The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-09-12
AN APPEAL TO FACTS
GRAVE QUESTION TO BE DECIDED
BY THE VOTERS.
The Conflict Is Between the New
Civilization and the Ol6-FOr and
AEninEt the UDhOIding of the
American Standard of Living.


American Standard of Living.
Peace hath its patriotism
No less to be reyered than that of war.
A savage is patriotic. But his pa
triotism is chiefly evidenced by willing
use of spear and club against defend
ing or offending foe. He eXemplifies
u current definition MY country, right
or wrong" by fighting with his tribe
in any cause. Civilized man has other
foes than those who come with spear
or club, rifle or cannon, and his pa
triotism, because he is civilized and has
advanced from the crudeness Of the
savage should impel him to confront
these other foes as readily as he leaps
at the military kind.
Tribe against tribe and nation
state Of perpetual war. The weapons
vary, and the %arlike objects vary.
Sometimes land conquest or land de-
Tense is the object. Sometimes com
mcrcial conquest or commercial de-
Tense is the object. But the United
States is engaged in a war peculiar it
being a defensive war, waged on be-
half of its workingmen against the
workingmen, Of Europe. II is war of
the new civilization against the old.
1t is a war for the maintenance here of
comfortable homes supported by larger
than mere living wages" for the edu-
cation Of the children of the toilers, for
the independence of that great body of
our people who create those American
products that have stormed all Of
earths countries. In short 1t is a war
for the upholding of that state and
style Of everyday existence which is
denominated Americana
Some conditions are las they are"
and cannot readily be mended Not
even Democratic stump speakers or
demagogues can mend them. The So
cial condition, that one man is called
capitalist and another is called
''wOrkingman," is of this at present
Interchangeable kind. Possibly the time
may come when both of these desig-
nations, with the classes that they
represent, will be swept away. But
certainly not yet for awhile will
money thrive without a handler nor
win machinery produce without a
guiding hand. Things are as they
are" in that respect Here in Ameri-
ca. however. they could be made much
worse for the workingman, whereas
now he is at the summit OF labor's at
talnment. And they may be much
worse unless ne fights for his home and
Preside against a foreign foe who Is
aided by an American political party.
MY Countrywide whole world!" is a
noble sentiment, but as yet It Is but
sentiment. Happy. It will be for all
mankind when, in the good coming
time, there are no national boundaries,
But that day has not risen, and we
the meantime as a nation should that
would keep from entrance that which
is harmful TO il. And harAful and
disastrous would 1t be 10 this country
were its workinGmen reduced to the
condition of those of Europe. What
protective tariff! Remove 1t, and
quickly the whole land would be flood
ed with European goods. sold at a
price with which we could not COM
pete, because the American working
man receives, and must receive, larger
wages than the European And it
matters not TO our wOrkingman that
he himself might buy these goods
cheaper than his own employer would
sell to him, for If the competition has
closed his factory and stopped his work
and income, wherewith shall he buy?
Let an appeal to fact be made. When
political campaigns threaten the sub
stitution of free trade for a tariff, the
business interests, long familiar with
the aims and powers of their foreign
rivals, take fright and curtail in
every possible way. Surely the men
at the compass and helm are more to
be trusted in so vital a matter than
men whose lives are spent in talk,
talk talk, and in a fruitless fight for
office
Under any tariff there will be Unequal
tiles and injustice, and this is special
ly true in the United States, where
there are so many conflicting COM
mercial interests. Some men will grow
richer than they ought, and others will
gain less than their due. Corruption,
too, Will here and there be manifest
But, taking things as they are" the
American tariff is the finest creation
Of our legislators. 1t has enriched and
exalted the nation while providing con-
tinuous remunerative employment to
our workingmen. Once again the cam
paign for It's permanency is rising to