Vmrti
t '
it.
Hfl
i iii.
Jiever saw to distribute the tariff bounty among
the factory hands.
But now, oven this argument Is no longer
available. According to Mr. Shaw, we exported
during the last fiscal year "approximately five
hundred and seventy million dollars worth of
manufactured products, exclusive of prepared
and partially prepared foods." This immense
export was sold in a foreign market where it had
no tariff to protect it. Jt was produced by
American labor, and it was produced in fac
tories which " are handicapped by a multitude
of annoying tariff duties, for, while our manu
facturers have, in the home market, protection
on" thdir finished product, they are haihpered
in'iheif' export trade by tariff burdens, of which
nd' 'drawback can relieve them. '.
In' the caso cited by the late secretary of the
treasury, the Lebanon corporation was' able to
export 'spikes and bolts when relieved of. the
tax upon raw material. In other words;', the
ltfb'br needed no protection, and the conclusion
is an inevitable one that with free raw material
the ' American iron manufacturers can compete
with the world, and it necessary follows that
theyrcank'compete in the home market without t
Mfy'i&rttt whatever if they can now compete1 in
the 'foreign market. It 1b easier to compete in
the homo market, because, when the competi-tibn'-is
liore, the freight across the ocean must
be"dd'ded"to the price of flits foreign article. If
thecotnjjetition is in Eurojpe,' the height across
the oceau must be subtracted from the price of
thevAm'6Hcan article, and two freights are in
themselves some protection.
' No attempt is now made by protectionists
to show that in any considerable number of
industries the actual cost of production is greater
than the cost of producing a similar article in
competing countries. More than seventy- years
ago Henry Clay declared that the cost of manu
facturing flannel was exactly the same in Eng
land arid America; twenty-five years ago i Mr.
Blaine,, -when secretary of state, declared" that
in the cotton industries the higher wages- paid
in America were more than equalized by the
greater efficiency and longer hours of labor in'
this, country.
. It is possible that thex protectionists will
still' contend that "we always have good times
when wo have a high tariff and bad times when
wei have a low tariff," but the contention will
haye little weight among those who know, anyr
thing of history. Good times, followed the low
tariff of 1846, and the panic of 1893 came a
year before the McKinley lawrwas. repealed.
The panja of 1873 came twelve years after the
republican party came into power and twelve
years before Mr, Cleveland's first term began.
The only possible argument that can b.e
made in .favor of a protective - tariff, today is
that If we had no tariff at all 'the foreign . man
ufacturer 'might reduce his export price below
the jprlce at which he sells at home until he
bankrupted our manufacturers. The force of
this argument is very much exaggerated, but it
te' given for what it is worth. Secretary Shaw,
oemnates that the discount made by foreign
-Manufacturers in order to secure American trade
reuses jifom uve 10 twenty-nve per cent. Ac
cording to his own showing a tariff of twenty
flye per cent would cover every possible danger
from this source. But the manufacturers, not
content with such a rate, have, secured a rate
twice .as high and obstinately oppose any re
duction. The tariff which we have today does not rest
upon argument, or logic, or theory; it rests
purely upon the power of the protected interests
x cq.nt.roi cpngress.
oooo
ABOLISH THE STOCK EXCHANGE TICKER
Former Judco A. x. THttvnrmf.
Icle printed, in the New York World says:
i ,.iw w uiu ume io consider what measures
phould bo taken to prevent the recurrence in the
uvuiu ux ui unanciai aoDaucnery as has pre
vailed wlthjn the last year or two. The' root
ft, . vm 4c u mo moon exenange ticker.
jnuii. i.Uy iuui uuu to large extent the evil
ml be eliminated, filvorv Anv n .. ..
