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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1909)
The Commoner. WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR 'U t ill I 1 -x -- VOL- 9, NO. 13 Lincoln, Nebraska, April 9, 1909 Whole Number 429 Republican Promise to Revise the Tariff A WARNING Prom Mr. Bryan's tariff speech at Des Moines, la., August 21, 1908: The democratic party in its platforms and through its representatives in congress has for years pointed out that the tariff schedules are excessively high and ought to be reduced, but the republicans have until recently, refused to admit that there was any necessity for reduction. They now confess, through their platform and through their presidential candidate, that the need for revision is so great as to justify the party in declaring "unequivocally for a revision of the tariff" and the need is so urgent that the work is to be undertaken at "a special ses sion of congress immediately following the in auguration of the next president." The use of the word "unequivocally" indicates that those who wrote the platform recognize that they are under suspicion. They want to distinguish this .promise from the unkept promises of the past by adding as emphatic an adjective as could be found in the dictionary. If former repub lican promises had been conscientiously fulfilled, .it might not have been necessary to thus strengthen the promise made this year. The use of the woi'ds ''immediately after, the inaug uration" is evidence' that" the" republican leaders are conscious that the patience of the public has been strained to the point of breaking, and it is almost pathetic to note the solicitude which tliey now feel about doing a thing which, but for willful neglect, might have been done at any time during the last ten years. Are we not justified in saying that "the peo ple can not safely entrust the execution of this important work to a party which is so deeply obligated to the highly protected interests as is the republican party? The "fat frying" pro- cess has become familiar to the American peo ple. Pressure has been brought to bear upon the protected interests every four years and to a less extent in the congressional campaigns between presidential elections to compel con tributions to the campaign fund in return for former favors and in anticipation of favors yet to come. It is difficult to overestimate the cor- 'rupting influences introduced into the political life of the nation by this partnership between the government and the favored industries. The literature circulated in support of a 'protective tariff has studiously cultivated the idea that suffrage should be employed to secure pecuniary returns, and the appeal made by the republican CONTENTS REPUBLICAN PROMISE TO REVISE THE TARIFF "A RECORD NOT A PROSPECTUS" NEVADA GETS THE MULE - A "BUSINESS" ADMINISTRATION MR. TAFT'S CORPORATION SUPPORT RECAPITULATION OF THE PAYNE TARIFF ,,, WOMEN COMPLAIN .EDUCATIONAL SERIES GOVERNMENT MONEY DEPOSITED WITH STATES 'IN 1836 . '" LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE !;, COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS ,,, HOME, DEPARTMENT U ', . , , WHETHER COMMON OR NOT , , .NEWS OF THE WEEK i leaders has come to be more and more a selfish one. Every man engaged in a protected indus try has been approached with the proposition that it is dollars in his pocket to maintain the system, while those who could not possibly trace any tangible benefits to themselves have been beguiled with the assurance that it was all a matter of public spirit, and that they ought to support the system out of patriotic lovo of country. If attention was called to the fact that the farmer was taxed for the benefit of the manufacturer, the triple answer was that it would come back to him indirectly; that it did not amount to much for each farmer anyhow, and that a man was small minded who would begrudge so insignificant a contribution to the nation's prosperity. The plan has been to keep the taxpayers quiet by keeping them in the dark as to the operation of the law, and then to concentrate the votes and influence of the taxeaters in favor of a continuation of high tariff legislation. If a tariff of 50 per cent was imposed upon a given article of merchandise, it was assumed that those engaged in the pro duction of the article would contribute liberally to keep up the tariff. It was also assumed that the employes would vote with their employers 'to keep from having their wages reduced, and it was expected that the business men of the town would also vote for the tariff because of the business brought to the community by the protected industry. Those whbire acquainted with the tariff fight know to what an extent the pecuniary argument has been used. The recent republican platform is a bugle call to every beneficiary of special privilege to enlist again under the republican banner, and when the election is over and the republican committee publishes the list of contributors too late to make the information valuable it will be found that the republican party has again so obligated itself to the protected interests as to be unable to make a revision in the interests of the con sumers. With a president who, toward the close of his terra, admitted the necessity for tariff re vision, with a two-thirds majority in the sen ate and nearly sixty majority in the house, the