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The Commoner
VOLUME- 8, NUMBER 41
At Mingo Junction, Ohio, Judge Taft made a prosperity speech. Later he
discovered that he was speaking from the steps of a great mill which had been
closed for nearly a year, throwing two thousand men out of employment. No
wonder the dispatches say that Judge Taft was "nettled."
v
PANIC SCARES AND LION HUNTS
But Mr. Taft says that if we attempt to
adopt that policy; ayo, he says that if wo win
a victory on that platform, wo will have a panic.
Well, my friends, there never was a hotter time
in this country for the republicans to try that
panic scare. It won't work today as it did twelve
years ago. No, my friends, the republicans
scared the people in regard to the panic, but
they cannot do it today. When a man is sleep
ing on tho floor, you can not scare him by tell
ing him that ho will fall out of bed. In 189 G
they said tho democrats were responsible for
tho panic of '93. They said because it came
when there was a democratic president it was
a democratic panic, and because I was a demo
crat they said if I was elected that business
would bo bankrupted, that men would walk the
streets in idleness looking for work and that
there would be soup houses. That is what they
said would happen if I was elected and I can
take what they aaid would happen if I was elect
ed and prove that I was president last fall, for
these things all happened laBt fall. In 1890
tho republican speakers never mentioned 1873
that was so far back they could not remember
it. But we had a panic in 1873 and it camo
under a republican administration, it came under
a high tariff and it came just after a great re
publican victory. But no republican could re
member that far but, but Oh, how thoy could
remember 1893 in 1896? And yet they forgot
to tell you that that panic of 1893 came so soon
after a republican administration that not one
single republican law had been repealed; thoy
forgot to tell the people that that panic came
a year before tho McKinley bill was repealed.
That panic of '93 camo when tho McKinley -Jaww
was in operation, tbo panic last fall came under
a republican president and it camo under a.
tariff law so high that tho republicans promise
"unequivocally" to "revise" it "immediately"
and "probably" downward.
I W.e have had throe panics in this country
since 18G0 and all three of them came under
high tariff laws and two of them came under
republican presidents and onq of them came at
tho time when the very man who now threatens
a panic in case I am elected was in the cabinet
of the president under whom that panic camel;
Why didn't Mr. Taft prevent this panic last
fall? Why didn't ho and Mr. Roosevelt together-
prevent it? If both of them could not prevent,
a panic last fall, how does he know that he. can
prevqnt one all alone -when the president goes to
South Africa hunting lions? From Mr Bryan's,
wpeechVat-.Gedav Rapids, Iowa
. $r- . , ,
2J ri.
DEMOCRATIC VICTORY WILL
STORK PROSPERITY
HE-
The democratic party wants prosper- '
itV 111 this nnilTlfrv. Tf wnntn nnrmn. t?i
3 nent prosperity. It wants that pros-
(3 rlvHv elinvnrl Vr nvnrw M-rrnr A 1 it C'
knows that you can have no permanent '
prosperity, no permanent progress, no
permanent peace unless ou have bar-
mohious. co-operation between labor and ()'
f capital, between employer and omploye.
And the democratic party knows that
you can not have harmonious co-opera-
tion between labor and capital except on
a bagls of justice as between man and
man, and we ask for justice for those
who toll. Mr. Bryan's speech at Cedar
Rapids. q
TranST HAVE BETRAYED THE MASSES
v. In tho beginning I beg to make a distinc
tion between th republican leaders and the re-
publicans of tTfe rank And 111q; and I charge
iornrgnr;-mI pave charged over and over again,
that tho republican leaders in this nation today
lave betrayed the republican masses, have mis
represented the sentiments oven in the republic
can party, and I shall present proof so clear,
that you can not doubt the truth of my indict
ments. Have I not a right to consider the last
republican national convention as composed of
republican leaders? They were the men select
ed by the party machinery to speak for the
party. What did these leaders say when they
reached the national convention? They said
that they did not want any publicity as to cam
paign contributions. With what emphasis did
they say it? They said it by a vote .of nine to
one against publicity. Nine-tenths of the repub
licans of tho rank and file believe in publicity
and yet the republican convention rejected a
publicity plank by a vote of 880 to 94 nine to
one and tho democratic convention endorsed
tho doctrine of publicity by unanimous vote.
Now I can denounce tho action of that conven
tion without fear that any republican will resent
what I say. I would even put it to a vote and
predict in advance what the vote would bo
should I ask for a vote of this audience. I would
feel perfectly safe in making that proposition
because if a single man should vote against it
and say that he endorses the action of the re
publican convention in opposing all kinds of
publicity, I would simply notify him that he
would have no chance for a postofllce under a
republican president because even Mr. Taft has
repudiated tho action of his convention. Now,
my friends, don't you think that it is a very
bad convention that has to be repudiated even
by the candidate selected by the convention?
And if Mr. Taft repudiates the action of the
very man who gave him his nomination, what
republican can dare to endorse that convention?
' But Mr. Taft does not go 'far enough. Mr.
Taft says that ho favors publicity of campaign
contributions after tho election, and by saying1
that, ho says that if he had a horse and ho was
afraid of having it stolen, he would mot think
of locking tho door before it was stolen "but
would lock it after it was stolen. And why
wouldn't he lock it before? Because he would
be afraid that some one would misrepresent his
motives in so doing and get a false impression.
