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5
SEPTEMBER I, Mlt
Where Roosevelt Stands
Theodore Roosevelt Is now recognized as tho
leader of republican Insurgency. In a speech
delivered August 31, at Osawattomlo, Kan., Mr.
Roosevelt characterized tho issue of tho day as
"tho struggle of free men to gain and hold tho
right of self-goyernment as against the special
interests, who twist the methods of free govorn
mon into machinery for defeating tho popular
will." "The issue is joined and wo must light
or fail," said he.
Tho Associated Press report says: Tho ox
president declared himself in favor of theso
principles:
1 Elimination of special interests from
politics.
2 Complete and effective publicity of cor
poration affairs.
3 Passage of laws prohibiting the use of
corporate funds directly or indirectly for politi
cal purposes.
4 Government supervision of the capitallza-
tion, not only of tho public service corporations,
but of all corporations doing an interstate
business.
5 Personal responsibility of officers and di
rectors of corporations that break the law.
6 Increase in the power of tho federal
bureau of corporations and the interstate com
merce commission to control commercial in
dustry more effectively.
7 Revision of tho tariff, one schedule at a
time, on tho basis of information furnished by
an expert tariff commission.
8 Graduated income tax and graduated in
heritance tax.
9 Readjustment of the country's financial
system in such a way as to prevent repetition
of periodical financial panics.
10 Maintenance of an efficient army and
navy large enough to insure for the nation the
respect of other nations, as a guarantee of peace.
11 Use of national resources for the benefit
of all the people.
12 Extension of the work of the department
of agriculture of tho national and state govern
ment and of agricultural colleges and experiment
stations so as to take in all phases of life on the
farm. ,
13 Regulation of the terms and conditions
of labor by means of a comprehensive work
man's compensation act; state and national laws
to regulate labor and the work of women; en
forcement of better sanitation conditions for
workers, and extension of the use of safety ap
. pliances in industry and commerce, both within
and between the states.
14 Clear division of authority between the
national and the various state governments.
15 Direct primaries, associated with corrupt
practices acts.
16 Publicity of campaign contributions, not
only after election but before election as well.
17 Prompt removal of unfaithful or Incom
petent public servants.
18 Provisions against the performance of
any service for interstate corporations or the
reception of any compensation from such cor
porations by national officers.
While Colonel Roosevelt's address is regard
ed by many of those who heard it as carrying
him further than before with the progressive
movement tho colonel coupled with his declara
tion a warning against the extremist, injecting
an extemporaneous remark on the subject into
his prepared speech.
"I do not want our people to follow men whose
intentions are excellent but whose eyes aro a
little too wild to make it safe to trust them,"
he said.
Another sentence which Colonel Roosevelt
put into his speech extemporaneously hrought
forth applause from the crowd. Ho said: "No
man should make a promise before election that
ho does not intend to keep after election, and
if he does not keep it, hunt him out."
The people gave his words an interpretation
of their own and the burst of cheering which
broke out when they heard them was one of
the wildest of the day.
PRESIDENT TAFT'S LETTER
President Taft has addressed a letter to Chair
man McKinley of the republican congressional
committee, which Is intended for campaign pur
poses. It Is a defense of his administration and
an appeal to standpatters and insurgents to
lay aside their differences and work together to
secure a republican congress.
He administers a deserved rebuke to those
democratic senators and representatives in con
gress who repudiated tho pledges of their plat
form rather inconsistent when ho applauded
Aldrlch who repudiated tho construction which
tho president placed upon the republican promise
of rovlslon.
Tho suggestion of further rovlslon through
separate bills Is advanced very mildly as a sop
to tho Insurgents. The language omploycd by
the president indicates that ho docs not regard
tho matter as urgent and wo aro warranted in
believing that the White House will not go Into
mourning if tho suggestion Is Ignored.
But It would bo awful, according to the
letter, if tho democrats wero to win. They
would attack tho prlnciplo of protection and
seek to reduce tho tariff to a revenue basis,
and what would tho protected interests do then?
Just think what consternation there would bo
at tho fashionable summer resorts If tho tariff
barons wero compelled to sell at homo at as
low a price as they ask abroad.
Tho president Is very unfair In claiming
credit for measures passed; ho conceals tho fact
that tho democrats and insurgents are respon
sible for tho best parts of tho laws enacted.
He ought to have said that tho laws would have
been better if tho democrats and Insurgents
had been able to get all they wanted.
In discussing the postal savings hank law he
falls to mention tho fact that its usefulness is
lessened by clauses put in there to pave tho
way for a central bank.
The president shows his old antipathy toward
labor in his reiterated criticism of the demo
cratic platform on that subject.
Tho president Is supposed to be the chief
executive of the whole people and this bold
descent from the position of the nation's head
down to that of party chief might bo resented
if his predecessor had not accustomed the coun
try to extreme partisanship.
Tho letter will convince even the casual ob
server that the president is scared and demo
crats find in it an admission that prospects aro
bright for victory for our party this fall.
Practical Tariff Talks
JAPAN'S BENEVOLENT ASSIMILATION
In annexing Korea a thing which she has
contemplated for about four hundred years,
Japan says:
'Notwithstanding the earnest and laborious
wbrk of- reforms In the administration of Korea,
In which tho governments of Japan have been
engaged for more than four years since tho con
clusion of the agreement of 1905, the existing
system of government in that country has not
proved entirely equal to tho duty of preserving
public order and tranquility and, in addition,
the spirit of suspicion and misgiving dominates
the whole peninsula.
