Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-08-04

the aid of many who were formerly our
opponents, but who would neither
openly support nor silently acquiesce
In the heresy of unsound finance; and
we have done it against the convinced
and violently opposition of the mass of
our present opponents who still refuse
to recant the unsound opinions which
for the moment they think it inexpedi-
ent to assert. We know what we
mean when we speak of an honest and
stable currency. We mean the same
thing from year to year. We do not
have to avoid definite and conclu-
sive committal on the most important
issue which has recently been before
the people, and which may at any time
in the near future be before them
again. Upon the principles which un-
derlie this issue the convictions of half
of our number do not clash with those
of the other half. So long as the re-
publican party is in power the gold
standard is settled, not as matter of
temporary political expediency, not be-
cause of shifting conditions in the pro-
duction of gold in certain mining GEN.
tiers, but in accordance with what we
regard as the fundamental principles
of national morality and wisdom.
Under the financial legislation
which we have enacted there is now
ample circulation for every business
need; and every dollar of this circula-
ton is worth dollar in gold. We have
reduced the Understanding debt and
in still larger measure the interest on
that debt. All of the war taxes i'm
posed during the Spanish war have
been removed with a view to relieve
the people and to prevent the accumu-
result is that hardly ever before have
the expenditures and income of the
government so closely correspondent.
In the fiscal year that has just closed
the excess of income over the ordinary
expenditures was nine millions of dol
lars. This does not take account of
the fifty millions expended out of the
accumulated surplus for the purchase
of the isthmian canal. 1t is an ex-
traordinary proof of the sound financial
condition of the nation 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 payment out
right and yet after it is to have in the
treasury surplus of one hundred and
sixty-one millions Moreover, we were
able to pay this fifty millions of dol
lars out of hand without causing the
slightest disturbance to business con-
ditions.
Tariff.
1--WE have enacted tariff law under
which during the past few years the
country has attained a height of ma
terial well-being never before reached
Wages are higher than ever before
That whenever the need arises there
should be readjustment of the tariff
schedules is undoubted; but such
changes can with safety be made only
by those whose devotion to the prin-
ciple of a protective tariff is beyond
question; for otherwise the changes
would amount not to readjustment but
to repeal. The readjustment when made
must maintain and not destroy the pro-
tective principle. To the farmer, the
merchant, the manufacturer this is
vital; but perhaps no other man is so
much interested as the wage-worker in
the maintenance of our present eco
nomic 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 it
can not so remain unless we have a
protective tariff which shall always
keep as minimum a rate of duty
sufficient to cover the difference be-
tween the labor cost here and abroad
Those who, like our opponents, de-
nounce protection as a robbery there
by 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 be-
tween the standards of living for wage
workers here and in other countries;
and therefore on this point their an
IoSOHlom W OuT pOSlIlOH is IunOdmon-
tai. 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.
For Reciprocity.
1--WE believe in reciprocity for foreign
nations on the terms outlined in Presi-
dent McKinley's last speech, which
urged the extension of our foreign mar
kets by reciprocal agreements when
ever they could be made without injury
to American industry and labor. It is
a singular fact that the only great
reciprocity treaty recently adopted
that with Cuba-was finally opposed
almost alone by the representatives of
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