Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-10-17
BETTER LET WELL
ENOUGH ALONE

at would have been better TO let
wellenongh alone" This was the
sober second thought expression OF
about year after the last great Dem
ocratic victory which gave that party
control of the Congress as well as the
Presidency. The Post had been one
of Cleyeland's most ardent support
ers II had vigorously opposed the
Mckinley tariff bill, had urged tarin |
revision along Democratic lines, ana
supported the Democratic ticket III
1892. It rejoiced with the Democrats
over the victory and prophesied no
end of good things that would come
as the result.
But after six months Of distrust and
disaster. with banks failing and fact
ories closing their doors and working
men thrown out OF work, the Even
ing Post said. at would have been
better to let wellenongh alone
There we're many thousands oi
people in this country who had tha'
same sober second thought after the
mischief had been done. They mad
hearkened to the cry for change
little dreaming that such change
would be. They had Joined in the cry
for cheaper prices and when they
came labor was the cheapest product
on the market, and the loss OF wages
to the workingmen caused loss 10
the merchant whose customers they
had been. then to the manufacturer
who had supplied the merchant, To
the banker who backed the manufacl-
uere and so on through the whole line
of business enterprises, until there
was stagnation and bankruptcy on
every hand.
In 1892 as now the Democratic
party declared that protection was
robbery and that the tariff must be
revised for revenue only. Then as
now there were blatant free traders
In that party demanding revoiu
tionary change, and then as now there
were more cautious and conservative
Democrats who said they would go
slow and bring about gradual
change; they would, as the late Thorn
as b. Reed expressed 1t, amputate
an arm this year, leg next year and
carve up the body piece-meal. But
they proposed in the end to reach the
same goal as the radical free traders
who insisted on tearing down the Gus
tom houses at once.
But to those who had their capi-
tai invested in business and adjusted
to the Mckinley tariff. the threat OF
change however effected, meant
the readlusment of their business
They could not continue doing busi'
ness on the old basis. They could
not pay American wages and compete
with European manufacturers paying
half the wages. They waited for
the blow to fall and husbanded theii
revenues for that event.
That experience was only ten years
ago. 1t has not been forgotten. Wher
change of policy Is ordered at th'
polls that change is certain to come
whether the party in power goe'
about its work with the meataxe o
a pruning knife The business affair
OF the country will wait for thu
change and bring a worse change o
conditions by their waiting thai
would have resulted from immediat,
execution
The nemocratic- n.,i---- ---'.'
--rrr Hn6 Democratic House. II will
be an order for the majority of tn,
voters that the tariff policy must b,
changed A Republican Senate car
stand against this policy for shorI
time, but business conditions viii
change at once as they did after the
election 1892 The disasters of thai
period did not wait for the passage
OF the Wilson-Gorman tariff bill. They
began the day after election of Grov.
er Cleveland and Democratic House
OF Representatives and they kept
changing from bad to worse through
two years that interviewed between
the election and the passage of the
Democratic tariff bill
Lihe conditions produce like results
The people might as well have their
sober second thought before the elect
Ion as well as after. II they want a
change they had better get ready the
cyclone cellar and prepare to find
shelter from the cyclonic change that
always follows Democratic victory
at the polls when that victory means
an order for the reversal of revenue
policy.
Three years experience will serve