty'." CHAPTER XXV "TJie Club" Discusses Taxes "It isn't interest that's worrying us now," said Mr.- Miller, while sitting on a fender, "it's taxes." "Yep," said several, "they're eating us up." "I paid $2.00 and $3.00 an acre on land that used to be taxed PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 51 forty cents an acre," said the chubby, man, "and we had about as good a government then as we have now." "The taxes you speak of arfe local," said Watson, "and I am not conversant with them, but I am inclined to think you ard getting more than in the old days. 'Now you have graveled roads, big drainage ditches, consolidated schools, and other things that I have noticed since coming here. All these are good things to have, but some of them come a 'little high." ""We're going too far with them," suggested Mr. Miller. "That is possible," said Watson. "We are all the time in danger of overdoing and also of over-government. There are so many tilings to do and there are so many who want to do them. But when it comes to your national taxes, which are the only ones that proceed from Washington, I think I can show you they „ are not So burdensome, at least, not in comparison. Last year your state paid only eighteen millions in income, profits and other federal taxes. That was your state's share of nearly 3,000 millions. Eighteen is not a large part of three thousand." ' ' Who paid the other two thousand nine eighty-two ? " "The tax payers of the other forty-seven states. In Massa^ ehusetts they paid probably twenty times as much as you did in Iowa, and in New York probably, fifty times as much. That is because the wealth is largely centered in such states." "But do they really pay it?" asked Mr. Miller. "They pay it, but pass it on," explained Watson. "No mat- ter how taxes are laid we all help pay them. If they are laid on railroads, they are added to freight and passenger rates; if on factories, they are added to prices of what they make; if on capital, they are added to interest rates and rents. In the end, the man who travels or ships goods, the man who buys merchanr disc or machinery, and the man who borrows or rents, is the man who helps to pay the taxes. The orators who tell you that they can shift your taxes on the other fellow are merely fooling you. The way to shift taxes from your shoulders is to reduce them to the lowest point possible, for- all. ' ' "But can we reduce them? "asked Mr. Miller. "There are -some taxes that we cannot be rid of. We have a national debt of twenty-three billions. The interest on that is a billion a year. That must be paid. It costs half a billion more to care for the men left incapacitated by the war. That must be paid. We must pay something on the* principal of this big 52 PROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS debt each, year, or we will never be rid of it. In onei way or another, we must tax our people about two billions a year on account of the war. " "But they have reduced taxes, have they not!" "Yesi in Washington tax reductions have been made that none dared to dream of two years ago," said Watson. "Last year the government collected $1,515,000,000 less in taxes than the year before. In plainer figures, this means four million dollars less each day in the year. ' ' "How was this done — how was it possible to do?" "By reducing the expenditures of the government —^ these were reduced $1,744,000,000, or at the rate of five-millioiis a day. But of this I will tell you later. Now I want to speak of taxes." "Yes, tell us how they were reduced?" ' ' The revision and reduction of taxes was. one of the first things that the Harding administration insisted upoUj" Watson went on. "The president urged this program on congress, and congress urged it upon itself. All the transportation taxSa*- meaning taxes on freight and passenger rates, amounting to $350,000,000 a year, were repealed. All the excess profits taxes, which were supposed to come out of the profiteers, but which the profiteers added all the way down the line to the ultimate con- sumer, mtiltiplied many times over, were repealed. The so-called 'nuisance* and merchandise taxes gen£rally, were repealed. Some of the surtaxes, which capital avoided by taking refuge in tax exempt bonds, thus withdrawing money from productive and labor-employing industries, were repealed; The ordinary income taxes were reduced by increasing the exemptions for the average man, meaning the man with a wife and three children, or other dependents, from $2,000 to $2,500, and from $200 to $400 for each child or other dependent, so that the average man now pays no income tax at all, unless he has an income in excess of -$3;TO0 a year." ' "That sounds like a good record," said one member. ' ' It not only sounds that way, but when the people pay their taxes next year it will feel that way," said Watson. FROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS 53 CHAPTER XXVI How Expenditures Were Reduced The members of the club all admitted that they had not'real- ized that such important reductions in taxes had been made. Mr. Miller was proud of the good impression made by Watson. "Watson brings us facts," he said, "while most of us have been reading and discussing mere rumors. " "I mentioned a while ago that the government expenditures last year were $1,744,000,000 less than the year* before. This was done by 