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The Commoner.
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Democratic Primaries in Iowa
' The democrats, of Iowa will hold their prl- .
mary election June 7. Every democrat in the
Btato should participate in these primaries. This
duty is all the' more pressing at this time be
cause it would Beem that a democratic victory
this year is reasonably assured and it is of the
S highest Importance that the men elected to rep
resent the democratic party have an understand
ing of the sacredness of .the trust glveh them,
the ability to fulfill that trust and the strength
of character to-resist the temptations that will
be set before them. Particular care should be
taken in the selection of democratic candidates
for congress. Democratic nominees for con
gress should be men who are known to have a
genuine concern in the effort to secure legisla
tion in the Interest of the people as a whole,
anen who are willing to make specific declara
tions of their position on questions that are like
ly to come before -congress. In this connection
The Commoner would commend an editorial
that appeared recently in the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.
That editorial was entitled
"Keep the Democratic Party Democratic" and
was as follows:
"It goes without saying that with loaves in
, sight the pot-hunters will strive to secure con
trol of the machinery of the democratic party.
"And unless democratic democrats are every
where on guard, the pot-hunters will get what
they are after.
"The democratic party is a party of prin
ciple, not pelf. It deserves to win only as it
is democratic. When it Is undemocratic it de
serves to lose.
"The rank and file of the democratic party,
in Iowa at least, is .pretty well united in this
conclusion. It Is therefore hopeless to expect
democratic success for corporation-tainted or
reactionary democrats. In some counties and
some districts the reactionaries may bo in con
trol of the party machinery. In those districts
the party will not win, and it will not deserve
to win.
"If the democratic party is to win in Iowa
and the, nation it must have the courage to pro
claim Its democracy. Possessing this courage In
Indiana, it achieved a notable victory.
"It will not do for the democratic party in
Iowa to stand merely for a policy of negation,
and protest.- It must be an afllnnative, aggres
Bive party. It can not be less progressive than
the insurgent leaders of Iowa; it must bo more
progressive. It will forever destroy hope of
success if it shall take the standpat viow of
things and curry the favor of standpatters.
"The democracy of Iowa can not do bettor
than to make the coming campaign in Iowa on
national issues; to declare, first, that a platform
is a pledge to bo fulfilled with tho same sacred
neBS as a written contract; and to declare in
clear voice the party's stand for economy in ex
penditures, for tariff reduction, the enforcement
of criminal provisions of the Sherman anti-trust
law, and the elimination of trusts and combines
in. restraint of trade; the delegation to the in
terstate commerce commission of powers to in
itiate rates; the .Income tax and tho popular
election of senators.
"It is well now to agitato these propositions.
More than criticism of republican rule is nec
essary. Some positive doctrines must
bo positively set forth. Democratic democrats
everywhere irt the state should consider now
whom they shall select as delegates to their
county conventions in order that delegates se
lected to state conventions shall be men who
will hold the party compact true to the pole of
real democracy."
Practical Tariff Talks
A very large amount of plate glass is used in
this country. The average man is not a pur
chaser of It,, but he pays his share of -the exces-
sive cost excessive because of the unreasonable
high tariff when, he makes his purchases from
those who do use it. This schedule Is very much
like many others in the tariff law, it is fixed by
the manufacturers without regard to the repub
lican idea that the tariff should represent the
difference in labor cost here and abroad. On
the larger sizes the duty is approximately 80
per cent of the selling price. The total wage
cost is 48 per cent of the selling price. Tho
material costs a little moreln this country than
abroad, and labor is about 60 per cent higher.
Yet the tariff is 80 per cent of the selling price.
Under earlier tariffs no such excessive protec
tion was given, but when the manufacturers se
cured this rate on the important sizes they im
mediately took it as a license to raise prices.
And they did.
dollars while increased duties affect but a sixth
of that value of goods. Consumption value is
a new term. What they mean is that on five
billion dollars worth of goods consumed in this
country the Payne-Aldrich law has decreased the
duties and inferentlally but not actually low
ered prices while on about 800 million dollars'
worth there has been an advance of duty. This
statement is worthy of more detailed diagnosis,
but in passing it may be stated that one-fourth
of this total of five billion dollars represents
reductions In" the metal schedule. The metal
schedule Is very largely made up of articles
produced by the steel trust, and the average re
duction is so slight that even if that trust did
not absolutely fix prices, they would, in fact,
be little affected. In other words, the tariff Is
still excessive, and prevents the man who uses
steel from forcing domestic prices down by bar
ring him from the chance of buying abroad.
In his testimony before the house ways and
means committee, H. E. Miles, a large buggy
manufacturer, having intimate personal knowl
edge of the facts through his connection with
the National Manufacturers' Association, made
this statement: There is a plate glass trust,
made possible by the higher tariff wall. This
trust added 100 per cent to Its selling prices
in about "two years' time, and of this advance It
gave one-sixth to the workmen and five-sixths
to the stockholders. With a cost of production
not far from that of Europe, the difference in
wage cost, which is very considerable, being
offset by saving in fuel and materials, they made
the American consumer pay nearly ?2 for every
$1 worth of glass 4ie bought. They even raised
their prices so high that importers were able
to pay the excessive tariff and bring in plate
glass. The trust stopped this by notifying the
Importers that they must not bring in glass or
they would be cut off from tho home supply
upon such sizes as could not be imported to
advantage. The importers were forced to do
this. The large sizes, it may be explained", are
controlling factors in the price making, the
smaller pieces being only cutting or salvage
from defective or hroken glass.