That is Mr. Taft's reason for not favoring pub
licity before, election. He says that it would be
misrepresented, and false impression would get
out and injustice might be done patriotic raon
who gave in secret and injustice might be done
to the patriotic candidates who seek to get the
benefit of tho fraud given in secret. Well, my
friends, I am going to leave it with you. You're
tho, jury and I am not surprised that Mr. Taft
does not like the jury system when ho realizes
that the people constitute the jury. From Mr.
Bryan's speech at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
O" w
TOO LATE, TOO LATE
An unconfirmed rumor reaches us to tho
effect that President Roosevelt is about to give,
out a letter addressed by himself in 1004 to Mr.
Cortolyou or Mr. Bliss, in which ho sternly de
manded that tho $100,000 Standard Oil contri
bution bo returned after it had been spent.-
Harper's Weekly. .
w i2& O 5
REMEDY FOR THE REPUBLICAN PANIC
Tho republicans have no remedy that they
can give you to. cure this panic, and I want to
remind business men that they are to he gov
erned, not by prophesies and predictions of in
terested parties, whether they be democrats or
republicans, and that they are to reason the
question out for themselves and are not to ac
cept an argument unless that argument appeals
to their common sense.
I want to show you tho difference between
our plan and tho republican plan. There is a
demand in this country today for a reduction
of the tariff ra demand so widespread, a demand
so emphatic that all of tho republican leaders
jiuu iu icuubuwc it uuu, my menus, they
recognized it in such a way that no ono can
mistake the significance of their admission.
Do you remember the first sentence of tho
republican tariff plank? It reads like this; Tho
republican party declares unequivocally in favor
of revision of the tariff to be made at a special
session of congress Immediately after Inaugura
tion. Now there are two words In that sentence
that you ought to consider "unequivocally, im
mediately." What is that word unequivocally
in there for? My friends, it is there to dis
tinguish thb new promise from the old promises
that have not been kept. It is a recognition
that they are under suspicion. If you want to
know how demoralizing that word is to a man's
credit try it at a bank. When you g. to get a
loan, after you have agreed on the amount, tho
rate of interest, the sureties, and the cashier
puts out the note for you to sign, you will
find it reads like this: "We, or either of us, for
value received, promise to pay." Now if you
will just take your pen and write in before or
after the word "promise" the word "unequivo
cally" and hand that note back, and watch the
cashier you will get an idea of what that word
"unequivocally" means, for you will have to go
out and get another endorser to the note. It
will arouse suspicion at once. If a man's prom
ise is good he does not need it and if it is bad
it makes it worse. And the word "immediately"
is as bad as the word "unequivocally" for it
is' a recognition that the patience of the public
has been strained to the point of breaking. Tho
republicans have had eleven years in which to
revise the tariff, and now they are down on their
knees and are saying, "If you will just let us
in once more we will do immediately what we
ought to have done before."
That is their platform. They recognize
that the tariff must be revised, and yet instead
of putting in the word reduction they put in
tho word revision and revision may mean up or
it may mean down. Mr. Taft says it may mean
both. He says some schedules are to be raised
and some are to be lowered, and when I insisted
that he tell us whether he knew the tariff would
be higher than it is or lower than it is, he said
that the revision would "probably" be down
ward. .' ,
I call attention to this to show that they
recognize something must be done. They rec
ommended the raising of the tariff to cure the
panic of 1893, and they recommend the lower
ing of the tariff to cure the panic of 1907. But
hero is the difficulty: While the candidate for
president is promising that the revision will
probably be "downward" the republican candi
dates for congress are not bound by his state
ment and if the republicans win, Mr. Cannon
will bo speaker again, and Mr. Cannon, instead
of being a tariff reformer is a tariff standpatter,
and he helped to secure the nomination of a re
publican candidate for vice president who is also
a standpatter. If the republicans win Mr. Can
non will preside over the house and Mr. Sher
man will preside over the senate and there will
be no reduction that will satisfy the public de
mand. And then what? A betrayed and dis
appointed people will begin a four years agita
tion to take the hand of the tariff beneficiary
from the throat of the American people. During
those four years business uncertainty will con
tinue. They have no promise, no prospect, no
plan that means a restoration of business, of
peace and prosperity.
The democratic party declares for reduc
tion, and if the democratic party is successful
a democratic congress as well as a democratic
president will be pledged to reduction, and when
that pledge is fulfilled and the tariff Is reduced
business can build upon a natural foundation
and 'prosperity can come back to the American
people,
I submit to you that this Is a reasonable
argument and I present it as against the un
certainties and the ambiguities of the republi
can position. From one of Mr. Bryan's speeches.
2fi &h o i&
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE TRUSTS
My friends, when I see the attitude of the
republican party toward the trusts I am remind
ed of tho fellow down in Kentucky who was a
candidate for governor many years ago. He
made a speech and ho told tho audience thoc
he did not want the office, that he had tried
to avoid it but that tho office had been after
him for ten years. A man said, "may I ask a
question?" Ho ,said, "certainly," The man
said: "Do ,you mean to say that that office
has been after you for ten years. and that you
are trying to run away from it?" He said "yea.
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