Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-10-04

since he has justly gained a reputation
for devotion to principle akin to that
won by Lincoln, Mr.. Bryan would not
refrain from enforcing his convictions
upon the country in regard to financial
matters. That means that if he were
elected we would have a President, with
all Presidents influence in the Senate
and in the House. determined by every
means within his power to throw the
exchanges of the country into chaos.
''An earnest, honest man in the wrong,
saws Mr.. Carnegie, lis more to be dread
ed than the average politician who
changes with the wind.
Mr. Carnegie criticises severely the
part of the Democratic platform which
favors an income tax. Mr.. Gladstone
declared that this tax tends to make
nation of liars. and Mr. Carnegie is sur
prised that any true American could ia
vor the miserable espionage required to
enforce it. Nothing could be more un-
American.
Mr.. Carnegie believes in collecting the
revenues as far as possible from the
rich, and to that end he favors heavy
death taxes upon estates in lieu of an
income tax Costly foreign wines, to-
bacco. laces, silks, linens, broadcloth
and the thousand and one luxuries we
import should be made topay excessive
ly high duties. says Mr.. Carnegie.
Mr.. Carnegie expresses lack OF CON
fidence in Mr.. Bryan's understanding OF
affairs. Mr.. Bryan is typical Amerl-
can. but he seems not to have studied
down to the roots of things, and he has
yet to learn how often the theoretical
and practical effects of legislation diff
fer Had he duly considered the effect
of dragging the judicial decisions of our
final court of appeal into the arena OF
party politics Mr.. Carnegie feels sure
that Mr.. Bryan would not have attacked
the Supreme Court Mr. Carnegie says
on this point:
The theory upon which our Constiiu-
ton rests is that over and above the
legislative and executive, which con-
stitute the political department, there
sits the final and supreme arbiter, the
judicial, in the calm atmosphere OF law,
removed from the passion and violence
of party, unmoved by political change,
settling all disputes finally, and thus
decreeing and enforcing peace among
all persons aud all parties, and even
among the States themselves In this
tribunal rests our assurance of continu-
ed peaceful development, The party
which drags its judgments into politi-
cal campaign should be defeated. We
should reverence above all other institu-
tions the Supreme Court; it is so dis
tinctively American, and is perhaps the
most precious, as it is the most original,
of all the features of that perfect work,
the American Constitution. The elevation
of the judicial above the political is al
most unknown, and is wholly so among
English-speaking people, save with us;
with all others the political parliament
is supreme There is thus nothing
more American than the Supreme Court.
Summing up, Mr.. Carnegie finds in
Mr. Bryan's success these dangers:
political denunciation of judicial de
cisions, second, silver as our standard,
since an inferior drives out a superior
currency, which means defrauding
labor and robbing the people of one
half of their savings; third, tax upon
the income of citizens, inaugurating an
un-American system of espionage de-
moralizing to the national character.
Against Mr.. Mckinley the argument
is the threatened continuance of the
costly attempt to suppress the aspira-
tions of the Philippines for Independence
But even if that attempt were carried
out Mr. Carnegie does not regard it as
SO serious disaster for the country as
the consequences which would follow
from Mr.. Bryan's elevation TO the Presi-
dency. Mr. Carnegie concludes:
The party of protection of American
industries, of internal Improvements,
the party of the Union. Of emancipa-
ton, and of the high est standard Of
value for the money of the people, the
party of Cuba free and Independent, is
not to be deserted for IFS failure so far
to perform this same sacred duty to the
Philippines. On the contrary, the party
which had been for a generation the
guardian of our country, and whose
wise legation has secured its present
commanding position, may wisely be
trusted to find the lost path and return
to it, thus retrieving its error