The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-27

/ be paid to the necessity of meeting
this difference between the standards of
living for wage-workers here and in
other countries; and therefore on this
point their antagoniSm to our position
is fundamental Here again we ask
that their promises and ours be judged
by what has been done in the immedi-
ate past. We ask that sober and sem
sible men compare the workings of the
present tariff law, and the conditions
which obtain under it, with the work
ings of the preceding tariff law of 1894
and the conditions which that tariff of
1894 helped to bring about.
We believe in reciprocity with
foreign nations on the terms outlined
in President McKinley's last speech,
which urged the extension of our for
eign markets by reciprocal agreements
whenever they could be made without
injury to American industry and labor.
1t is a singular fact that the only
great reciprocity treaty recently adopt
ed-that with Cuba-waS finally OPP
posed almost alone by the represen-
tatives of the very party which now
states that it favors reciprocity. And
here again we ask that the worth
of our words be judged by comparing
their deeds with ours. On this Cuban
reciprocity treaty there were at the
outset grave differences of opinion
among ourselves; and the notable
thing in the negotiation and ratifica-
ton of the treaty, and in the legis-
lation which carried it into effect, was
the n1Snly pTacIlcaI manner winch
without sacrifice of principle, these
differences of opinion were reconciled.
There was no rupture of a great party,
but an excellent practical outcome, the
result of the harmonious cooperation
of two successive presidents and two
successive congresses. This is an illus
tratfon of the governing capacity
which entities us to the confidence of
the people not only in our purposes.
but in our practical ability to achieve
those purposes. Judging by the his
tory of the last twelve years, down to
this very month, is there justification
cumstances and with similar differ
ences of opinion, our opponents would
have achieved any practical result?
Justice to All
eve have already shown in actual
fact that our policy is to do fair and
equal justice to all men, paying no
heed to whether man is rich or poor;
paying no heed to his race, his creed,
or his birthplace.
I'VE recognize the orga MIA ton of
capital and the organization of labor
as natural outcomes of our industrial
system. Each kind of organization is
to be favored so long as it acts in d
spirit of justice and of regard for the
rights of others. Each is to be granted
the full protection of the law, and each
in turn is to be held to strict obed-
fence to the law; for no man is above
it and no man below it. The humblest
is to nave his rights safe
guarded as scrupulously as those of the
strongest organization, for each is to
receive justice, no more and no less.
The problems with which we have to
deal in our modern industrial and social
life are manifold; but the spirit in
which it is necessary to approach their
solution is simply the spirit of honesty,
of courage, and of common sense
I'm inaugurating the great work of
irrigation in the west the administra-
ton has been enabled by congress to
take one of the longest strides ever
taken under our government toward
our vast national domain for
the settler, the actual home maker.
Ever since this continent was dis
covered the need of an Isthmian canal
to connect the Pacific and the Atlantic
has been recognized; and ever since the
birth of our nation such canal has
been planned. At last the dream mas
become a reality. The Isthmian canal
is now being built by the government
of the United States. We conducted