The truth is that the prices of steel and steel
products are practically fixed by tho trust. The
finished product of that trust is the raw ma
terial of many of the Independent competitive
men. " The steel wire trade is an Illustration.
The trust has wire mills of its own and it also
sells the steel from which wire is made to man
ufacturers who compete with its. wire mills.
The trust has an export price at which It sells
wire at a profit that is less than the. domestic
price. When it sells to an Independent wire
maker it simply adds the tariff to the export
price. Having been given control of the wire
man's raw material through the tariff it actu
ally and easily dictates to him the price at which
he may sell in the local market in competition
with Its own wire mills. The independent knows
that if he cuts below the high prices charged for
trust wire, the trust will put him out of busi
ness by selling its wire at a slight advance over
what It charges him for his raw material. The
steel trust needs no tariff at all, but it insists
on its being maintained- so that it may exercise
the power of price-making as outlined.
C. Q. D.
President Taft and lesser defenders of the
new' tariff, law. have laid emphasis upon the. fact
that thafc law. .carries decreased duties on goods
that have a consumption value of five billion
"SHOOT THEM," SAYS SPEAKER CANNON
The following is an Associated Press dis
patch: New York, May. 18. Shooting is too gentle
manly a fate for certain republican insurgents,
thundered Speaker Cannon, of the national house
of representatives tonight, as he addressed the
annual banquet of the. National Assoclatipn of
Manufacturers at the Waldorf-Astoria; -He was
making an eloquent dofcnso of his conduct ao
speaker and ho was" wildly cheered.
"You bolievo wo have a majority of forty
four in tho house of roprescntatfvcs and two
thirds of tho Unjtod States senate," said tho
speaker, "and yet wo aro under tho sway I
will not say of dishonest of mistaken people,
and now and thou a demagogue, seeking, power,
and I can pick out among them men who could,
have competed with Judas who betrayed his
Master.
"Wo have a great president and a republican
majority, yot wo can not say whether there aro
not enough cowards to flock with tho popullstlc
democratic minority and leave us without an i
efllcicnt republican majority.
"If thoro wero two armies drawn up In actual
conflict do you know what would bo done with
such men?"
"Shoot them," cried ono of tho diners.
"Shoot them!" thundered tho speaker.
"Shoot them! that would bo too honorablo a
death for them. Hanging would bo their fate.
"It is In tho essence of popular good that
majorities should rule and bo held responsible
for their mistakes. Thereforo I ask you .to ,
make a manly fight for the republican party
so that when tho polls closo In Novembor next
you may givo a majority to tho republicans in '
the house of representatives and hold It re
sponsible, or givo a majority to tho democratic- -popullstlc
minority.
"In 1912 wo olect a president, on March 4
the present congress goes out of oxlstonco. If I
wero a more partisan I'd like to see tho demo
crats have full power In both housos so that
they would bo forced, because of their opposi
tion to tho Payne tariff law, to act upon their
pretensions and enact a now tariff law. Then
they'd have that to defend rather than misrep
resent tho present tariff law. They'd have a
baby of their own to protect.
"If I were a mere partisan I'd welcome Dolll
vor, Bristow, LaFolletto and Clapp of Minne
sota, joining hands with Champ Clark and com
pany. But that would bring sorrow, shortened
wages and misery to thousands of hearthstones: ,
therefore, as a man of seventv-four who will
soon be where I will wear either a muslin or
asbestos halo I'd rather march to defeat in tho
future than to have our populist, or so-called
progressive, friends reaping a victory.
"I would rather that we carry tho next house
and senate by a sound real republican majorlty--oven
though we lost in 1912. I'd postpone tho
evil day as long as possible and perchance
though it's a forlorn hope, wisdom may como
south of Mason's and Dixon's line. God bless -you,
you needn't bother about New England,
sho'll take core of herself"
When Uncle Joo arrived tho diners or tho
spectators in tho box rose and cheered and tho
band struck up tho Star Spangled Banner.
From the moment of his arrival the enthu
siasm grew until finally every ono joined in -singing
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow."
Earlier in his address the speaker said:
"Tho demagogue, tho short sighted man, tho
specialist, the philosopher I was about to say
tho college professor but there are notable ex
ceptions find fault with our country. To such
I have no message. They sometimes occupy the
uplift magazines or tho metropolitan dailies,
but they sometimes anathematize tho existing
order. It Is our place to march on and say
'None of these things move me.' " '
ANOTHER ADVANCE
Congressman Foster, of the Salem, Illinois,
district, has introduced in two congresses a bill
prohibiting an interstate railroad from charging
more than the sum of the local rates. If, for
instance, the passenger rate in Iowa, Illinois,
Indiana and Ohio Is two cents per mile a
through rate shall not be more than two cents.
He has had the pleasure of seeing the Idea em
bodied in the railroad bill as it passed the house.
This Is another step in advance. It ought to
encourage reformers to see these signs of
progress.
LOOK THEM OVER
Tho National Democrat, published at Wash
ington, D. C, gives "to all democrats" this good
advice: "Be sure and nominate good, live, brainy
men at the primaries for next congress. Then
let every democrat throw off his coat, go to
work and elect the nominee. We want men of
brains in congress., Cut out the dead wood and
we will soon build up a democratic 'party that
will give the people a government of the people;
for the people by tho people."
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