- ' -- - w w -J UMJ J A, 11.1 Q V rZ i i. 1 111 i'l
Icker is made to spread hroadcast false and ficti-
wu quuiuuuue, 01 uie vaiue or tne corporate
lecuritles held by the "high financiers' to enable
uiuuj. .v umuuu uu luw outaiae puDiic. They
iake fake sales, which are run off on the ticker
s genuine, and thn rmhUn ttaitvrtn .. xi.
tales have actually been made, are fooled into
Ciiii,uaoiu& iuwu aimu uuKer prices. When the
miuvo mv umuuueu a Bumcient quantity
j.v iiiitw i uoyicoHou oy mem jn the same
lanner, to the great loss of the persons who
The Commoner.
bought them at the fictitious ticker prices, and
then the financiers buy them baclc and unload
them again, and so the endless chain is kept up.
It is a regular bunco game. '
Make it a felony to4 be -a party directly or
indirectly to the spreading over, the ticker of
such counterfeit transactions, and a stop will
be put to such unconscionable watering of securi
ties as has taken place within the 'last few years.
If the financiers are not furnished with the facili
ties the ticker gives they will be unable fo unload
their wares on the public at fictitious prices,
and there will consequently be no use or profit
in their pouring streams of water into their
schemes.'
It may be answered that it may prove diffi
cult to show by legal proof who the -parties- are
who cause fictitious prices to be sent over the
ticker, but whoever does this must have some
confidential clerk in his employ who would be
able to furnish this proof. That being so, "is it
likely that these men would be willing to place
themselves in the power of their clerks and run
the risk of an indictment for felony?
This principle applies to commercial trans
actions. If a person spreads, by means of :a
mercantile agency, a false statement of his finan
cial -condition, he becomes criminally liable and l
civilly responsible to any one who, on the faith
of sudh statement, gives credit to the partfy-
making it. T '
OOOO
BIB. BRYAN AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
On the evening of November 26' at Wash
ington city, Mr. Bryan was given a banquet j,by
the "United Democracy of the District of,Cp-
lumbia." District Commissioner H. L. West
was introduced by Willis J. Abbot as toastmas
ter. Other speakers were Congressman Qllie
James of Kentucky, Congressman Sulzer of New
York, John Sharp, Williams of Mississippi, and
Mr.Hagari of New York..
Mr. Bryan's subject was "The Point of
View," and his speech consisted of illustrations
of the difference in the point of view from which
questions are examined. Before taking up the
serious presentation ofHhis subject, he referred
to some of the remarks made by preceding speak
ers and apropos of Mr. Hagan's suggestion that
Tammany Tigers would make better playthings
for children than Teddy Bears, he said that
party emblems, as Veil as 'political toys, had their
places and he spolce a word in defense of the
democratic donkey. "The donkey," he said, "is
really a better emblem than the elephant for a
party. This was impressed upon my mind when
I visited other countries. I found that the
donkey is a resident of every country, and that
everywhere he is serving the people and that,
too, the common people. He is not an aristo
crat. Whether you visit the mountains of the
west, the densely populated regions of the
Orient, the fertile valleys of the Nile, or the
sacred soil of the Holy Land, you will find .the
donkey patient, persistent and always at work.
The elephant, on the contrary, is only to- be
found in certain latitudes, and is seldom seen
except on dress parade. If greatness is to be
measured by service, instead of by size or ap
pearance, the position of honor must be given
to the .faithful donkey. As the democratic party
is becoming a universal party and is everywhere
justifying its claims to the confidence of "the
people by the service it is rendering them, it is
entirely appropriate that it should prefer the
donkey to the elephant as an emblem."
After dealing humorously with the charge
that the republicans were stealing democratic
thunder, he proceeded to point out the things
which the president has borrowed, the demo
cratic doctrines which he has Ignored and the
undemocratic doctrines which he has advanced,
saying: "The president has advocated railroad
regulation, which is a democratic doctrine, but
he has not gone as far as democrats would have
him go, and' the VepubUcan leaders are not-willing
to go as far as the president does. He has
taken some steps toward the enforcement of the
law against the trusts; in this respect' he has
been following democratic doctrine, although
he has not prosecuted all the trusts and -has
not recently made any effort to secure addi
tional anti-trust legislation. Here, too, the re
publican leaders do not support the- president's
position. The' president has advocated an in
come tax; this is democratic, but none of the
leaders of his party have yet attempted to carry
out his recommendation on this subject and
Secretary Taft, whom he has designated as his
heir apparent, is not in favor of an Income, tax
at this time. The 'president has also recom
mended arbitration as a means of settling labor-
V0buM:E;.7, NUMBER H
disputes; this doctrine-was taken bodily from
the democratic platform, but It seems to be 2
unpopular with the republican leaders as othor
democratic" doctrines.