'pruning' every possible expenditure. The Re- publicans began pruning as soon'as they got control of congress, which was in the spring of 1919. They found that the outgoing Democrats had left eight big appropriation bills unpassed. They proceeded to lop off $950,000,000 from these bills as they had been reported by the Democratic committees for passage." "Of course,. thfr Democrats howled," said one man. "Those who had figured on spending the, money in their de- partments howled vociferously,"- said Watson. "But while the Republicans got control of congress in 1919, which meant mak- ing the appropriations, it was not until 1921, as you know, that, they got control of the whole government, after which they directed both the* appropriations and Ihe expenditures. With such control one of the first things they did -was to pass a budget bill, a bill mxieh of the credit of which belongs to a man of your own state, Hon. James W. Good, then chairman of the appro- priations committee. The budget bill, or one like it, had been vetoed by President Wilson, but President Harding signed it." . ."Explain that budget bill a bit," suggested Mr, Miller. "It's a bill to provide a business system for the government," said Watson. "Instead of guessing the appropriations, they are carefully estimated by the direetor of the bureau of the 'budget. He reviews and revises and reduces the estfmates of the various departments. These results are laid before congress, and the ap- propriation committees base their bills on these figures. After the appropriations have been made the bureau of the budget has certain supervisory powers over routine expenditures. These routine expenditures during the past year were so well supervised by the bureau of the budget that in a detailed report, savings totalling $250,134,853.03, are shown." 54 PROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS "That's some record," they all admitted. "For the year ending June 30, last, the ordinary expenditures of the government were $3,372,000,000, as against expenditures of $5,116,000,000 the year before. I am giving you round figures. The 'difference between these two amounts is thie $1,744,000,000 to which I alluded a while ago. The government actually spent that much less last year than the year before." "And it had a surplus, didn't it?" asked Mr. Miller! "There was a surplus of over $300,000,000 — something tha|,, no other government in the world could boast *of, and somethiiig*< that not even the most optimistic American financiers had deemed possible of realization." "And what did they do with that?" asked the chubby man. "My friend," said Watson, "it was promptly applied to the reduction of the national debt, which was good use of it." "Did you reduce the nationsfl debt, too?" "Yes, the national debt was reduced to the extent of a billion dollars during the last year," said Watson. "Of this reduction, about $300,000,000 were out of_the ordinary receipts of the gov- ernment, that is, the balance in the treasury to which I have alluded was so applied. The rest of the reduction was made out of extraordinary receipts of the government, such as the sale of left over war goods, and with money from similar sources." "That's, a bully record, boys," said Mr. Miller, "and I sug-' gest that our club send back with WatSon a vote of tlianks to President Harding and the Republican congress." "When I meet the president, I will 'mention, this to him," said Watson. , • CHAPTER XXVII Mary Presents ffer Beloved Service Men On one of the last days of Watson's visit, while they were again lingering over the breakfast table, Mary turned the con- versation to the subject of what the government hapl been doing for the ex-service men, the men endeared to her as an army nurse. , "The boys were promised a great deal, you know," said Wat- son, "but I think that everything within reason has been rendered PEOM WASHINGTON TO POTJR CORNERS 55 them. Of course, there have been complaints, many of them, some of them just and some of them not so just.' There have been incompetent officials in the bureaus that have, handled th^^e matters, and sometimes there has been more to do than human energy could deal with. The task has been a tremendous one. Endless records had to be searched and verified. There has been confusion, and many delays that have been translated into -indifference and even negligence. But these difficulties are being overcome, and in the end liberal justice will be done to all." "We who were in the service and who lingered in the hospi- tals," said the Lieutenant, "can understand." "No such work on such a scale was ever undertaken before by any government under the sun," Watson went on. "I have found in Washington no lack of desire to respond to all the needs of the men who served in time of war. The government is under- taking not only to provide for the sick who linger and for those who continue to suffer from wounds, but it is attempting to pre- pare those, who by reason of their service in the war, were ham- pered or prevented from preparing themselves for the duties of life. The boy who losthis school years by fighting for his coun- try has been given his school years back at the expense of the government which he served. Up to May 1st, of this year, 312,930 applications for vocational training had been approved." "The government is at least speiiding money