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'AUGUST, 1615
The Commoner
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this be true this question should be settled very
easily between the two great political parties
of the country1, for a tariff for revenue is a dem
ocratic doctririe-not some revenue, but suffi
cient revenue for the supp6r of the government,
and if this is ample for protection their ought
to be no further controversy on this 'subject.
Speaking without' any partisan motives, it is dif
ficult for me in the light of the European war to
see why there should be any tariff for protec
tion. All of our great competitors are at war
and we have no competition. It would seem
that the only purpose that the tariff can serve
under present conditions is raising revenue. On
this subject, James J. Hill, who is not only one
of the greatest business men in the country, but
one of the greatest thinkers and students of
economic questions, in a recqnt speech before
the newspaper association of New York, warned
the country "against interfering with the tariff.
He said that the tariff is now sufficient and that
it was time to get out of the fools' paradise that
protectionists have been demanding under high
protection. That this country under the stim
ulus of a high protective tariff had reached a
point where it was manufacturing at least one
third more than could be consumed and used in
this country and that one-third had to find an
outside market, and that sooner or later it must
end in disaster, and the only solution was the
opening up of the markets of the world by a low
tariff. If Mr. Hill is right and it is true that
one-third of oiir manufactured products must
seek a foreign market, this would account for
the loss in business by the breaking out of the
European war, for of course Europe is now only
buying what there is a 'demand for, food prod
ucts and those things which are necessary in the
carrying on of a great war. This great demand
for food products accounts also for the increase
in the price .of liviDg, and while there has been
a slight increase in the price of living, there
has also been a great increase in the price which
the producer receives for all food products.
NEW RESERVE LAW HELPS BUSINESS
The reserve bank act has been condemned as
a wild, chimerical, fiat money, liwild-cat banking
scheme, r,thafr was -sure to hrirtg inflation and di
saster1 in the '.financial world, but at the recent
Pan-Americah'FinattOial Conference, wliicli "was
Attended1 by the biggest bankers in the country,
this law was eulogized by the bankers as a law
which had broken the shackles from the bank
ing institutions and not only enabled them to
take care of the business of the United States,
but enahled. them through foreign branches to
compete with the world for the commerce of the
world. Instead of hampering business, this law
not only helps business but it makes business
and' banking safe.
Even the pure -food law is rapped. How soon
we forget the great necessity there was for, 'pure
food. laws. Have we forgotten the pure food ex
position at Madison Square Garden, lew YorX,
at which ,fa sample of strawberry syrup was
analyzed and- contained enough coal tar dye to
color a child's undershirt a vivid red, which was
done and the undershirt hiing in a booth at the
exnosition where all might 'see; where a jar of
milk on exhibition when tested was found to
contain a substance' which the dishonest milk
dealer uses in. his business and the undertaker
in his, viz., the deadly formaldehyde; where a
silver instrument dipped into a can of string
beans came out coated with copper showing the
presence of copper sulphate or blue vitriol;
where a stick of licorice was shown to consist
almost wholly of lamp black; where fish in cold
storage since the year before were shown to have
their eyes brightened with chemicals and their
fins painted so as to make them look as though
they had just come' fresh from the water; where
gelatine was shown to be ordinary glue treated
with sulphurous acid, quantities of which were
found in cheap ice cream, marshmallows and
ice cream cones; where it as shown how
shellac varnish reduced to proper consistency
with wood alcohol, was used to coat confection
eries, and brown dye in cheap chocolates, paraf
fine and gum benzoin in' a vile mixture by which
their bright colors and low prices tempted the
little children to part with their pennies." Have
we forgotten the statements of reputable physi
cians to the effect "that aniline dyes were used
to color candies and confectionery, and that
.these colors created gastric disturbances often
causing a temperature as high as 104 degrees.
That children 'were' brought to hospitals appar
ency suffering from 'typhoid fever, and when
their systems were purged it was found that
they 'Had. been suffering frpm aniline poisioping.
and in some cases their tongues were colored
blue through the dye eating Its way into the
tissue. It also may be found in reputable mea
lcal reports that wood alcohol was used in the
compound and manufacture of lemon extracts,
essence of peppermint and many other prepara
tions and compounds. The necessities which re
quired the passage of the pure food laws, require
their maintenance and their enforcement for the
protection and conservation of human lire. This
is an age of conservation. Wo are conserving
our forests, our mines, and our soil, What for?
for the benefit of our people. How are thoy
going to benefit the people unless the race la
preserved and conserved for their "use and en
joyment? There are very, very few men who
would compound and sell such vile stuff to their
neighbors, or to persons whom they know. It
must be that these evils have grown up on ac
count of the magnitude of our business inter
ests and because the manufacturer is not deal
ing directly with the people. Many of you who
are present remember the time when there were
no great industrial institutions. Every little
village, town and hamlet was supplied with
small manufactories. The song of the spinning
wheel and the loom was heard in every coun
try home.. Our homespun clothes 'were made by
our mothers, or by the village or country tailor,
and our shoes by the village or country shoe
maker. In almost every home there was one
handy man, who mended the harness and tho
shoes, set broken limbs, cut hair and pulled
teeth. Even in the larger cities manufactories
were small and tho employes few in number.
The owner of the institution gave it his person
al supervision, often working side by side with
his employes as a co-worker and friend. But the
development of the industrial world has changed
all this; the corporation has taken tho placo of
the individual and finally the trust the place of
the corporation. Tho concentration of wealth
has made some of our cities tho greatest manu
facturing centers in the world, and It binds
ocean to ocean with rails of 'steel. Tho little
manufactories have Veen purchased or driven
out of business by the large industrial institu
tions to which the owners no longer give their
personal supervision. They aro now managed
by foremen and superintendents 'whose' business
it is to make the institution pay dividends. Tho
capital is owned by stockholders in tho corpora
tion or a combination of corporations known as
a trust; they know little about the management
of tho great institution in which they aro stock
holders. They are interested in its economic
management and in the dividends which it pays.
