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MAY 22, 1908
The Commoner.
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raGH TARIM? ON COAIi OIL
The Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat recently
said:
"It is worthy of notice that the two most
powerful, wealthy and grasping trusts in this
country are the Standard Oil company and the
anthracite monopoly; yet there is no important
duty on petroleum or hard coal. With these
articles on the free list, their output and sale
are held in control by trusts, prices are marked
up arbitrarily, and the public is powerless to
resist the extortion.
"It is conceded that the tariff should be
revised, but not from the false standpoint on
which Senator LaFollette has planted himself.
The free-traders are fond of saying that 'the
tariff is the mother of trusts,' but they invar
iably dodge when requested to account for tho
existence of trusts which have no tariff protec
tion." Referring to the Rochester paper's editorial
the San Francisco Star makes this interesting
comment:
So, there is no import duty on petroleum?
It would seem so from careless reading of the
Dingley law. But the careful reader, the man
who knows before ho asserts, will find this
joker at the end of paragraph 626:
"Provided, That if there be imported into
the United States crude petroleum, or the pro
ducts of crude petroleum produced in any coun
try which imposes a duty on petroleum or its
products exported from the United States, there
shall in such cases be levied, paid, and collected
a duty upon said crude petroleum or its pro
ducts so imported equal to the duty imposed
by such country."
The effect of that joker is that petroleum
has greater protection than almost any other
article in the Dingley law. The only noteworthy
competitor in tho petroleum business is Russia,
which has a surplus of petroleum to export.
But for that joker in the Dingley law and it
was in the "free trade" Wilson-Gorman law
also Russia could sell petroleum in this coun
try cheaper than it is sold by the Standard Oil
company.
The effect of the joker is that Russian oil
brought to this country must pay the same tariff
tax as American oil exported to Russia from
10.0,. to 200 per cent. During the oast six
years pome Russian oil has been brought to
this country, the tariff duties being 5.4 cents
a gallon on crude and 2.34 cents a gallon on
Tefined oil.
By? means of the joker that prevents Rus
sian competition, the Standard Oil trust has been
able to charge American consumers about two
or two aiid a half cents a gallon more than it
could have done if petroleum had been on the
free list. Now, if the Rochester Democrat will
get a table showing the amount of refined oil
used in this country, and will carefully multiply
the1 number of gallons by 2.5 cents, it will see
that glnce the Dingley law went into effect it
has made a free gift to the Standard Oil trust
of several 'million dollars. San Francisco Star.
W &t r
CONSERVING NATIONAL RESOURCES
, , On -another page will be found tho presi
dent's speech at the conference called by him
to consider the conservation of national re
sources. It was an epoch making speech. It
clearly pointed out the waste that Is going on,
the danger of exhaustion of our coal, our iron
ore and our. timber. The subjects consid
ered are of the first importance and the confer
ence is likely to initiate a movement which will
bring the executives together on stated occasions
and stimulate the various states to act together
lor the advancement of national reforms and
for the advancement also of those reforms which
are within the sphere of the state.
The president has performed a distinct ser
vice in convening the. conference and his speech
admirably presents the importance of the ques
tions brought to the attention of the con
ference. tC 5 w
A COUNTRY MERCHANT'S ANSWER
The following editorial is taken from the
Omaha World-Herald:
"A country merchant of Nebraska has writ
ten a letter to the 'Prosperity club' boomers of
St. Louis, which the World-Herald believes en
titled to a wider hearing than those who are
at the head of that movement to 'discourage
agitation and demagoguery' will be inclined tc
give it. Tho letter Is from C. A. Lord of Shu
bert, a dealer -In hardware, implements and
furniture, and -was written In response to a cir-
cular soliciting his support. Mr. Lord thought
fully sent a carbon copy of his letter to this
newspaper, saying: 'On reading your editorial
last night, I decided to send you a copy for
publication, believing that my experience has
been that of most hardware men and merchants,
and that they feel much as I do about this
question.'
"Mr. Lord's letter is as follows, and wo
commend it to the careful reading not only of all
merchants, but all of tho merchants' customers:
" 'Shubert, Neb., May 11, 1908. Tho
National Prosperity Association, E. C. Sim
mons, Chairman, St. Louis, Mo.: Gentle
men Your circular, explaining the motives
of your association, its purposes and inten
tions, has been noted very carefully by tho
undersigned. Your purposes may be non
political, as you say, but to a man out hero
in Nebraska, who remembers tho 1896 and
1900 campaigns, your declarations have tho
same old sulphur smell. Your very first
request 'to keop hands off of railroad
legislation' smacks wonderfully of a 'cor
poration cormorant squeal.
" 'If I order the house of which your
chairman is president, to ship mo a ten
pound sash weight tho charges will bo 80
cents. If I should then Increase my order
to 150 pounds tho charges on tho wholo
thing would be 27 cents per hundred, or
41 cents.
" 'In tho faco of such conditions, do
you think It well to let up on railroad legis
lation, and 'let well enough alone?'
" 'Explain these rates to mo and justify
them, and I will join your association and
Immediately become a 'prosperity' shouter.
But if you can not do it, I will expect you
to take down your sign, and admit that
corporation legislation has only begun.
" 'Why this sickness? Why this
'typhoid fever' you mention as tho cause of
our recent financial troubles? I have been
In busindss here seven years, and in that
time I find that one-half or moro of tho
goods I purchase I am compelled to buy of
trusts, without getting tho benefit of one
bit of competition. A Deoring binder, for
Instance, that I could buy for $85 then,
costs me now $116.50 In car lots. Wo made
a profit then of $25 on an Investment of
$85. Wo make a profit now of $17.50 on an
Investment of $116.50. This Is true of all
goods mado and sold by the International
Harvester company of America.