enough to get Tesults," observed the Lieutenant, "and I have noted that con- gress has readily voted the money for every demand.". "The expenditures through the United States Veterans^' Bu- reau and. all its allied organizations for, the calendar year, will reach a total of $425,000,000, and that is not the whole of the bill. By a recent enactment, seventeen millions were added to the eighteen millions appropriated last year for g>dditional hos- pitals. Take it all in all, expenditures for such purposes have never been equaled before, in either this or any other country." "That is as it should be," said Mary, "for there were never such boys summoned to such a task — never before were millions of yoxing men called upon to cross the ocean and to fight four and even five and six thousand miles away from their own homes, to save not only the liberty of their own, country, but to help save the liberties of the world. Whatever it may now cost, the government must not break faith with these men. Let not time breed either indifference or forgetfulness. " 56 FEOM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS "What about adjusted compensation?" asked the Lieutenant. ' ' The bill for that was passed by the house of representatives ia an overwhelming vote, ' ' said Watson. " It is still pending in the senate. It calls for an ultimate expenditure of probably $3,800,000,000, an amount that no other nation, could dream of, and that has made even many Americans wonder." "Just so we don't forget," said Mary. "When you return to Washington, Watson, keep telling them that. Tell them not to forget." CHAPTER XXVIII The Washington Disarmament On the evening of the day before his departure, thfere was a reunion diiiner at the farm home. "This is fine," said Watson, "to have us all here — just all of us and no more." "But we aren't all here, mamma isn't here," said Dorothy. "But your mother will be here early tomorrow morning," said Mary. "And that means, my little chick, that you must go to bed early tonight, so that tomorrow morning you may be up with the sun as bright as one of -your own roses." "What would you say," Mr. Miller said to Watson, unmindful of what had been said, "is the biggest thing this administration, has done?" "That question is easily answered, Mr. Miller," said Watson. "I think that in the history of these times the disarmament con- ference which was held in Washington, beginning last Armistice- Day, will stand like Abou ben Adhem's name, at the head of the long and illustrious list of accomplishments and achievements." "That's a fine allusion," said Mary, promptly. "Abou's name, you know, stood at the head' of the list because of the good that he had done unto his fellow men. ' ' "Since we didn't enter the league of nations," said Mrs. Millei*, ' ' a thing which I almost regretted at one time, but which I have long since ceased to regret, that conference was one of the best ways to get our country back into world affairs. ' ' "We never got out of world affairs, Mrs. Miller," said Watson. "When we refused to enter the league of nations we simply PROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 57 refused to take part ia such affairs with our haads and feet tied. We preferred to remain free, unfettered and ijnhampered, to do our share of the world's work in our own way. We preferred to map outa course for ourselves on the uncharted seas, as we had always done,, and as I hope we shall- always continue to do. We did not wsint to be harnessed by foreign diplomats, in a chariot with many wild horses, each pulling its own way. ' ' "You mean,-' suggested Mr. Miller, "that Europe must settle its own family Quarrels without our interference." ' ' Yes, something- like that, "said Watson. ' ' In our vernacular, the man who interferes in^ another's family quarrel, generally gets the worst of it. The proponents of the league in America had some strange theories and policies of interference and inter- vention in mind. What these were we have since been able to- ga ther from the plans they evolved for army and navy expan- sion. We have been astonished what even pacifist secretaries like Baker and Daniels had in mind for America." "What did they have in mind, pray?" asked Mr. Miller. ''Secretary Baker went out oJE offlce talking about an army pi 525,000 enlisted men, and without authority from congress, he actually recruited his army to 230,000, creating an illegal deficit of a hundred million dollars, which the Republicans had to pay. He seems to have been thinking of Uncle Sam as the world's policeman, the veritable international Don Quixote at every Donnybrook fair." "."And what was Josephus thinking of?" asked the Lieutenant. "His thoughts were equally wild," said Watson. "He dreamed, poor old man, of America launching the biggest navy in the world. He wanted to build eighteen dreadnaughts at fifty million dollars per ship, to say nothing of the upkeep. His pro- "gtam might have bankrupted even America." "In world affairs up to our neck, and blood at least ankle deep," suggested the Lieutenant. "But that was all right for -Baker and Daniels, Newton and Josephus, for they were doing their fighting with other people's sons." "But a gentler and a greater idea was brought to Washington from Marion, Ohio," said Watson. "It was the Harding idea of an association of nations for peace instead of war. To