The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-20

conditions which have permitted the
growth Of trusts; that have annihilated
all forms of business competition; condi-
section of the country at the expense Of
all the Others. It. is the same condition
which forced the executive of the nation
to completely modify his position and de-
clare that present commercial conditions
must not be disturbed, and all because he
is the representative Of a great party and
must speak for it rather than for the
whole people. In the west and northwest
the honest sentiment of the people is de
rectly opposed to our present system of
high tariff duties. Relief was hoped for,
but the promises are mot to be kept.
Viewed from any standpoint there is no
hope for relief from the party now in
power. The minority party has stood for
reduced tariff for many years. With the
tariff as an issue, the party won two presi-
dental electors. Carried away by i'm
pulse, and following strange gods, the
party went down to hopeless defeat.
The democratic party must get back
to its moorings. 1t must again espouse
the doctrine of q lower tariff; the only
remedy for the trust evil, and it will
again secure the confidence of the people
There is no hope from republican sources.
The reason for this is plain. The con-
trolling power in the party is the ag
gregated wealth of the east They raise
the cry that commercial conditions must
not be disturbed; business must not be
unsettled. The small merchant relying on
an agricultural constituency, becomes
alarmed. He does business of 100000
or perhaps $4,000 year, he sees failure
ahead, Forgetting that unsettled condi-
tions in the east cannot influence the
farmer in the purchase of his actual ne
cessities. The farmer, too, is alarmed,
he too sees the impending storm and he
is afraid that his business conditions are
to be disturbed, forgetting as well that
wheat is high when he has no wheat;
that the matter OF crops is not controlled
by political utterances, and that prices
are regulated by the inevitable law of sup
ply and demand. The issue of the future
is not imperialism; it is not question of
money; it is not question Of new isms,
of protective tariff. Shall the policy
which has enabled Andrew Carnegie to
grow "rich beyond the dreams of avarice"
be continued? Shall a policy which takes
all from agriculture and gives nothing in
return be perpetuated? Shall the policy
which has created, fostered and sustained
the trust be still maintained? At heart
the west is against the policy. Campaign
sophistry may de1ude individuals and
blind the partizan, but in the days which
follow the election he knows that his
partizan prejudice have been his own I'M
doing and that the campaign promises are
not to be kept.
The motto Of the republican party has
been progress but it has been progress
for the few instead Of the millions. Blaine
said the Mckinley bill would not create q
market for a barrel Of American pork or
bushel of American wheat. ingalls, said
the tariff policy of his party was making
Whether this be absolutely true or not,
one thing is certainly manifest. The west
is paying tribute to the east, receiving
nothing in return; the consumer is taxed
for his food, clothes and tools. The farmer
and laborer is taxed for the home which
shelters him and until it has become bur
densome. They demand relief, but the
few in control refuse to hear the prayer
Of the people.
The people want change and they will
never get it, until there is a change in
political affairs. The democratic party
has believed in equal rights under the
tariff laws as we'll as ots..v. ---ngs. The
only hope for the relief demanded is from
that party and not from the party which
insists that the comRercial conditions
must not be; disturbed; an insistence that
is really laughable in light Of the voice
of the people at the election Of 1901.
j. A. Johnson. St. Peter Herald
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