"Here are, four policies which the president
has endorsed, which are distinctly democratic
and which were being urged by the democrat c
party for from five to twelve years before the
president ever said a word in their favor and
it is a sjgnificant fact that these are the' very
things that have been giving him popularity
Surely no democrat will find fault with demo
cratic policies which are so just and necessary
that a president of the opposite party is forced
to accept them.
"There are, however, several democratic
doctrines. which the president has not endorsed.
He has not yet endorsed tariff reform, but
the sentiment is growing so rapidly that Secre
tary Taft admits that tariff revision is necessary
although he yields to his habit of postponing
and would put the reform off until after the
election. .The president has not endorsed the
election of senators by direct Vote of the people,
although this democratic reform is so popular
that ,the house of representatives has declared
for it five times by a- nearly unanimous vote.
The president has not recognized the right of
the Filipinos to the promise 'of ultimate inde
pendence,. although the democratic position on
' this question has been vindicated by experience.
He( has not yet endorsed the democratic posi
tion on government by injunction, but in his
last message he intimated that it might become
necessary to restrain the use of the writ of in
junction, if the abuse of this writ continued.
He reminded me of the man who went to the
theatre on a pass. The play was so unsatisfac
tory that the audience hissed and hooted, but
the man with the pass kept quiet. Finally one
of theaudlence asked him why he did not join
in the expression of disapproval and he replied:
4l(do hot like this play any better than the rest
of you do, "but I am in here on a pass. But if
this play gets muchworse I'll -go out and buy a
ticket and come back and then, I will hiss with
the rest of' you.'
"Here are four democratic doctrines that he
has, not yet endorsed, and now let me call your
attention to some very undemocratic doctrines
Which he, has announced. In the first place he
favors the national Incorporation of railroads
and other interstate commerce corporations, and
this is In line with his position that the federal
government can, through a treaty, interfere
with the school system of California. The demo
crats insist upon the recognition of the right of
the state to exercise its constitutional authority
over its domestic affairs. He has recommended
a ship subsidy which is so undemocratic that it
had the solid opposition of the democratic party
and the opposition of a number of republicans
from the interior states. He has advocated an
asset currency which is also undemocratic, and
he has manifested a military spirit entirely out
of harmony with democratic ideas and demo
cratic Ideals. Here are four positions taken
by him which are undemocratic, and I
may aftd that the republican leaders have
supported, him quite enthusiastically in all
that was undemocratic and have opposed
him quite persistently where he was democratic.
I liave been glad to commend the president
Vhere I could and. have criticised him where it
seemed necessary. If you ask me whether he is
a (democrat, I must answer that it would be un
fair to him and unfair to the democratic party
to call him a. democrat. If you ask me if he is
democratic, $ answer after the manner of Peter
Cartwright, the" pioneer preacher of Illinois, who
when asked if he was sanctified, replied, 'Yes,
in spots.' 'jL'he president is democratic in spots,
and while the spots are not as large as they
ought to be, or as numerous as I might wish
them, a democratic spot looks beautiful to me,
no matter upon whom I see it.
"I, am glad to note the growth of reform sen
timent in the republican party, but the differ
ence between the republican reformer and the
republican standpatter is illustrated by a story
which I recently heard. A man told me of a
visit which he made whena boy to a backwoods
neighborhood where the members of a certain
sect still believed that the earth stood still.
After several had expressed themselves on the
subject on'e member was called on who had
traveled enough to become skeptical on the
question. Closing one eye and looking wise, ho
said: 'Well, she may move, but if she does she
moves mighty little.'- One of the others rebuked
him, and said: 'You fool! She Ts either stand
ing stock still, -or she is going like blazes, luo
republican reformer having traveled a lltti
-;
