Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-04-28

storm center ineIowa, and the two fac
tons are becoming wider and wider
apart en- this important issue. The
Iowa Idea" leaders, of whom Cover
nor Cummins is the chief, have led the
Republican voters of Iowa to believe
that the exactions of the trusts will
be cured by the Republican party and
appealed to them last fall TO stand
firm, once more, for the G. Q. 2. So
intense I'D the feeling become, and so
strong was the following of Governor
Cummins, that ii forced Speaker Hen
derson to decline to run again as Il can
didate. The Congressional delegation
from Iowa were also divided on this
issue, some for revision of the tariff
and some for continuing protection to
the trusts. The fight between these
Republican factions of Iowa would
not he of much Importance If President
Roosevelt had not entered into the
fight. Originally he was an ardent
free trader and a member of the Free
Trade Club of New York and was
elected to the Legislature by a COM
bination of Democrats and reform Re
publicans but finding this road to po-
litical preferment thorny one, on
Aug. 20, 1885. he. wrote letter to
Poultney Bigelow resigning from the
Free Trade Club This letter would be
an extraordinary one II written by
another than Mr. Roosevelt for its
1,o1 Ia
tious young man in politics must stihe
his principles to achieve success. The
letter concludes with this Rooseveltian
sentiment: Il am Republican first:
free trader afterwart.v This is not the
only time that President Roosevelt has
disappointed his friends by reversing
himself for the sake of political eX
pediency. His Logansport speech last
fall was distinct recognition of the
desirability and necessity of the read
justment of the present tariff. His
words were:
Continual sweeping changes in such
a tariff touching so intimately the
commercial interests of the nation
which stands as one of the two or three
greatest in the whole Industrial world,
cannot but be disastrous Yet. ON the
other hand, where the industrial needs
of the nation shift as rapidly as they
do with us, it is a matter of prime iEl-
portance that we should be able to re-
as possible, ano with as little friction
as possible to these needs"
Having thus led Governor Cummins
and the other Republican reformers to
believe that he would stand with them
to Tevise the tariff so that it would not
foster trusts, he now leaves them in
the lurch by declaring that there is
no connection between the eXactions
of the trusts and the protection the
tariff gives them in charging higher
price to the people of the United States
for their products than they do the
foreigners.
What led to this change of heart on
the part of the President? The answer
is given in the Washington Star of
April 8 as IAN interesting bit of Cos
SIP The Star is known as the admin
istration organ at the capital of the ma
ton, so that what it says about Presi-
dent Roosevelt doubtless tells the true
story of his change of front. 1t relates
that while the President was prepar-
ing for his Western trip he was Wis
tied by number Of Republican poll
ticianS and continues thus:
prominent in the coterie were mem
bers of the American Protective Tariff
League, the organization which makes
business of promoting high tariff
sentiment. These men. it is said, told
the President frankly that if he on his
Western trip doomed tariff revision
the high tariff Republicans would sci
TO work to defeat his denomination"
President Rooseyelt's ambition to
succeed himself is therefore response
BILE for throwing overheard the Iowa
Idea and allowing the American Pro-
tective Tariff League TO dictate his pol
icy The voters, who will next year
decide upon protection or tariff reform,
and who are now bearing the full
weight of the high prices the trusts are
demanding. seem to be of but little con-
sequence in the decision of President
Roosevelt. to throw the great influence
of his ffice in favor of their despoilers.
Yet tnis is characteristic of the Ham
iltonian tendencies of the Presidents
utterances in the books he has written
His sympathy has never been with the
farmer. the mechanic and the working
man, those toilers who make the
wealth of the nation. for in his Ranch
Life md Hunting Trail" on page 10.
comparing the cowboy with the classes
above mentioned, he says: "They (the
cowboys are much better fellows and
pleasanter companions than small
farmers or agricultural laborers; nor
are the mechanics and workmen of a
great city to be mentioned in the same
BREATH
This must be taken as Mr. Roose-
velt's deliberate opinion of the me
ch2nics and workmen of a great city
and small farmers or agricultural la
borers" 1t is the same opinion enter
tanned of the same classes by the warm
Federalists who aped the English arts
tocracy in the early days Of the re-
public. 1t was then called buddhism, !
and ELECTED a pamphlet written By
Duane in 1907, in which those who.
like Aaron Burr and his co-conspira-
tors. held themselves above the dull
pursuits OF civil life" were held up TO
universal contempt. All that Duane
said of Burr might with equal propri
ETY. be said of Roosevelt, The latter is
the disciple of Burr. His philosophy Is
that of Burr. His conduct is that of
Burr. and his aspirations. like BuT's,
are all above the duh. pursuits of civil
life" He longs for military despotism;
he hates the Democratic principle of
equality; he despises small farmers
and the mechanics and workmen'' of
the country
If Governor Cummins and the other
Republican reformers are really intent
81, x,,-~,Y.. %br.-.es