The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-11-02

You have before you four years of
my work, compare it with Mr.. Bryan's
dire prophecies = On the other
hand we find Mr.. Bryan with all the
cunning and versatility of the sue
cessful ICON man." dressing our al
legged governmental and economic
weakness in all the gaudy colors and
fantastic designs scheming mind can
create, appealing to class, race, reli-
gion or anything else for votes This
in itself convinces me he is not safe
man to entrust with the presidency.
We hear much about government
without the consent of the governed. -
I had an object lesson in this some
years ago in Senator Jones state, Ar
kansas l devoted whole day to OBJ
servation at five voting precincts in
that state, purely for my own inform
alton. I saw the black man hiding
under sidewalks, in alleyways, behind
buildings, near the polling places, with
look out watching for time when
the self Reconstructed guards were away
from the polling places, that he might
cast his vote for the candidate of his
choice. What l saw that day con-
WINGED me that there is still in this
country government with the
forced consent of the governed -
have been member Of lab or or
CARNATIONS for thirty years Much of
my time. money and what little ability
have have given to what have always
considered the best interests of organ
lied labor. have been selfish enough
to want for labor benefits today, and
don't believe in destroying the benefits
received today by experiments or
speculation as to what may come to-
morrow. We all know that anything
that disturbs business hits labor first.
1t is unfair to assume that all men
that have capital are enemies of labor.
A large percentage of the successful
business men came from the ranks of
organized labor.
There is no question but that there
has been combinations of capital for
purposes that bear heavily upon the
laboring man. But to say that all
combinations of capital are alike is
not only unfair, but untrue. Mr..
Bryan characterizes all these combina-
tions as trusts, and submits the in
quiry, ''Who is to tell the bad Indians
from the goodF' Inasmuch as all
these trusts passed through their expert
mental era during Democratic ma
tional administration, and large per
centage of the trusts doing business
now were organized during those four
years, it is but fair to answer Mr..
Bryan that we are quite sure he and
his followers are not the proper per-
sons to select the "good Indians"
from the bad. Mr. Bryan says he will
kill the trusts by taking the tariff off
of their products. Inasmuch as he
has failed so far to distinguish be-
tween good and bad combinations of
capital we must conclude that the
ghost of eight years ago-'stariff for
revenue only"-is being masqueraded
in new gown. And if he succeeds
in winning the election we may ex-
pect the tariff on most of our manu-
featured goods to be taken off. Are
we prepared to return to the condi
tions from 1898 to 1862
If for no other reasons am going to
vote the Republican ticket the coming
election. The difference in the two
planks concerning labor in the Demo
cratic and Republican platforms are
ample. The Democratic plank says:
'In the interests of American labor
and the uplifting of the working
man, as the cornerstone of prosperity
of our country, we recommend that
congress create department of labor
in charge of a secretary, with seat
in the cabinet, believing that the e1e
walton of the American labor will
bring with it increased protection and
increased prosperity to the country at
home and to our commerce abroad
Briefly the Democratic party be-
lieves that "the elevation of the
American laborer, ETC. - can best be
accomplished by the elevation" of
one man to job.
The Republican plank reads:
"We renew our faith in the policy
of protection to American labor. In
that policy our industries have been
established, diversified and maintain
ed. By protecting the home market,
competition has been stimulated and
production cheapened. Opportunity
to the inventive genius of our people
has been secured and wages in every
department of labor, maintained at
higher rates-higher now than ever
before always distinguishing our
working people in the better conditions
of life from those of any competing
country
1t would seem to me that any work
ingman reading these planks carefully
would conclude, as have, to vote the
Republican ticket.
MARK L. CRAWFORD.
Chicago, Oct. %, 1900.