The Commoner.
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tho banks, but Secrotary Shaw Is at tho bead of the .
troasufy dopartment and is both in close touch
and in full sympathy with. tho financiers. ,When,
ho.doclarcs that wo aro doing business on top of
a financial volcano a rogular Mount Polcc his
statement must be taken as a reluctant admission
of a condition that ho would have gladly con
cealed. This is republican prosperity! And to what
will republicans attribute tho precarious condi
tion? Does a protective tariff put tho country in
a position where gross injustice and high-handed
extortion must bo meekly submitted to as tho al
ternative of a panic? If so, who can defend a
protective tariff?
Does tho trust system render tho people help
less and make thorn impotent to protest against
watered stock and fictitious capitalization? If so,
who can defond tho trust system?
Does tho gold standard supply such an in
sufficient quantity of money that the reserves must
be loaned and roloaned until our banking insti
tutions resemble the blocks in a child's play
house? If so, who will say that we must accept
tho gold standard as a final settlement of tho
financial question? If this is tho condition of' our
banks, who wiiradvocate an asset currency or say
that a bank note is better than a greenback?
Tho republican party has all its eggs in one
basket and that basket Is marked "prosperity."
When that argument fails, the failure will be Com
plete. "Let well enough alone" is the cry, but Secre
tary Shaw says that it is not well enough; ho
shows that tho situation is so perilous that an
agitation for tariff reform, oven though it bo un
successful, would ruin tho country; Surely tho
people cannot much longer be blind to the vicious
ness of republican policies or to the unsubstantial
character of republican prosperity.
JJJ
The Iowa Situation.
The reorganizes of Iowa are .making an active
fight for the control of the democratic state con
vention, but the Kansas City platform democrats,
under tho leadership of National Committeeman
Walsh, aro not idle. If there is any state in tho
union where there ought to bo no thought of
compromise it is Iowa. With Secretary Shaw
showing that tho farmers' money must be loaned
over and over again to carry on business, no Iowa
democrat ought to be afraid to insist on moro
money. With the Fowler bill before congress
and the financiers using the treasury department
as a private asset-it would be rank cowardice to
, . 'VpIfrar'No. 32.
refuse to indorse the national platform of tho
party. If the" reorganizes want to deal honestly
with the people let them come out openly and in
dorse tho gold standard and a national bank cur
rency, but when they were in control of the party;
they employed republican methods to. deceive
the people and it is too much to expect them to bo
candid now.
JJJ
) k -4
A Republican Speech.
The editor of The Commoner recently had
the pleasure of listening to a campaign speech from
one of the great republicans Senator J. P. Dolli-
ver really one of tho greatest republicans, fon
no one can present the doctrines of his party with
greater force and eloquence or defend them with
more plausible arguments. As his speech is likely,
to become a model for the lesser lights In the re
publican party the essential parts of it will bo
considered in this and subsequent editorials. Tho
body of the speech was an amplification and an
elaboration of tho Hanna maxim, "Let well enough
alone." It was an adroit attempt to show that
the deserving young man of today has the best
chance and tho greatest opportunity he has ever
had. Everything was pictured as' favorable to
the success of the honest and industrious and all
OVERCAPITALIZED CORPORATIONS MIGHT SUF
FER, SO "LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE!"
How Patrick Henry replied to
to a similar plea made in behalf
of injustice in 1775
a
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In the Chicago Record-Herald of August 16,
Walter Wellman, the Washington correspondent,
provided another, interesting article relating to
the attitude of tho administration toward tariff
" revision. Mr. Wellman declares that there will bo
no general revision until after the next presiden
tial olection. He says that Mr. Roosevelt and his
cabinet are opposed to revision and he predicts
that the influence of the administration will be
strong enough to prevent any "tinkering" with the
tariff until after tho presidential campaign of
. 1904 is out of the way.
Mr. Wellman says:
"An exceedingly interesting story lies be
hind the decision of the president and his cabi
net advisers to throw the weight of their in
fluence against early revision. They believe
Mr. Roosevelt can be re-elected to the presi
dency if the present prosperity of the country
continues. A reverse to that prosperity is the
only thing to fear. They have been led by
business men and financiers to believe that
any attempt to revise the tariff at this time
would involve the danger of precipitating hard
times."
