On Thursday came the interesting, though to close Students of
American affairs by no means surprising, news that the Democratic Party had gained very greatly in the elections to the House of Representatives. That House is composed of 435 Members. At the previous Elections 801 Republicans were returned as against 131 Democrats and 8 Independents. This majority, it appears, has now been reduced to small proportions, if not wiped out altogether. If these returns prove correct, as we have no doubt they are, the Republicans now number only 218, the Democrats 205, and there are one Socialist and one Independent. This would mean a bare Republican majority in the House. It is too early as yet to say what were all the causes of the Republican landslide, but undoubtedly the restlessness and discom- fort caused by the harsh and uneasy working of Prohibi- tion was one. The extreme policy of the new Tariff was another. America is feeling depressed, like the rest of the world. But the very way to intensify depression for a country in America'aposition was to stop exchanging —in other words to create a Tariff wall. Yet this is the very thing that America has done. She is, suffering from much too high a commercial blood pressure. Gold constitutes the circulation of commerce and America has too much of it. When will people understand that the only way to use gold which you cannot cat, or even always wear or enjoy, is to pass it on, in order to get things that are really enjoyable ?
Previous page
