Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-06-27

Trust Evil Has, Increased the Cost
of Livins-The Truth Suppressed.
There is no escape for the Republic
ans from the stand pat position on the
tariff taken by them. They are com
PEELED by events to contend that pros
| perity is widespread. But Secretary
Shaw in opening the Republican cam
| paign In Delaware under the auspices
| OF the Wilmington Roosevelt Working
mems club endeayored to make labor
see that it's welfare depended upon
tho success of the Republicans, whose
policy had produced high prices and. as
he claimed, correspondingly high wages
and steady employment. Secretary
| Shaw is an adept at telling half truths
and then building thereon an argument
to prove his contention. He said TO the
| Wilmington workingmen, Universal
| and constant employment at reasona-
| BILE wages, even in the face of high
| priced living expenses, IS preferable to
employment to only a portion of our
people, though at the same wages and
AZ much reduced living expenses"
Are the workingmen OF Wilmington
blessed with universal constant EN-
pIoyment." as Secretary Shaw would
have them believe? The reports Of the
condition of the shipbuilding industry,
car shops. wooden mills and some other
industries which are carried on at VIII
mingtOn do not by any means support
the Shaw theory that employment is
universal and constant" but rather
that n great many men are idle and
number working on short time. That
this Is the condition of the manufac-
turing ana railroad centers nearly ev-
erywhere is unfortunately true, and no
one should know il better than Secre-
tary Shaw. who has all the government
sources of information at his com
mand
But instead OF telling the whole truth
and nothing but the truth about the
conditions that prevail for the Amerl-
can workinGman under the high priced
trust era that Republican policies have
produced Secretary Shaw promises to
furnish well authenticated data from
the highest possible authority in the
United States showing that the aver
age wages have increased in larger
proportion than the average articles
Of ordinary household consumption"
II IL tOlIiilDu report llldl GNctTcldIS
COrtelyou is having prepared in the
bureau Of statistics the data that Sec
rotary Shaw gives notice of appearing
in fact, that the matler for the Re
publican campaign book Is being pre-
pared at government expense and TO
make n showing favorable + the adj
vantagcs of high tariff ana high trust
prices.
Government statistics are notorious
~ unreliable when manufactured TO
suit partisan purposes. and. although
the expert Statisticians OF the depart
ment of commerce and labor may
prove that all OF us are living in lux
ury. every one can judge Of his own |
condition better than partisan figures |
can prove 1t to him.
There will doubtless be Il great num- |
Der of Roosevelt wOrkingmen's clubs |
organized by the Republican politicians |
all over the country, but it will keep |
Secretary Shaw and other Republican |
spellbinders busy explaining how, I'M |
der present high trust prices, those Of |
us with restricted incomes can make |
expenses come within what Is receiv |
ell. The true test Of prosperity is a |
comfortable living and the amount re- |
manning after all the bills are paid for |
necessities that can he expended for |
luxuries or that can be saved for the |
proverbial rainy day. Each family can
decide If they are satisfied with their |
present condition more certainly than
expert figures or the special pleading
Of Secretary Shaw can determine for
them.
If the voter concludes that he is pros
porous and is willing to continue to
pay high prices and his own share OF
the enormous profits that the high tar
iff allows the trusts TO plumber him OF
he should vote the Republican ticket
and thus support the stand pat policy
Of no change in present conditions, but
II he Is not satisfied, If he feels that the
wages he is receiving do not allow him
and his family to live in comfort be-
cause the cost of living has advanced
more than wages have increased, then
logically it is against his interest to
stand pat. and a change is necessary. /
As the Republicans declare against
any change. the voter must turn to the
party whose declarations and tradition
al policy are to reduce the tariff that
trusts cannot find shelter under II.
Such a change in the fiscal policy Of
the United States is advocated by the
Democrats. not q radical change that
would upset business and injure hon
est manufacturers. but the tariff so re-
vised that the trusts that sell cheaper
abroad than at home would be pre-
vented from doing so any longer. That
Is the Iowa idea" Of large faction OF
Republicans Of Secretary Shaw's own
state, but he and his partisans were
alSe through the enormous power Of
patronage to defeat the revisionists
and are now intent on cooking the sta
tistics TO prove their contention. The I
workin-man OF the east must there
fore. like the farmer of the west. de-
cISa ha,vraen the two great partfes as