The institution with employes few in number
has been replaced-by the institution which era
ploys thousands upon thousands. The simple
machinery of the old fashioned factory has been
replaced with new, modern, complex machinery
which cheapens the cost of production. Tho
telephone and telegraph and the great railroad
facilities have enabled the big business institu
tions to do business daily throughout the entire
country, and the stockholder in the big corpora
tion is so far removed from the consumer that
he. sometimes forgets the consumer's rights ana
thinks only of the profit. He is not satisfied with
the decrease in tho cost of production which
comes through the introduction of improved
machinery, and sometimes can not resist the
temptation to manufacture an inferior product
and enter into illegal contracts or acts in re
straint of trade. He looks with favor on, If he
has not adopted, David Harum's interpretation
of the Golden Rule, "Do others as they would
do you, but do them first." Hence there must
be regulation to protect the rights of the gen
eral public.
WHY REGULATION IS NECESSARY
I wish that regulation were not necessary. I
wish that we might live in peace and harmony
without any law or restraint whatever, but there
has never been a time in the history of civiliza
tion when it was not necessary to have some
rules of civil conduct by which tho conduct of
man was governed to keep him from encroaching
upon the rights of others. A man alone upon
an island in the sea would have -absolute free
dom, but he would be awfully lonesome. He
would not have any telephone, nor telegraphs,
nor electric lights, nor gas, nor waterworks, nor
sewers, nor street cars, nor railroads, nor any
of the modern conveniences of life, nor the com
panionship of man, and oh, how glad he would
he to exchange some of his personal liberty for
some of the conveniences of life and tup com
panionship of man. How glad he would be to
return to civilization or to have civilization come
to him. How glad he would be to see the peo
ple coming and settling down around him and
building school houses and churches, and put
ting in sewers and waterworks and electric
lights and all the modern conveniences of life,
but just as soon as they did It would bo ncces- ,
sary for sorno legislation, some rules ot civil
conduct to govern and control tho selfishness of
man, and prevent it from encroaching upon the
rights of others. Solfishncss is not Usually re
garded as a virtue, but when it is controlled it
is a virtue. It is roasonablo in a way for our
marvelous development and our mitrvoloits
prosperity. If there were no selfishness in man
there would bo no great Incentive to do the
big things in tho world that have been done.
As business men and bankors, you know that
it is oven necessary to regulate tho banking busi
ness. Not only to regulate tho banks, but to
examine them. Not to hamper thorn, but to in
sure their safety and tho safety of the public
that is doing business with thorn. In the terri
torial days of Dakota, a banker said to me one
day,"John, I want fifty dollars." "What?" I said,
"You have a bank." "Yes," he said, "I have a
bank, but I haven't got any money, and tho
other bank in tho town has a draft on my bunk
which must be paid before four o'clock or it will
bo protested." I did not Lave the fifty dollars,
but I went over to the other bank, borrowed .It,
brought it over and gavo it to the banker who
was in need and he took it and went over and
took up tho draft. It is quite apparent that this
bank needed regulation.
There is no hatred and Jealousy of wealth of
any magnitude and there is no Justification in
any attempt to array ono class against another.
Tho people know that big industries require
largo capital, concentration of capital, if you
will. There is no objection to concentration of
capital so long as it is not oppressive nor de
structive of human rights. Every business in
terest is entitled to consideration and fair treat
ment. There is no reason why tho business man
should not bo just as much interested in pol
itics and In government as any other American
citizen. This Is a government of the people and
every business man and every citizen should feel
that he Is a part of the government. If ho goes
into public life, however, he should not go in
as the representative of any particular class but
as tho representative of the entire American
people. Not with .the idea of benefiting any par
ticular class or any particular people, but with
the idea of serving his country unselfishly, not
in accordance with the "Golden Rule" of David
Harura, but in accordance with tho original
Golden Rule, "Do unto others, as you would
that they should do unto you."
Tho menace of free beef from the Argentine
which kept awake so many high tariff republic
ans for months can now be measured. In the
last ten months $30,000,000 worth of meats and
dairy products have come into the United States
from South America. Thirty millions seems a
tremendous amount of pauper beef, but It looks
very small when wo turn to the exports of food
products during the same period and find them
to bo 725 millions. And tho packers have mil
lions of pounds In cold storage waiting for ships
to carry them abroad.
Colonel Roosevelt declares that it is up to the
republican party to decido whether tho pro
gressive party shall continue In existence or not.
While the colonel is apparently In a proper
mood for talking terms of combination, he Is
likely to run up against tho old proposition
that it requires two to make a bargain. Boles
Penrose and his friends seem to be of the opin
ion that while the doors are open for all pro
gressive republicans to return there will bo no
fatted calf performance staged.
Attorney General Gregory makes It very plain
in an interview that the administration has no
intention of abandoning enforcement of tho anti
trust laws, a statement that has been made in
certain newspapers as a result of court decisions.
The real fact is that the administration has
taught predatory corporations that it proposes
to see that the statutes are obeyed, and they are
furnishing very few occasions for prosecutions.
Colonel Roosevelt told the Sons of tho Amer
ican Revolution in a recent speech that if the
mothers of 177C had believed in tho sentiment
behind the song, "I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a
Soldier," there would not have been any Sons
of the American Revolution. And yet there is
every reason to believe that the mothers of 1776
were as unwilling to sacriflco their sons upon
the ambition of a world nation's altar as they
aro today.
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