The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-11-21
Republicans Fear They Will
Lose the West.
GREAT BLUNDER NEAR
Warning of the Journal Seconded by
Good Authority.
PRESIDENT SURPRISINGLY TIMID
Western Republicans See Their Par
ty Going the Road That Leads
to Destruction.
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal
Chicago, Nov. 21.-Walter Wellman, in
a Washington special to the Record
Herald, says: Is the republican party to
lose the west? This is the question which
many members Of congress from that sec
tion are anxiously asking. They fear that
their party Is about to make one of the
greatest blunders in it's history. They re-
port that the people of their districts are
almost unanimous for tariff reform. The
demand for reciprocity and for a reduction
of the tariffs on trust-controlled goods is
very strong in the west among people of
all parties. Representatives from that re-
gton say they are afraid they cannot be re-
elected unless something be done Yet
they discover Immediately upon their ar
rival in the national capital that nothing
is to be done. They find the high protec-
tiontsts in absolute control of the party,
in command of both houses of congress.
frequently made in these dispatches that
tariff revision is impossible at this time
and that reciprocity is only a dream, were
true statements of the situation. To-day
they learned that the manufacturers reel
proc1ty convention has been captured by
the high protectionists and that what was
meant to be policy Of unselfishness, or
at least Of an enlightened selfishness, has
been transformed into another scheme to
perpetuate the sacred high tariff.
Roosevelt, Too.
Worst of all, western republicans are
discovering that President Roosevelt, with
all his courage, has been subjected to so
much pressure by the traditional tartf1tes
that he fears to go any farther in his rec
ommendatiOn of reform than to urge gen.
eral principles which congress will read
and talk about and do nothing
Republicans from the west perceive
that there is scarcely a possibility that
congress will respond in any way to the
public opinion of their people,
O......... Observation-Disclosures
They now understand that the /:
republican party is assuming 4:
Bourbon attitude in reference to (:
the tariff, and is going the road {:
that leads to destruction.
O,'-.---'.
They appreciate now the wisdom of the
late president, who foresaw this danger,
who feared the party would stand in it's
old position until public opinion had
swept on past it and would sooner or
later be thrown out of power for it's
pains. To obviate this danger was the
latest effort of that statesman, and had
he lived he would now be devoting his
great skill and influence as a leader and
as manipulator Of men to the achieve
ment of his task.
Tariff Reforms Best Friend.
1t reads almost like paradox to say
that in the death of William Mckinley
the cause Of tariff reform lost one of its
best friends, but such is the truth of cur
rent history.
Western representatives say that per-
sistence in the policy of letting well
enough alone" of maintaining the need
lessly high tariff rates, of shifting the
issue to internal revenue reduction in
order to save the customs tariff from re-
vision, Of permitting greed and selfish
ness to rule and ruin the wholesome effort
to extend reciprocity will inevitably raise
up more free traders among the American
people than all the preachments of the
dreamers and theorists have been able
to do in quarter of a century.