"In order to maintain peace and stability In
Korea, to promote the pronperlty and welfare
of tho Koreans, and at the same time to insure
tho safety and repose of the foreign residents,
it has been made abundantly clear that funda
mental changes in the actual regime of govern
ment are absolutely essential. The governments
of Japan and Korea, being convinced of tho
urgent necessity of introducing reforms respon
sive to the requirements of the situation and
of furnishing sufficient guarantee for tho future
have, with the approval of his majesty, the
emperor of Japan and his majesty, the emperor
of Korea, concluded with their respective pleni
potentiaries a treaty providing for the complete
annexation of Korea to tho empire of Japan."
There may be a few sliglit verbal differences,
but the excuse is in substance, the same that
has been given by other strong nations when
they have gobbled up weaker ones. It would
have been fc shorter to say "We wanted Korea
and took her," but to show that they under
stood the language of diplomacy the Japanese
official issued a little circumlocution.
CRITICISING THE COURT
Does any one recall the indignation, real or
feigned, with which tho republican editors and
republican. leaders attacked the democratic plat
form in 1896 on the ground that it criticised
the supreme court? How mild that criticism
was, compared with the censure pronounced by
Mr. Roosevelt at Denver! On another page will
be found the text of tho speech. After this the
republicans will have to admit that the demo
crats were well within proper limit in what they
said of tho income tax decision.
TRY IT IN 1013
Yes, William Allen White, does quite well
as a platform writer, but will he be allowed to
write the next national platform of tho repub
lican party?
One indictment against tho now tariff law
that would lncludo a good many counts is that
whorovcr it was posulblo to help out a trust at
tho oxponso of tho common people It was done
Tako the item of split peas, an articlo of gen
eral uso on tho tables of tho poor. Tho duty
on theso under tho Uingloy law was 40 cents a
bushel or $1.40 per barrel tho usual packago.
Under tho Paync-Aldrlch bill tho duty is 45
cents a bushel or $1.57 a barrel. This, It
will bo readily seen, Is a rather heavy tax. Tho
Increase was made In splto of the fact that tho
ovidonco was before congress that tho manu
facture of theso goods is undor tho control of
a trust, only three mills being in oporatlon in
this country. Tho American miller and the Ca
nadian miller also have a compact by which an
importer of split peas can not buy them In
Canada unless he gives bond for export. If
ho says he wants to purchaso thorn for salo In
this country tho Canadian miller frankly tolls
him that under Ills agrcoment with his American
competitor ho can not sell them to him. It
would appear that tho presentation of theso
facts ought to have secured a very material re
duction, but Instead this handful of manufac
turers was given a grant to still higher tax tho
consumer.
Beans constituto another staple articlo of
food on the tables of the poor. Not enough
beans aro raised In America at any tlmo to sup
ply tho demand. When a crop fails hero tho
importations invariably Increase, showing tho
steadiness of the domand for thorn. Thus It
is that when tho consumer most needs beans
and at a lower price he must pay moro for thom
because of the duty. This duty Is 45 cents a
bushel. An effort was made to secure a reduc
tion, but It failed. An effort was also" mado
to secure at tho hands of congress a reduction
in tho price of cattle. This price Is now fixed
In this country by tho beef trust, tho raiser
having nothing to say about It. In Canada, and
In Central and South America there is a surplus
of cattle. Tho grade Is not as good as those
raised in the United States, and if tho tariff
wero adjusted, it was argued, tho poor folks with
whom beefsteak Is a rarity could get thom
of tenor. This would not intorfero with tho rich,,
who demand the best and would still buy tho
high grade American animal. No change waa
mado.
On one item In the food schedule at least thero
was a reduction. This was on cabbages. Theso
formerly paid a duty of 3 cents a head. Undor
tho new law the duty Is 2 cents, or a little less
than 30 per cent. Prior to 1890 tho duty was
a merely nominal one, 10 per cent. Tho Mc
Kinley bill fixed the duty at 3 cents a head,
and this rate has since prevailed, except under
the Wilson law, when they wero admitted freo
of duty. Cabbage is another popular article of
food among wageworkers. It Is not only health
ful, but It Is cheap. Unless their taste runs to
sauer kraut, however, the ordinary family can
not get cabbages in winter. They aro essen
tially a seasonable article. Thirty years ago
some importers took to bringing In Danish cab
bages. As the cabbage is grown so extensively
in America it is not imported save to supply
tho winter Interim, tho time between the ex
haustion of tho northern crop and the coming
of the southern crop. When the native supply
gives out the foreign article has a chance, but
the 3 cent charge practically barred theso from
the tables of tho common people during tho
greater part of the winter. Congress was asked
to put cabbages back on tho 10 per cent list,
it being argued that as the foreign supply could
be available only during the winter season or
when tho native crop was short, nobody could
be hurt. Instead, however, the duty was re
duced from 42 per cent to almost 30.
Republican orators can point with pride, how
ever, to tho fact that congress restored canary
seeds to the freo list. Until 189 It came in
free, but although hemp, millet and rape, used
for the same purpose, wero on tho freo list, but
tho genuine canary seed was put on the 30 per
cent schedule. In putting this back on tho freo
list, however, congress sacrificed a revenue of
$25,000 a year, but there was no home-grown
articlo to protect. C. Q, D,
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