River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-08-04

people and to prevent the accumulation
of an unnecessary surplus. The result is
that hardly ever before have the expendi-
lures and income Of the government so
closely corresponded. In the fiscal year
that has just closed the excess Of income
over the ordinary expenditures was s9,0O0,-
900. This does not take account Of the
$50, 5000 expended out of the accumulated
surplus for the purchase of the isthmian
canal. 1t is an extraordinary proof of
the sound financial condition Of the ma
ton that instead of following the usual
course in such matters and throwing the
burden upon posterity by an issue of
bonds, we were able to make the pay
ment outright and yet after it to have in
the treasury a surplus of $161, 100000. More
over, we were able to pay this $4,000, 900
out of hand without causing the slight
est disturbance to business conditions
We have enacted a tariff law under which
during the past few years the country
has attained a height Of material we'll
being never before reached. Wages are
higher than ever before. That whenever
the need arises there should be a readjust-
ment of the tariff schedules is undoubted;
but such changes can with safety be made
only by those whose devotion to the prin-
ciple of protective tariff is beyond ques-
ton; for otherwise the changes would
amount not to readjustment, but to re-
peal. The readjustment when made must
maintain and not destroy the protective
principle. To the farmer, the merchant,
the manufacturer this is vital; but per-
haps no other man is so much interested
as the wage worker in the maintenance
Of our present economic system, both as
regards the finances and the tariff. The
standard of living of our wage-workers is
higher than that of any other country,
and 1t cannot so remain unless we have
a protective tariff which shall always keep
as a minimum rate of duty sufficient
to cover the difference between the labor
cost here and abroad. Those who, like
our opponents, "denounce protection as
a robbery" thereby explicitly commit
themselves to the proposition that if they
were to revise the tariff no heed would be
paid to the necessity of meeting this
difference between the standards of lfv-
ing for wage-workers here and in other
countries; 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 of the preceding tariff law
of 1894 and the conditions which that tariff
of 1894 helped to bring about.
nations on the terms outlined in Presi-
dent McKinley's last speech, which urged
the extension of our foreign markets by
reciprocal agreements whenever they could
be made without injury to American indus
try and labor. 1t is a singular fact that
the only great reciprocity treaty recently
adopted-that with Cuba-was finally OPP
posed almost alone by the representatives
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 opin-
ion 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 prac-
tical manner in which without sacrifice
of principle these differences of opinion
were reconciled. There was no rupture of
great party, but an excellent practical
outcome, the result of the harmonious CO.
operation of two successive presidents and
two successive congresses. This is an IL
lustration of the governing capacity which
entities us to the confidence of the people
not only In our purposes but in our prac-
tical ability to achieve those purposes.
Judging by the history Of the last -
years, down to this very month, is there
justification for believing that under sim
IldE circumstances anu WITH similar Initial
differences of opinion, our opponents would
have achieved any practical result?
We have already shown in actual fact
that our policy is to do fair and equal
justice to all men, paying no heed to wheth-
er man is rich or poor; paying no heed
to his race, his creed, or his birthplace
We recognize the organization of cap
ital and the organization of labor as nat
ural outcomes of our industrial system.
u oh -, - &C. 49, l.
so long as it acts in 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 obedience to the law; for no man
is above it and no man below it. The
humblest individual is to have his rights
safeguarded as scrhpulously 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.
In inaugurating the great work Of irri-
cation in the west the administration has
been enabled by congress to take one of
the longest strides ever taken under our
government toward utilizing our vast ma
tional domain for the settler, the actual
home-maker.
Ever since this continent was discovered
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 a canal has been planned At
last the dream has become reality The
isthmian canal is now being built by the
government of the United States. We
conducted the negotiations for its construc-
ton with the incest and most scrupulous
honor, and in a spirit of the largest gen
crosby toward those through whose ter
ritory it was to run. Every sinister eff
fort which could be devised by the spirit
of faction or the spirit of self-interest was
made in order to defeat the treaty with
Panama, and thereby prevent the consum-
nation of this work. The construction of
the canal is now an assured fact; but most
certainly it is unwise to entrust the carry
ing out of so momentous policy to those
who have endeavored to defeat the whole
undertaking.
Our foreign policy has been so conducted
that, while not one of our just claims has