The citizen., 1902-08-22
PROTECTION DOOMED TO DE-
FEAT.

In lS90a Republican Congress passed
the Mckinley tariff bill. This bill was
a protection measure designed, it was
claimed to protect American labor.
This may have been the object of its
patron, but the subsequent history of
the country during the period proved
beyond the shadow of doubt that its
of our country to fix their own prices
on their products. The American pee
pie were quick to see this, but John
Sherman saw it sooner than they. He
knew that there would be abuses of the
protective principle-knew that it
would be the making of inordinately
rich manufacturers at the expense of
the American people, and that that
was a condition that would inevitably
lead TO trusts and combinations in re-
slraint of trade. 1t was to anticipate
this evil, and to offset it that he offered
and succeeded in having passed, the
Sherman Antitrust law. Whatever
may have been Senator Sheiman's Oh
ject in father ng that bill, time has
proven that it served no other purpose
than to d ceive the people into believ-
ing that the Republican party was op-
posed to usts and monopolies, and to
stand as an ornament on the statute
books 1t is Il law that is more honored
in its breach than in its k.eping. 1t is
Republican antitrust cannon that
has been spiked and put out of COM
mission by rich contributions from the
very interests that it Was aimed at. to
the campaign Golfers of the Republican
party Its utter uselessuess has been
conceded hy the Republicans them
selves. who are now coming out and
favoring more stringent legislation for
the control of the trusts. The peope
aIe ut last awaking to the fact that the
Dingley bill of 1897 is more ola monop-
oly-sheltering, trust-fostering measure
than the Mckinley bill. Realizing
that fact, they are insisting, in unmis-
taxable language that there shall be a
revision of the tariff, and that Il e
trusts must go. 1t is to ease this senti-
ment, and lead the people away from
their iusistence that the tariff must be
revised that the prt sent cry of the
leaders against the trusts is raised
Every Republican politician, from the
President down, is insisting that the
trusts must be curbed. But their cry
is like unto crocodile tears. Let them
first tell us why, with a Republican
President, Republican Senate, and a
Republican House, in short with en-
tire control of the governmental ma
chine since 1886, they have not passed
the legislation they now, on the eve of
political campaign against trusts,
pretend to regard as so necessary. Let
them tell the American people why
they waited until two days after the
adjournment of Congress to bring the
matter to the attention of the py yople.
Let them explain why they have not
made single bona fide effort to enforce
the laws that are on the statute DO ks.
Let them explain the fact that every
Attorney General since 1896 has come
from the ranks of the trusts lawyers.
Let them inform the American voters
why the largest contributions to the
Republican campaign fund come from
the treasures oothe trusts. Let them
give the people light on these questions,
and then and not until then can they
hope to have the confidence of the peo-
Pile The Dingley bill has made the
necessity for legislation just as the Nc
Kinley bill made the necessity for the
Sherman Antitrust law. What
stronger argument could be desired of
the Importance of the removal of the
iniquitous trust-breeding schedules of
that bill?"