The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-07-28

n,n,,can or a Democratic administra-
lion This Is the efficient way to turn
the rascaIs out and TO keep them out
ana n has the merit of sincerity. More
over. the betrayals OF trust In che last
seven years have been insignificant in
number when compared with the extent
of the public service. Never has the
administration of the Government been
an cleaner and higher level; never
has the public work of the nation been
done more honestly and efficiently.
Policies working Well.
Assuredly IL Is unwise to change the
no,,oiaa which have worked so well
and which are now working so we'll.
Prosperity has come at home. The ma
tional honor and interest have been
uuheId abroad. We have placed the
finances of the nation upon sound
gold basis. We have done this with
the aid of many who were formerly
our opponents. but who would neither
openly support nor silently acquiesce
in the heresy of unsound finance; and
we have done it against the convinced
and violent opposition of the mass of
our present opponents who still refuse
to recant the unsound opinions which
for the moment they think 1t inexpe-
dent to assert. We know what we
mean when we speak of an honest and
stable currency. We mean the same
thing from year to year. We do not
have to avoid definite and conclusive
committal on the most important Issue
which has recently been before the
people, and which may at any time in
the near future be before them agaiIh
Upon the principles which underlie TINS
issue the convictions of half of our
number do not clash with those of the
other half So long as the Republican
Party Is in power the gold standard Is
settled not as a matter of temporary
political expediency, not because Of
shifting conditions in the production
of gold in certain mining centers, but
in accordance with what We regard as
the fundamental principles of national
morality and wisdom.
Under the financial legislation which
we have enacted there is now ample
circulation for every business need; and
every dollar Of this circulation is worth
a dollar in gold. We have reduced the
interest bearing debt and still larger
measure the interest on that debt. All
of the war taxes imposed during the
Spanish war have been removed with
view to relieve the people and to pre-
vent the accumulation of an unneces-
sary surplus. The result is that hard
ly ever before have the expenditures
and income of the Government so close
ly corresponded. In the fiscal year that
has just closed the excess of income
over the ordinary expenditures was
nine millions of dollars. This does not
take account of the fifty millions ex-
pended out of the accumulated surplus
for the purchase of the Isthmian Ca
nal 1t is extraordinary proof of the
sound financial condition of the nation
that instead of following the usual
course in such matters and throwing
the burden upon posterity by an issre
of bonds, we were able to make the
payment outright and yet after 1t to
have in the Treasury a surplus of one
hundred and sixty-one millions. More
over. we were able to pay this .ifty
millions of dollars out of hand without
causing the slightest disturbance to
business conditions.
Prosperity and Tariff.
We have enacted tariff law under
which during the past few years the
country has attained a height of ina
| terial we'll being never before reached
Wages are higher than ever before
That whenever the need arises there
should be a REIMBURSEMENT of the tariff
schedules is undoubted; but such
changes can with safety be made only
pie of protective tariff is beyond ques-
ton; for otherwise the changes would
| amount not to readiustment, but to re-
| peal. The reimbursement when made
must maintain and not destroy the pro-
tective principle. To the farmer. the
merchant, the manufacturer this is
vital; but perhaps no other man is so
much interested as the wage worker in
| the maintenance of our present eco
|
finances and the tariff. The standard
of living of our wage workers is high
er than that of any other country, and
| 1t can not so remain unless we have
a protective tariff which shall always
keep as a minimum a rate of duty suffi-
J cient to cover the difference between
the labor cost here and abroad. Those
who, like our opponents, "denounce
protection as robbery" thereby ex-
plicitly commit themselves to the prop
oSition that If they were to revise the
tariff no heed would be paid to the
necessity of meeting this difference
| between the standards of living for
| wa gc-workers here and I'm other coun-
| tries; and therefore on this point their
| antagonism to our position is funda-
| mental. Here again we ask that their
| promises and ours be judged by what
| has been done in the immediate past.
| We ask that sober and sensible men
compare the workings of the present
tariff law, and the conditions which
obtain under it, with the workings oil
the preceding tariff law of 1894 and the
conditions which that tariff of 1894
helped to bring about.
We believe in reciprocity with for
eign 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 America industry and labor
1t Is singular fact that the only
great reciprocity treaty recently
adopted-that with Cuba--was final
ly opposed almost alone by the rep
resentatives of the very party which
now states that 1t favors reciprocity.
And here agin we ask that the worth
of our words be judged by comparing
their deeds with ours. On this Cuban
reciprocity treaty there at the outset
grave differences of opinion among
ourselves; and the notable thing in the
negotiation and ratification of the
treaty, and In the legislation which
carried it into effect, was the highly
practical manner in which without sac
rifice of principle these differences Of
opinion We're reconciled There was no
rupture OF great party, but an excel
lent practical outcome. the result of
| the harmonious cooperation of two
successive Presidents and two success
| sive Congresses. This is an illustra-
| ton of the governing capacity which
| entities us to the confidence of the peo-
| pie not only in our purposes but
| in our practical ability to achieve those