The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-09-30
Governor CulnnlinS
Opens the Campaign
Sounds Keynote Of Iowa Republicanisln
Before an Immense Gathering
at Des Moines.


"of the comon people, the great body
"of the laboring men, must stand as
"one against combination, centraliZa-
"tion, and the trust power OF, the pres
"ent day."
Again he said:
THE protective policy is selfish, and
''if this law is to remain upon our
Statute books, you should be selfish
"and vote for those men and the policy
that will aid YOU
If these criticisms do not mean abso-
lutte hostility to the protective policy,
it would be difficult to assign them
any meaning whatsoever, and if the
democrats, as represented by their
leader. are opposed to duties levied for
protection, and if their platform ex-
presses accurately their views, it fol-
lows inevitably that they favor duties
levied upon the free trade plan.
! have endeavored to make the issue
presented by these platforms sharp,
| because l want every voter in the
State of Iowa to know precisely what
the democratic party proposes. l do
| not intend to allow my distinguished
| friend, their candidate for Governor,
to escape the responsibility for the pc.
sition his party has chosen. 1t is al
ready apparent, as shall presently es-
| tablish, that he is energetically en-
deavoring to obscure the real issue for
which he stands. 1t is altogether vain
for him to test the capacity of his vo-
cal chords in attempting to show that
there are certain duties that are too
high, and that there are certain So
called raw materials which ought not
to bear any duty at all. The inquiry is,
and he must face it: Shall our i'm
port duties, whatever they are, be laid
under the policy of protection or shall
they be laid under the policy of
free trade? AS republican he
might be heard to say that the
duty on steel rails is too high.
AS democrat he must say that there
should be no duty at all. am perfect
ly willing to see every man in Iowa
who in his heart believes in free trade,
vote the democratic ticket; but l am
unwilling to see any man who in his
heart believes in the policy of protec-
ton, vote the democratic ticket be-
cause he believes that some duties are
too high. Every such man belongs in
the republican party, and he ought to
take his place there bravely and con-
scientiously, and lend his influence to
see that tariff duties are maintained at
their proper point, neither too high
nor too low. Let us do away with all
cant, strip the situation of all preju-
dice, and meet the question as honest
| patriotic men ought to meet all the
grave concerns of life. If you are
| protectionist; that is if you believe
that fair and reasonable duties should
be levied to protect those home indus
| tries which need protection, you are
a republican, and you will be false to
your highest dut,- if you do not give
/ republicanism all the strength of your
voice and your vote, even though you
believe that the system needs read
justment. If you are a free trader if
are a follower of the democratic plat
| form, if you are a supporter of the
democratic candidate, you cannot be-
! lleye in revision or readjustment of
the tariff, you must believe in
a revolution of the tariff and the
| substitution of a system that has
no protective feature in it, and which
opens every market in your country,
| not only to the unchecked, but the in
vited. invasion of every nation in the
world. l have done with definitions,
and proceed with happy confidence to
the examination of these opposing
policies
l have heard it said, sometimes by
republicans, that protection is prac-
tically sound but theoretically I'M
sound. l make. no such concession.
l deny and repudiate the sentiment
whether it comes from friend or foe.
Protection is as sound theoretically as
1T is efficient practically. The chief
purpose of government is to prevent
natural consequences and to restrain
the operation of natural law. Free
commerce is no more sacred than free
booting or free killing Tariff laws
are the weapons with which Nations
fight for commercial supremacy. The
Government is under as high obliga-
tion to prevent the capture of our mar
kets by foreign goods, if thereby the
general welfare will be promoted, as it
is to prevent the capture of our flag
by foreign army. 1t has the same
duty to protect it's people against I'M
limited importations,. If thereby we are
enabled to produce for ourselves, as
it has to prevent the general issue of
bank notes in order that the integrity
OF our currency may be preserved. To
say that we cannot divert the natural
channels of trade to our advantage, is
to impeach our intelligence. l cannot
dwell however, upon this interesting,
although abstract, phase of the propo-
sition. l reiterate that tariff laws,
founded upon the policy of protecting
home markets, are not only of the
highest efficiency, but of the strictest
national morality, and I have little
patience with the theorist who bases
his objection to such laws upon the
proposition that they contravene ma
tural right.
With what proof does our experience
supply the debate? Examine with me-
if you will monument, the general
condition of the Republic when protec-
ton was first proposed. The country
was young in years, small in popula-
ton and almost wholly undeveloped.
Nature had bestowed her gifts with
a prodigality not equalled in any like
territory in the world. To utilize these
treasures and l.epare them for the
use of man, required infinite labor and
vast capital large population and a
complete Investigation of industry.