" 'The retailor's competition Is sharper
that it ever was, but at tho same time tho
trusts have hemmed him In with oppres
sive exactions, both In the goods he buys
and freight rates, until he acts In an auto
matic manner, which makes us feel; if wo
do not look, like the old 'Punch and Judy'
that first amused us In the long ago. This
condition may be good enough for people
like Mr. E. C. Simmons, who has made his
stake, but it doesn't suit us younger fel
lows, who have ours to make. We want a
Roosevelt or Bryan at the head of our na
' tlon's affairs, surrounded by legislators in
full sympathy with them, and for this wo
will contend, prosperity or no prosperity.
And if these recent conditions exist yet for
another ten years, and temporary prosperity
never shows its timid head, we will feel
that our fight has been made for the bene
fit of posterity. If our children are not
rich enough to claim the flabby hand of a
foreign prince, we want them at least to bo
free to start in business for themselves in
free, competitive America, to win a name
and a fortune in honorable business meth
ods. Wo do not want them to have to
cringe and fawn under the iron will of hard
faced trust magnates for a job.
" 'I believe, gentlemen, you will find
these are the sentiments of a majority. of
the Nebraska hardware merchants.
" 'Yours for the competitive system
from tho bottom up, and for a permanent
prosperity, such as will benefit not only
selfish us, but our children and our chil
dren's children. C. A. LORD.'
"Mr. Lord has pretty thoroughly exposed
the jug-handled kind of 'prosperity' for which
the 'Prosperity clubs' are getty ready to shout.
It is the same old 'let well enoagh alone' brand,
which pinches the retailer and robs the con
sumer, while it makes a comparatively few
corporation magnates enormously rich. It is
the same brand which puts dishonesty and
bribery at a premium. It is the same brand
which brought on a severe panic, throwing more
than a million men out of work, at a time
when tho country had and wan producing moro
wealth than ovor before in its history. It Is tho
samo brand which now, in a time of depression,
Is raising trust prices on tho necessities of life,
and is preparing to follow this up with a gen
eral Incrcaao in freight rates, In violation of
both tho anti-trust law and tho railroad regu
lation law passed only a little moro than a year
ago. And the real purposo of tho 'Prosperity
clubs,' so far as this newspaper Is ablo to Judge,
is first to hypnotize public opinion Into thinking
theso Increased prices and rates aro a good
thing, and second to help elect Mr. Taft, to tho
ond that there will bo no moro 'harmful inter
ference' with trust and railroad privileges."
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AND WHAT WAS THE SLOGAN?
The following article, which originally ap
peared in the Now Castle (Pa.) Horald, is taken
from the Beavor Falls (Pa.) Weekly Review:
"The farmers of Lawronco county aro having
no trouble in getting plonty of men to work this
spring. Every morning scores of foreigners and
many Americans apply for positions at many of
tho farms In this vicinity. They are paid 'only
seventy-five cents a week and aro glad to work
at that. Well-to-do farmers have hired four or
fivo mon at this wago and aro not doing any
work thomsolves, merely ovorseolng It. This is
tho lowest rate of wages paid farm hands in ro
cent years. The omployes are given thoir board,
however."
Lot us see what was tho slogan? Was it
"Four years moro of tho full dinner pall?"
147 IN FORTY DAYS
F. Greenland, Cooperstown, N. D.
Enclosed find check for $15.00 In pay
ment of one year's subscription (or
twenty-five copies of Tho Commoner to
bo sent to persons named in enclosed
list. Theso make in all 147 paid up
now subscribers. Tho democrats of this
county annreclato the work Tho Com
moner is doing tor tno people's cause, u, t ,
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DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTIONS
MINNESOTA
Tho democratic state convention for Mln
npsota met at St. Paul May 14. Tho friends of
Governor Johnson were in complete control and
elected tho following delegates at largo: F. O.
Winston, Minneapolis; W. S. Hammond, St. -James;
Frank A. Day, Fairmont; Swan Turnblad,
Minneapolis; Daniel A. Lawlor, St. Paul; T. D.
O'Brien, St. Paul; Martin O Brlen, Crookston;
A. C. Weiss, Duluth.
District delegates were chosen as follows:
First, L. L. Brown, J. F. Cook; Second, J. C.
Wiso, Dr. E. A. Frltsche; Third, A. A. Poehler,
Julius A. Coller; Fourth, R. T. O'Conner, J. O.
Arrason; Fifth, E. J. Conroy, John W. Pauly;
Sixth, Dr. P. A. Silbert, John Rolchert; Seventh,
J. Drlscoll, R. G. Farrington; Eighth, Martin
Hughes, John Dwan; Ninth, C. A. Fullar, H. L.
Shirle.
The indorsement of Governor Johnson is In
the following words: In Governor John A.
Johnson, Minnesota presents to tho nation a
democratic candidate for president of ability, in
tegrity and honor, a constructive statesman, who
holds no brief from any class, one who from
early youth has been a wage-earner, whose pri
vate life has been of such purity, vigor and
earnestness as to win him the love, respect, and
confidence of all who know him. In public life
ho has by his virtue won the admiration of the
people of his state and nation, regardless of
condition of life, or political faith. We, there
fore, instruct our delegates to the national dem
cratlc convention to vote as a unit for him,
and continue to so vote as long as necessary to
secure tho nomination of John A. Johnson as
the candidate for president.
WYOMING
An Associated Press dispatch under dato
'of Cheyenne, Wyo., May 14, follows: "The
democratic state convention today selected dele
gates to tho national convention and instructed
for William J. Bryan. Resolutions were adopted
favoring the election of United States senators
by direct vote of the people; favoring an amend
ment to the Sherman anti-trust law excepting
labor unions from the effect of Its provisions,
and opposing tho forest reserve policy of the
present national administration."
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