carry this out he invited the great nations of the world, of Europe and Asia, white man^and yellow man, to meet in Washington. The idea was bold in conception and bolder in execution. The third 58 FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS Armistice Day was made almost as memorable in history as the first, and the name of Charles B. Hughes was added to the list of the great diplomats of world history. ' ' ' ' Oh, it was all so fine ! ' ' exclaimed Mrs. Miller. ' ' No one not the mother of a man who served in the -world war,, could under- stand the fineness of it all. ' ' ■ "It was my privilege," Watson continued, "to attend that great opening meeting. I can still see the crow4ed assembly in the Continental Memorial Hall, the diplomats at their tables, Mr. Hughes presidiiig arid Mr. Harding delivering the opening, address. I can still feel the thrill that ran through that inter- national audience when Mi'. Hughes said : " 'The United States is now completing its program of 1916, calling for ten new battleships and six battle cruisers. One battleship has been completed. . . On these fifteen capital ships now being b-wilt, over $330,000,000 have'been spent. StiU the United States is willing in the interest of an imm^ediate limit- ation of armament to scrap all these ships'." "Glory hallelujah!" exclaimed Mrs. Miller, while the others sat spellbound over Watson^s recital. "Nor shall I ever forget when the roll was called on that mo- mentous proposition," said Watson. "Secretary Hilghes, as presiding officer of the conferenise, called the roll of the partici- pating nations; the United States, 'yes'; Great Britain, 'yes'; Japan, 'yes'." "May that roll call prove to be the beginning of the end of world wars," fervently wished Mrs. Miller. "It was something great and immediate that was achieved and accomplished," concluded Watson. "This and the other great treaties negotiated in Washington have since been ratified by the- nations concerned. We have now an association of nations for world peace. The history of . the world was changed in that conference, and it is not too much to say that Washington instead of being withdrawn from world affairs, became in a true and a holy sense, a world capital." FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 59 CHAPTER XXIX The Return of Dorothy, 8r. -The last day of Clarence Watson's visit had arrived — too soon for him and for all interested in him. It so happened that it was also the day on which little Dorothy's mother returned. She was coming on an early morning train. Of course, Watson had wondered what she would be like, wondered whether she would be as interesting to him as little Dorothy. He was up early. Early rising had become habitual to him. It was so fin^ to see the dew on the fields. It was finer to see the sun swinging above the distant trees. And it was finest to hear the birds singing the processional of glorious day. No one else in the house was up. So he slipped out of doors, and soon found himself wandering in the grove. He walked on until he came to some old oaks on a knoll. He recalled a passage from a' book which he had just read, the Norwegian Kjiut Han- sum's "Wanderers." It ran, "I walked through the woods, touched to the heart, and verging on t§ars for sheer happiness' sake, and saying to myself all the time: God in heaven. To be here again. . ." Like the wandering hero of that story, Watson had never been there before. But it seemed to him also as if these peaceful. , igaenes, these trees, and those "vistas of far flung, growing crops, of tossing corn, of pastures green carpeted for cattle to move on as in pictures, had always been parts of his life. Or did he merely wish for them to be parts of his life, instead of the bor- rowed worries of a national capital, with all its mingled service "and buncombe, and all its commingled patriotism and claptrap ? Watson was so far away that when the Lieutenant and Dor- othy looked for him they could not find him, and when they called to him he could not hear them. So they went to the rail- way station without him. The Lieutenant said it didn't matter for he would turn up for breakfast. But to tM child it did matter, very much, so much that she almost cried. She wanted Watson tQ go with them to meet her mother. The order of her little fairy world had for the time being been upset. When Watson emerged from the grove, at what he thought would be breakfast time, he saw Dorothy coming toward him,' a,lmost dragging by the hand a strange lady. " 60 FROM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS "This is my mamma," she said. The lady bowed and Watson lifted his hat. " I am Mrs. Dee, ' ' she said. "I am Mr. Watson," he replied. "My little daughter is somewhat abrupt." "And why should we be reluctant?" "I love Mr. Watson," said the precocioiis child, "and I want you to love him, too, mamma," "Dorothy, don't embarrass your mother," said Mrs. Dee, the pink of a pretty morning gown spreading to her face. "It's' a very modest request the child is making," said Mr. Watson, in a gallant way, "why should it embarrass you?" "You will love him, won't you, mamma?" insisted Dorothy. "Dorothy, I think you'd better run along." "And let us fall in love in our own way," added Watson. "And at least less abruptly," said Mrs. Dee, laughing. "But, if eventually, why not now?" asked Watson. "I assume