The Oskaloosa herald., 1904-09-15


starvation point. AS conclusively shown
| by the bulletins Of the bureau Of labor,
the purchasing power Of the average
wage received by the wage-worker has
i crown faster than the cost of living, and
this in spite Of the continual shortening
/ Of working hours. The accumulated (
savings Of the workingmen of the ceun-
| try. as shown by the deposits in the saw
i ings banks. have increased by leaps and
bounds. At no time in the history OF
this or any other country has there been
an era SO productive of material beneht
/ alike to workingman and emplover as
during the seven years that have Just
passed.
'eThe farmer has benefited quita as
much as the manufacturer, the mer-
i chant. and the wage-worker. The most
! welcome and impressive fact established
liby the last census is the wide and even
distribution Of wealth among all classes
/ Of our countrymen. The chief agencies
in producing this distribution are shown
| by the census to be the development OF
manufactures, and the application Of
| new inventions to universal use. The
\ result has been an increasing interde-
| pendence of agriculture and manufac-
tires"
Republican Reciprocity.
On the subject Of reciprocity the presi-
dent says:
"Our opponents assert that they be-
lieve in reciprocity. Their action on
the most important reciprocity treaty
recently negotiated-that with Cuba
| does not bear out this assertion. More
| over there can be no reciprocity unless
| there is substantial tariff; free trade
| and reciprocity are not compatible. We
| are on record as favoring arrangements
for reciprocal trade relations with other
| countries, these arrangements to be on
| an equitable basis of benefit to both the
| contracting parties. The republican
party stands pledged to every wise and
consistent method of increasing the for
| eign commerce of the country. That it
has kept its pledge is proven by the fact
that while the domestic trade of this
| country exceeds in volume the entire ex-
| port and import trade of all the nations
of the world, the United States has in
| addition secured more than an eighth of
| the export trade of the world, standing
| first among the nations in this respect"
OF the proposition to reduce the size
of the army the president says:
'If our opponents should come into
power they could not reduce our army
below it's present size without greatly
impairing its efficiency and abandoning
part of the national duty. In short, in
this matter, if our opponents should
come into power they would either have
to treat this particular promise of the
year 1904 as they now treat the promises
they made in 1896 and 1900, that is, as
possessing no binding force; or else they
would have to embark on policy which
would be ludicrous at the moment, and
fraught with grave danger to the ma
tional honor in the future
He reviews the administration of the
government finances and refutes the
charge that the government is admins
tered extravagantly with facts and fig
ures, and says:
DO our opponents grudge the $4,000
90 paid for the Panama canal? Do they
-ltrridA ~, non sionc 70
the veterans of the civil war? Do they
intend to put stop to the irrigation
policy? or to the permanent census
bureau? or to immigration inspection?
Do they intend to abolish rural free de-
livery Do the intend to cut down the
navy? or the Alaskan telegraph system?
Do they intend to dismantle our coast
Notifications? If there is to be a real
and substantial cutting down in national
expenditures it must be in such matters
as these The department of agriculture
has done service of incalculable value
to the farmers of this country in many
different lines. Do our opponents wish
to cut down the money for this service?
They can do it only by destroying the
usefulness Of the service itself"
Philippine Independence.
He refers to the promise in the demo-
cratic platform to give independence to
the Philippine islands and after speak
ing of the folly of such promise, says:
1T may well be that our opponents
have no real intention of putting their
promise into effect. If this is the case,
if, in other words, they are insincere in
the promise they make, it is only neces-
sary to say again that it is unwise to
trust men who are false in one thing to
deal with anything. The mere CEN
seriousness of broken faith would hamper
them in continuing our policy in the
islands; and only by continuing uA-
chaged this policy can the honor of the
country be maintained, or the interests
| of the Islands subseryed. If on the 9th
er hand, our opponents came into power
and attempted to carry out their prom-
tses to the Filipinos by giving them in
dependence, and withdrawing American
control from the islands, the result
would be frightful calamity to the Fill
pinos themselves, and in its larger as
pect would amount to an international
crime. Anarchy would follow; and the
most violent anarchic forces would be
directed partly against the civil gov
eminent partly against all forms Of re-
ligious and educational civilization.