Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-11-21
DECEIVING THE VOTERS
Misrepresentation of Leading
Republican Politicians.
WHAT THE DEMOCRATS BELIEVE.

WHAT THE UEMUURATS BELLE q,
Their Position on the Tariff and the
Punishment They Would Deal Out
to the MOnopoIists-The Republic
ans Fear the People and Therefore
Try to Fool Them.
1t is really wonderful that any voters
of ordinary intelligence can be fooled
by the rubbish that cabinet office, and
Republican senators, not to say any
thing of the small fry spellbinders, de-
claim upon the stump. In Ohio we
hear of Senator Hanna predicting dis
aster to the country if he is not re-
elected and declaring that to "stand
pat is the acme of political foresight.
Then Senator Allison is reported to
have said in what the Republican or
gans announce as "a clear and forcible
exposition of the trust question" that
the tariff had nothing whatever to do
with the trusts; that it in no way ben
Gifted the steel trust, the meat trust or
any other rust. Those are not the sem
ator's words, but the substance of his
remarks. Yet only a year ago the Re-
publican platform of Iowa declared
that the tariff gave shelter to the
trusts, and Senator Dolliver defended
that position in a speech in the United
States senate in reply to Senator Al
drich, who, like Hanna, is in favor of
letting well enough alone. TO cap the
climax, Mr.. Shaw, secretary of the
treasury, who was congratulated by
President Roosevelt ION being able to
stump Ohio for Senator Hanna, delib-
erately told the people of that state
that:
"The plan proposed by the minority
party is to throw our commercial doors
wide open for the free Importation Of
the products of foreign labor. Mem
bers of that party insist that if we do
this we will of necessity have unre-
stricted access to the markets of other
countries. They urge that if we will
but allow Europe to clothe us. furnish
our glass, our Carthenware, our hard
ware, our steel rails, our structural
iron and everything else we produce
we will thus secure a most wonderful
export trade
Now, Secretary Shaw must have
known he was romancing and enor-
mOusly eXa operating when he made
that statement. The last national Dem
ocratic platform declared, Tariff laws
should be amended by putting the prod
ucts of the trusts on the free list to
prevent monopoly under the plea of
protection" The platform of 1896 de-
clared
I'VE hold that tariff duties should be
levied for purposes of revenue, such
duties to be so adjusted as to operate
equally throughout the country and
not discriminate between class or sec
ton, and that taxation should be linn
tied by the needs of the government,
honestly and economically admins
tered
The platform of 1892 declared:
I'VE denounce Republican protection
as a fraud, robbery of the great ma
jority of the American people for the
benefit of the few. We declare it to be
a fundamental principle of the Demo-
cratic party that the federal govern
ment has no constitutional power to
impose and collect tariff duties except
for the purpose of revenue only, and
we demand that the collection of such
taxes shall be limited to the necessities
Of the government when honestly and
administered"
Are any Of these declarations of the
Democratic party anywhere approach
ing "a plan to throw our commercial
doors wide open for the free importa-
ton of the products of foreign labOr?"
Can Secretary Shaw quote any Demo
cratic speaker or newspaper in speak
ing of the tariff saying anything that
can be contorted into words he has put
into Democratic mouths?
Is it so necessary to deceive the Re-
publican voters about what the Demo
Gratis stand for to prevent them from
voting against their own party or tax
ing to the woods" rather than indorse
the corruption and frauds with which
their own party is tainted?
Secretary Shaw knows and every one
who reads understands the position of
the Democratic party on the tariff and
trust issues. Democrats believe in a
tariff for revenue to yield enough to
supply all the wants of the govern
nent, honestly administered. They
llso believe that it is wrong to tax peO-
Die for millions of dollars surplus to be
oaned to favored banks, like Secretary
Shaw has been doing. They also be-
ieve and will probably declare in the
next national platform that the tariff
should be revised so that those trust
that the trusts sell abroad
cheaper than they sell the same prod
lets to our own people should be placed
Ipon the free list.
That is the shoe that pinches Secre-
airy Shaw. He sees in the Democratic
position the danger to his friends, the
rusts and corporations, that are mo-
lopolists. He fears the people if they
Know the truth and therefore tries to
blind their eyes to the true issues be-
ween the parties.