you're not always serious," said she. "But. there are times when I am quite serious." Dtorothy did not jj;un along as her mother had told her to do. On the contrary, with one hand in her mother's and the other in Watson's she clung to both, as they walked to the house. "It's going to be hard to keep them apart," said Mary to the • Lieutenant, as they watched the three coming up the path, "with the child binding them together in her tender way." "Yes, between them, the Dorothys may get him." "Get him? He ought to be glad to get them," said Mary. "All right then," said the Lieutenant. "Whether they get him or he gets them, I hope that your cousin will toake him as happy as you have made me, Mary." At noon, it was Dorothy who \^as sent to the grove to call Wat- son and her mother to come to dinner. "Is it that late already ? " asked Watson. "In the country we dine early," replied Mrs. Dee. And it was in the same grove that this man and this woman spent that part of the afternoon when the shadows begin to lengthen, and Dorothy was there too, gathering flowers which she brought, almost one by one, to them, a kiss or at least a smile for each blossom. "If I were a maker of sonnets," said Watson, "this might be another Forest of Arden." FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS 61 "But the subject of those sonnets had no child hovering, around her, " said Mrs. Dee, her eyes on Dorothy. "But as it was your child who taught me to love you, I count" it a good fortune that she is here and that she is yours." "Why, mamma, you are crying,"- said little Dorothy, as she came up that instant with another handful of flowers. "She doesn't understand," said Mrs. Dee to Watson. . . "I hope she will never have to understand my tears. She doesn't understand that I have memories, many memories. . . Perhaps, you do not understand, either, or, you would- not be saying what you are. . . Perhaps, also, I" should have told you that I am part of those memories, that I will always be part of^ them and they parts of me. . ." "No, it is not necessary for you to tell me. . . I understand those memories that are still -So dear to you. I was over there when those memories! were being made by the best and the brav- est and the dearest boys that ever lived to die for their coun- try. . ." For some moments, maybe minutes, they sat in silence. "Come, let us go in and tell Mary," said Mrs. Dee. "And tell the Lieutenant, too," said Watson. "Come, Dorothy, you are going with us," said Watson. "Are yon sure we are not going with her?" asked Mrs. Dee. CHAPTER XXX Four Corners Says Good-iye to Watson The last night of Watson's sojourn at Four Corners came literally as the ending of a perfect day. In honor of the departing guest, Pour Corners prepared a great feast under the trees. The neighbors all came to assist the Millers in this event. The fat man and the. lean man and the quizzical man were all there with their wives. Baskets filled with good things to eat were lifted out of many automobiles. There was an odor of spring chickens, well done, and the sight of pies crammed full of berries that had been .picked in the morning with the dew still on them. o2 FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS , "We can't take you to Rauscher's," said the Lieutenant, "but Clarey, old boy, such as we have we give you gladly. ' ' "Forget Washington," replied Watson. "To me Four Cor- ners is the happiest place in the world — you know why." Mr. Miller, Sr., sat at the head of the table. On his right was "V^atson, on his left the two Dorothys, blooming like roses. They drank and ate, they talked and laughed until the sun went down in the golden west. It was about that time when Watson found himself on his feet, no one knew and he himself didn't know how he got up. "I am wondering," he said, without intending to make a speech, "what you' call hard times here. This table and these people all suggest good times to me. I like the spirit of this gathering. I wish it could be broadcasted, to use a phrase of the new radio, over all the land and to the four comers of the earth. We are in need of more such fellowship as we have here, of such communion, if not of the saints, of sane men and women. "I see here many fellow ex-service men. Between us, no mat- ter where we may meet, there is a bond as of blood. When we enlisted, a great deal was said about rededicating our nation to higher ideals. By our sacrifices all men and women were to be purified. But, alas, have we forgotten ? The world is still sing- ing too mauy hymns of hate. The nations do not forget, and many cannot forgive. But until we do forget and forgive, neither reparations nor treaties nor leagues can save us. We have done better in America than they have done elsewhere. But even here there is left in us, individually and collectively, too much bickering and discontent, too much envy and prejudice, and too much of all manner of evil-thinking and evil-speaking," At this point Mrs. Miller led in hearty applause that ran down the length of the table. "Here in America, I fear, while we were helping save the liberties of the world, we lost something of our own independ- ence. Something of the self-initiative and self-dependence that were of old the foundation of American character, seems to be lacking today. I fear we have come to depend too much on our government. We lay too much