Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1904-09-15

70 take INC duulllOnal action necessary
to improve and strengthen our monetary
system, and that our opponents cannot
be SO trusted. The fundamental fact Is
that IN popular r government such as
law unless the people keep In control OF
the government men who believe In that
policy as matter OF deep-rooted con-
viction. Laws can always be revoked; II
Is the spirit and the purpose of those
responsible for their enactment and ad-
ministration which must be fixed and
Interchangeable. 1t is idle to say that the
monetary standard of the nation is ir-
revocably fixed so long as the party
which at the last election cast approx
vote. refuses to put In its platform any
statement that the question Is settled.
A determination to remain silent cannot
ton. pntil our opponents as a party
explicitly adopt the views which va hold
and upon which we have acted and are
acting. In the matter OF a sound cur
rency, the only real way to keep the
question from becoming unsettled is TO
keep the Republican party in power.
As for what our opponents say in ref
erence to capital and labor. individual
way OF answer Is to point to what we
have actually done. and to say that II
continued In power we shall continue to
carry out the policy we have been pur-
suing, and to execute the laws as reso-
lutely and fearlessly in the future as
we have executed them in the past
The action of the attorney general in
enforcing the antitrust and Interstate
commerce laws. and the action OF the
last congress In enlarging the scope of
the Interstate commerce law. and In
creating the department of commerce
and labor. with bureau of corporations,
have for the first time opened a chance
for the national government to deal in
diligently and adequately with the ques-
or for evil because of the accumulation
OF capital In great corporations and be-
cause OF the new relations caused there
by. The laws are now being administer
ed with entire efficiency; and as. in their
working. need is shown for amendment
or addition to them-whether better to
guarantee the rights of shippers, or in
any other direction-ths need will be
met. 1t Is now asserted that the COM
mon law. as developed affords a com
plete legal remedy against monopolies."
But there Is no common law OF the Unit
ed States. It's rules can be enforced
only by the state courts and officers. No
federal court or officer could take any
action whatever under them. 1t was this
fact. coupled with the inability of the
states to control trusts and monopolies,
statutes known as the Sherman anti
trust act and the Interstate commerce
act; and 1t Is only through the exercise
of the powers conferred by these acts.
and by the statutes OF the last congress
experimenting them. that the national
government acquires any jurisdiction
over the subject, To say, that action
against trusts and monopolies should be
limited to the application of the common
law Is equivalent to saying that the ma
tional government should take no action
whatever to regulate them.
Undoubtedly. the multiplication of
trusts and their increase In power has
been largely due to the failure OF off,
Gals charged with the duty of enforc-
ing the law to take the necessary pro-
cedure." Such structure upon the failure
of the officials of the national govern
ment to do their duty in this matter Is
certainly not wholly undeseryed as far
as the administration preceding Presi-
dent Mckiney's Is concerned; but II has
no application at all to Republican adj
ministration. 1t Is also undoubtedly true
that what is most needed Is .'ofiicials
having both the disposition and the Cour-
age to enforce existing law" This is
precisely the need that has been met
by the consistent and steadily continued
action of the department of justice I'M
der the present administration.
so far as the rights of the individual
,wage-worker and the individual capital
list are concerned. both as regards one
another. as regards the public, and as
regards organized capital and labor the
position of the administration has been
80 clear that there Is no excuse for mis-
representing 1t, and no ground for OPP
posing II unless misrepresented. Within
the limits defined by the national consti-
tuition the national administration has
enjoyment of his right to live his life
and dispose of his property and his labor
as he deems best, so long as he wrongs
no ono else. 1t has shown In effective
fashion that in endeavoring to make good
this guarantee, II treats all men, rich or
poor, Whatever their creed, their color
or their birthplace. as standing alike be-
fore the law. Under our form of gov
eminent the sphere in which the nation
as distinguished from the state can act
is narrowly circumscribcd; but within
that sphere all that could be done has
been done. All thinking men are aware
of the restriction upon the power of ac-
ton of the national government In such
matters. Being ourselves mindful of
them. we have been scrupulously careful
on the one hand to be moderate in our
promises, and on the other hand to keep
these promises in letter and In spirit
When we take up the great question OF
the tariff we are at once confronted by
the doubt as to whether our opponents
do or do not mean what they say. They
say that ''protectlon Is robbery, and
promise to carry themselves accordingly
If they are given power. Yet prominent
persons among them assert that they do
not really mean this and that II they
come into power they Will 400 ADOPT our
seem anxious to prove that 1t Is cafe
to give them partial po'~rr. because the
power would be only partial. and there
fore they would not be able to do mis-
chief The last Is certainly curious
plea to advance on behalf of a party
seeking to obtain control of the govern
mcnt.
1t is but ten years since the last attempt
was made, by means OF lowering the
tariff, to prevent some people from pros
pering too much. The attempt was en-
tirsly successful. The tarlf law or that
year was among the causes which In
that year and for some time afterwards
effectually prevented anybody from pros
pering too much. and labor from pros
pering at all. Undoubtedly 1t would be
possible at the present time TO prevent
any of the trusts from remaining pros .
porous by the simple expedient OF max
iff as to paralyze the Industries of the
country. The trusts would cease to pros
per: but their smaller competitors would
starve, while it would not pay the farm
err to haul his produce to market. The
evils connected with the trusts can be
reached only by rational effort step by
step, along the lines taken by congress
and the executive during the past three
From time to time schedules must I'M
doubtedly be rearranged and readjusted
to meet the shifting needs OF the coun-
try; but this can with safety be done
only by those who are committed to the
root and destroy that system would be
to insure the prostration of business, the
closing of factories. the impoverishment
ot t and r the Starvation OF the Wage. work
er. Yet, If protection is indeed robbery"
and II our opponents really believe what
they say, then IL Is precisely 10 the de-
struction and uprooting OF the tariff, and
therefore OF our business and industry,
that they are pledged. When our oppo-
platform declaring a protective tarlff
hunconstitutional:" and the effort to put
this declaration into practice was one of
the causes of the general national pros
ira ton lasting from 1898 to 1897. If
protective tariff Is either "unconstitu-
tionar' or robbery" then 1t is Just as
just as much robbery,
IA a.. eNln L. H..