10 Conservative ,
REPUBLICAN OPINIONS ON TARIFF
TRUSTS.
Governor Mount , of Indiana , Decem
ber , 1899 , speaking to the Indiana Hotel
Keepers :
"I emphatically favor removing all
tariff protection from every industry
that belongs to a combination formed in
restraint of trade. "
Chicago Times-Herald , March , 1899 :
"Most certainly it should be the duty
of congress , in both branches of which
the republicans have a majority , to
abolish or suspend the protective duty
on the products of any industry which
has been organized into a trust and
which has arbitrarily raised the prices of
such products. "
Hon. John Sherman , in United States
senate :
"Whenever this free competition is
evaded or avoided by combination of
individuals or corporations , the duty
should be reduced and foreign competi
tion promptly invited. "
St. Paul Pioneer-Press , April , 1900 :
"The whole list of protected monopo
lies ought to be brought within the
! f purview of a tariff reform which would
enable foreign competition to put a limit
on their ability to raise prices. "
Ex-Senator Washburn , of Minnesota ,
said in an interview in the New York
Tribune of September 11 , 1899 :
"The republican party , whether justly
or unjustly , is associated with trusts in
the minds of the masses. As a party
we have reached a crisis where we have
got to call a halt. The republican party
has got to disconnect itself from trusts.
It has got to do something more than
adopt platform planks against trusts.
* * * * * * #
"It seems to me , after giving the mat
ter a great deal of thought , that the
republicans in congress will have to
examine the subject thoroughly , and
whenever they find a trust is depending
for its exorbitant profits largely on pro
tective duties it will be the duty of
republican congressmen and senators to
remove the duties at once. We cannot
stop short of that. The duties must be
repealed when it is shown that the
trusts are benefiting by them. This
should be done with the duty on steel
rails and tin plate. "
Minneapolis Journal , October 2 , 1899 :
"The senator is so eminently correct
in his position that tariff duties which
enable trusts or any other kind of
monopolies to raise prices above the
point at which they could otherwise be
maintained should be lowered in the
public interest , that we must range our
selves beside him on that proposition. "
New York Commercial Advertiser , in
the fall of 1899 :
"The time will soon come when public
opinion will no more tolerate protective
duties on trust products , for protection
should logically promote home compe
tition , while trust organization de
stroys it. "
Portland Oregonian , March , 1900 :
1 'Because the paper trust has put up
the price of printing paper to an uncon
scionable figure , Representative DeVries
of California has introduced a bill to
repeal the duty on printing paper and
the material of which it is made. It is
very well ; but there are about 40 more
big trusts that have help through pro
tective tariff , and should be dealt with
in the same way. "
Senator Plumb , of Kansas , opposing
the McKinley tariff , August 20 , 1891 :
"There are dozens of lines of manu
factures covered by the terms of this
bill which are controlled by trusts. *
* * I do not know of any better
way to start in at least to reduce the
exactions of trusts than to cut down the
shelter behind which trusts are created. "
Philadelphia Ledger , February , 1899 :
"What is imperatively required is a
revision of the tariff such as will modify
the rates , or , better still , place upon the
free list all foreign goods , whether raw
material or finished product , that are
the subject of domestic monopoly. "
OUR BIRTHRIGHT OF LIBERTY.
There is great danger of our crime
against the Filipinos being nationally
accepted as an unalterable fact. Despite
vigorous protests and outcries of horror
the war has been ruthlessly prosecuted.
A poor , untrained , half-equipped race ,
struggling for freedom , has been crushed
by a rich , all-powerful , grasping repub
lic. The victim , so far as concerns its
battle for independence , is probably at
its last gasp. We are a busy people.
Our tendency is to shrug the shoulder
and , in spirit , to say with Pope that
"Whatever is is light. " We are think
ing about the Porto Ricau mess and the
presidential campaign. Even Bishop
Potter , in whose patriotic insight so
many of us trusted , now says that Phil
ippine self-government is "only an
academic question. " We have gone out
of our way to strangle the spirit of
liberty on an island thousands of miles
from our shores , and we are beginning
to be proud of the achievement.
The purpose of this letter is to bring a
reminder that not much over a century
ago we were , ourselves , battling for that
freedom which is our proudest boast ;
that at that time the general opinion as
to the character of our people was in
some respects far lower than we are now
forced to entertain concerning the
Filipinos ; that predictions as to the im
possibility of successful American self-
government were then pronounced by
men far abler than those who now deny
such possibility to the Philippine people ;
and that the words uttered by the
patriots of that time on both sides of the
ocean cannot be re read , under the
present humiliating conditions , without
bringing a blush of burning shame to
the cheek of every liberty-loving
American.
Rurko's Speech.
As applicable to the conditions of our
time , how appropriate are the words of
Burke , written in 1777 :
"There never was a period in which
the steadfastness of some men has been
put to so sore a trial. Liberty is in
danger of boiug made unpopular to
Englishmen ( Americans ) . Contending
for an imaginary power wo begin to
acquire the spirit of domination , and to
lose the relish of honest equality. The
principles of our forefathers become
suspected to us , because we see them
animating the present opposition of our
children ( of the Filipinos ) . The faults
which grow ouc of the luxuriance of
freedom appear much more shocking to
us than the base vices which are gener
ated from the ronkness of servitude. It
is impossible that we should remain long
in a situation which breeds such notions
and dispositions without some great
alteration in the national character.
Those ingenuous and feeling minds who
are so fortified against all other things ,
and so unarmed to whatever approaches
in the shape of disgrace , finding these
principles , which they considered a sure
means of honor , to bo grown into disre
pute , will retire disheartened and dis
gusted. Those of more robust make ,
the bold , able , ambitious men , who pay
some of their court to power through
the people and substitute the voice of
transient opinion in the place of true
glory , will give into the general mode ;
and those superior understandings which
ought to correct vulgar prejudice will
confirm and aggravate its errors. Many
things have been long operating toward
a gradual change in our principles ; but
this American ( Philippine ) war has done
more in a very few years than all- the
other causes could have effected in a
century.
A generally high opinion has been ex
pressed as to the character and moral
qualities of the Filipinos. No one has
imputed to them dishonesty and cowar
dice. In contrast , what , based on a
close political relationship and frequent
personal intercourse , was English opin
ion coucerning Americans during the
revolutionary time ? Franklin writes as
follows :
"A little before I left London in 1775 ,
being at the House of Lords , when a
debate in which Lord Carnden was to
speak , and who indeed spoke admirably
on American affairs , I was much dis
gusted from the ministerial side , by
many base reflections on American
courage , religion , understanding , etc. ,
in which wo were treated with the
utmost contempt , as the lowest of man
kind , and almost of a different species
from the English of Britain ; but , par
ticularly the American honesty was
abused by some of the lords , who as
serted that we were all knaves and
wanted only by this dispute to avoid
paying our debts.
On February 2 , 1775 , Colonel Grant
stated , in the house of commons , that
"he had served in America ; knew the