republican party has refused to permit any re vision whatever. Mr. Williams, the leader of the minority in the house, introduced a bill providing fbr a reduction of the tariff to 100 per cent, wherever it is now more than 100 per cent. It would look like the republican party might have taken this step toward tariff revision, had it been deeply In earnest; but no, the bill was not even reported from the committee. Whenever attention was called to an indefen sible schedule, the answer was that they could not afford to open the subject for debate just before a campaign, but there is no force In this objection because the house rules are so framed that the majority can cut off debate, prevent amendment and silence opposition. The administration has claimed credit for the fine against the Standard Oil company in the case which was lately reversed, but no effort has been made to relieve the people from the fine which is imposed upon them every day by the Standard Oil company through the operation of the taTiff law which gives that company more than 100 per cent protection against its chief rival, Russia. What faith can a real tariff re former, whether he be a republican or a demo crat, repose in the republican leaders, when they deliberately put off all reduction until after election, and then call for contributions, with the understanding that the public shall not know the names of the contributors until after' the polls are closed? The republican platform says that the tariff is intended for tho American manufacturers, farmers and producers, and especially for tho .wage earners. If tho farmer and tho Wage earner are really tho chief benoflciarlos of tho protective system, will the republican candidate explain why tho farmer and tho wago earner have contributed so little to the republican campaign fund? Is he willing to publish a list of contributors on the 15th day of next October and allow the relative advantage of protection to the manufacturer, tho farmer and the wago earner to be measured by the contributions re ceived from each class? Why is it that the manufacturers arc expected to furnish so large a proportion of the money to run the campaign, if, as the republicans claim, the farmers and the laborers enjoy so large a proportion in the benefits or the system? Is it not a significant fact that the farmers afid wage earners who are always put in tho foreground when the bles sings of a high tariff are being enumerated are in tho background when the collections are be ing made? Is it not significant that tho man ufacturers, who furnish tho funds, are so little advertised as beneficiaries? Is it not significant also that the wage earners, instead of the man ufacturers, are always described as "tho most direct beneficiaries of the protective system?" t Are the present leaders more honest than tho ones who framed the existing tariff? Aro they not, in fact, tho same men who are responsible for tariff extortion during tho last decade? If this new-born zeal for revision were a hundred times greater than his notification speech In dicates, what chance would tho republican can didate have of securing any real tariff reform at the hands of such republicans as now rep resent that party In the senate and house, the very men who represented it in the recent na tional convention? Speaker Cannon, who has suppressed tariff legislation in the present con gress, was a dominating- factor in tho conven tion and, if the republicans retain control of the house, will be the speaker of tho next con gress. Does his prominence afford tariff re formers any assurance of a reduction of the tariff in the interest of the consumers? In case of a republican victory, Congressman Sherman will become the presiding officer of the senate. He has been tho confidential companion of Speaker Cannon, and in tho convention it was Speaker Cannon who vouched for him. But as a matter of fact, Mr. Sherman's standpatism needed no endorsement; his record is a guaranty that no beneficiary of special privileges will bo disturbed. It was Congressman Sherman who, in a speech in the house on the 18th of last April, boastfully declared, "Wo recognize the fact that wo have a republican majority In the senateT that we have a republican majority In the house, that is ready to resort to every legal, every proper constitutional right to enact such legislation asMt deems for the best interests for the greatest "number of our people, and which is willing and ready to accept full responsibility for all those measures which are introduced 0 hero and which are not enacted into law." We would not expect a jury to do justice to tlfo defendant if it was composed entirely of the relatives of the plaintiff; neither can we expect a congress to do justice to the masses if it is composed of men who are in sympathy with, and obligated to, the corporations which have for a generation been enjoying special privileges. There is no prospect of relief from a republi can president and congress. CONSERVATIVE The republican party's appropriations from the federal treasury for the coming fiscal year aggregate $1,044,000,000. It is estimated that the treasury deficit for the twelve months ending July 1, 1909, will be $130,000,000. And it is the boast of the republican leaders that their's is the conservative party! ) i t i m ; l V 1 ' i ' Vi Ju m . i hi 1 .1 ai mrmf ; lit ton Mtohifcii irfitfiittfir