stress on politics. We look to Washington for many things that we used to do for ourselves. Have we all gone astray after false gods ? Have we almost for- gotten the God in heaven, to pray to some imagined omnipotence in a national capital?" FEOM WASHINGTON TO POUR CORNERS 63 "That's right, "Watson," cried the Lieutenant. "You are hitting the truth straight — do it again." "When anything goes wrong nowadays, whether with crops, or prices or business, Washington is blamed, and relief is de- manded in new or amended laws. We are like that heatheii' people which in olden times prayed to idols for rain, and when the rain did not fall from the clouds, they east their old idols out and set new ones up. Need I say that they were never with- jtnew idols ? Here we have political idols that we set up and ^lown on promises made and promises unfulfilled. To men ^en self-imagined distress a lighted pumpkin may look like 'sun, and a demagogue may be mistaken for a god. Oh, my Rends, I fear if we continue too long in this state of mind and valk too far in this way of darkness, that we shall eventually ^estrqy our .own government, for no govemmient that you can |t up can possibly realize all your conflicting hopes and de- ^nds, and are we not apt to destroy what does not function to b us? 'I stand here to testify to the faith which our fathers had they founded this government. I have been in many lands, I have read all the histories of the world. But nowhere have 'seen and nowhere have I read of a government as good as the Tone under which we are still permitted to live. I ask you to [defend it^ and to cherish it, to speak well of it against all tra- lo^ers/ with whom, the land is now filled. (Applause") . It is not true that our constitution is obsolete. It is not true that it is not adaptable to the wants and aspirations of this later gen- eration. It is not true that the laws made under it are no long- er responsive to the will and the needs of the people. (Applause). "And if I might speak politically on an occasion so gracious »so cordial as this. . . " Talk air the politics you want to," Mr. Miller said to Wat- son, "Go as far as you like. Nearly all of us here are known as JRepublicans, only a few think they are still Democrats, but there 'are no little red herrings here, no bolshevists of any kind. ' ' "We are all Americans, in any event," said the Lieutenant. "Then let me say, since you are of such a mind, that during the past two years, or less, I have watched President Harding and the congress of the United States at work solving the great problems that were left over from the war." . "The president of the United States," said the Lieutenant, rising, and all rising with him, "let us drink his health!" 64 FROM WASHINGTON TO FOUR CORNERS , '/"And may God bless him and all others in authority," added Mrs. Miller, as a motherly benediction. ; "I am proud. Lieutenant Miller," Watson continued, "that 'ou and I and all who once wore the uniform of their country iiave not forgotten to honor the man who is pl-esident. , .■ But what I was about to say was that it was a frightful legacy that the war left our nation and the world. Debts, taxes, confusion, impatience, discontent, lost morale, chaos! No administration was ever called to solve so many problems, to carry so manv burdens, to satisfy so many fault-finding critics. The woil rehabilitating, readjusting, restoring,- and reconstructing V taxed all the energies and all the wisdom of the government. "I stand here also to testify that this stupendous work hk been supremely well done. 'By their fruits ye shall know them.^ President Harding and the congress need not fear that scriiv. tural test. If men in the midst of these events cannot realize"^ history will maSse a record of what has been accomplished." "Right you are!" said Mr. Miller, followed by applause. "I cannot and I will not detain you with a recital of things that have been done and achieved. At St. Paul's chuj in London I stopped once upon a time to read an inscription Latin, 'If you seek his monument, look around you.' That iiK scription referred to Sir Christopher Wren, the' builder of that church. If you want to see the monument of the Harding ad- ministration, I bid you look around you. Are we not livi^*to^ day in an altered land? Is not this year different from last? Have we not passed from a painful panic into the first portals of prosperity? Have we not paid off a billion dollars of our national debt in a single year and at the same time reduced our tax collections by more than another billion ? Are we not again a solvent nation and a sound going national business concern^ (Applause, -long and loud) . Oh, yes, I see you understand, "fel "In conclusion, let me thank you for your welcome and for your hospitality.- The few days I have spent at Four Corner^ have been among the happiest of my life. Upon my return td Washington I shall call upon the president to convey to him these greetings of the middle west. Here America is still Amer- ica, the land where every reasonable hope of mankind can still be measurably realized. ' ' After the applause which followed Watson's speech had sub- sided, Mr. Miller announced that no other speeches would be made, but he asked all to think over national duties in the light that the speaker had cast upon them. A Secon<^ Sfary of ffon7e. jlovCj Wttrai>-<(- rol/f/cS