Mr. Wellman provides an interesting descrip
tion of "present prosperity" when he says:
"So much of the financial resources of the
country is tied up in the new industrial cor
porations, and so much depends upon their
continued prosperity that tho president and
his associates feel It would bo exceedingly un-
:wise to attempt a remodeling of tho tariff
schedules. There would at least be some risk
about It. Overcapitalized industrial corpora
tionsand their name is legion might suffer
either loss of trade or disappearance of public
confidence in their securities. It is agreed by
leading financiers that if anything wore to
happen to knock the props from under tho
. hundreds of millions of industrial bonds and
stocks, tho most serious trouble would ensue.
. Banks would cut short their loans, reject paper
which Is now accepted, every one would be set
scrambling for money, and the 'bottom would
- fall out of the stock market."
Mr. Wellman says that in Mr. Roosevelt's
opinion tariff revision would involve risks which
it is unwise for tho country to take, and while it
is true that Mr. Roosevelt is anxious to win the
presidency by means of regular nomination and
election, he' feels that he is not wholly selfish in
the attitude he now assumes. According to Mr.
Wellman,', Mr. Roosevelt has beenobtaining.'his
information from "experts'." On this point Mr.
Wellman says: . -
"The president has been assured by leading
financiers that the outlook for a long period
of prosperity in the United States is exceed
ingly bright. Until ten days ago there was a
little nervousness in financial centers over
tho crop prospects. But now Immense crops
aro certain. The farmers in all parts of the
country are already in excellent shape, better
than they have ever been before. Now that
they are assured of good times for at least ,
another year, the experts have told the presi
dent no financial disasters need be feared.
It is true that there has been a dreadful orgy
of stock watering. It Is also true that what
Secretary of tho Treasury Shaw calls 'the.
mass of undigested industrial securities' has
absorbed an alarming share of the people's
savings. It Is true, again, that in New York
the reserves of the banks are lower than
prudent financiers would wish them to be,
due to heavy loans. But the best judges have
assured the president that the country is
rich and strong enough to work all this out
in safety, provided no untoward influence be
exerted by the government through legisla
tion." . It would be well if every voter would care
fully observe Mr. Wellman's statement. There
must be no tariff revisiqn even though tariff re
vision might appear to be an appropriate remedy,
because "overcapitalized industrial corporations
and their name is legionmight suffer either loss
of trade or disappearance of publicconfidence in
their securities."
Mr. Wellman says, "It is agreed by leading
financiers that if anything were to happen to
knock the props from under the hundreds of mil
lions of industrial bonds and stocks, the most
serious trouble would ensue." What kind of
"props" do these concerns rest upon that these
"props" are so frail that a revision of the tariff,
to meet conditions which even many republican
newspapers and leaders admit require, would re
sult In "most serious trouble?"
It is admitted by this republican correspon
dent that there has been 'a dreadful orgy of stock
watering." It is also declared that what Secretary
'ot- the Treasury Shaw calls "the mass of undi
gested industrial securities" has "absorbed an
alarming share of thejpeople's, savings." And yet
in the face of these conditions nothing must be
done to disturb the advantage which these water
curing speculators enjoy through the favor of the
republican party!
It is interesting to observe that these spokes
men for the administration, these representatives
of the republican party admit that unjust advant
ages are being enjoyed by the interests that pro
vide the republican party with campaign funds
and the interests most active in opposing tariff
revision. The only "argument" they have to
present is that the people are not strong enough
to cope with the evil which has grown up through
republican legislation and is growing and thriving
on the people's money.
It will be remembered that many years ago
this was the same argument used to the American
colonists who were suffering under British op
pression. Patrick Henry had heard this same
plea of "let well enough alone," coming, as It did,
from the torles of that day. And what did Pat
rick Henry say in reply to tho very kind of argu
ment that is being used by tho spokesmen for
the republican party today? "They tell us, sir,"
said Patrick Henry, "that wo aro weak; unable
to cope with so formidable an adversary; but
when shall w6 be stronger? Will it be the next
week, or the next year? Will it be when we aro
totally disarmed and when a British guard shall
bo stationed in every house? - Shall wo gather
strength by Irresolution and inaction? Shall wo
gain means of effective resistance by-lying supinely
on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom
of hope until our enemies shall have bound us
hand and foot?"
There is food for thought In Patrick Plenry's
answer to those who in 1775 advanced the plea
"let well enough alone," a plea advanced then, as
now, in tho Interest "of injustice and in the hope
that the strong might continue to prey upon the
weak
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