The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-22

Aog IuySeI aIUnes put l Sta6e without fear of contradiction that I do not know a good Republican who does not stand on tho same ground.
 "Broad and Sound Principle"
 The broad and sound principle of the protective tariff should be applied to ev- cry industry, agricultural or manufac- turing. which needs 1t in order to insure tho payment of a fair rate of wage and fair return upon actual capital invest ed. And without regard to locality, whether such industries be in Louisiana, Texas. California or Maine, and without regard to the men who may be financial ly interested. the Republican Party, SO far as have been able to define its ideas. believes that such application Is the true pIotective5 tarif principle.
 In one campaign after another we have heard arguments supposed to sustain and maintain a Utopian theory for fiscal leg islation. They have come from the oppo- sing political party and long ago were threadbaEe, toll worn, travel stained and moth eaten. They have to be met, and doubtless will be met in the coming cam paign. because they achieve a new dis t.nctton and possibly attraction from their oratorical display by new leaders in the Democratic Party.
 Abstract theories concern very little the people for whom we legislate Theory aiene never filled a stomach, clothed a back built house or moved a shuttle.
 What do the people themselves desire to know? Results.
 They have a right to know and desire to know what a particular law enacted by Congress will do for the country. They sec the effect of such law and on this effect they determine whether or not the American people shall stand by a certain policy. They are concerned very little as to what theory produces legislation, whether 1t be protection or free trade. It is the result of the application of that theory that concerns the actual welfare, prosperity and happiness of a great peo- pie.
 Results Quickly Seen.
 There is no legislation whose results are so quickly and plainly seen by the people themselves as that affecting the American system of protection. And 1t Is on this legislation that the Republican Party stands as a general principle with it's feet planted firmly upon the rock. No theory can long stand, no matter how correct as a theory alone, that cannot stand first the test of the stern and in- exorable logic of events. And results alone, as seen and felt by the people themselves, determine that test. Bis marck said. T base my opinion on the practical experience of time. see coun- tries under protection prospering and countries under free trade decaying."
 It Is upon the result of observations by far seeing men like Bismarck, who preferred fact to theory, and no less up- on the observation of the wage worker and capitalist, who also prefer fact to theory, that the Republican Party rests its cause before the people. The tariff was made for man, and not man for the tariff, and that party alone is useful to the people which will make changes when changes are shown by results to be necessary. Results up to the present time have only proved conclusively. one year upon another, that the principle of pro lection as announced by the Republican Party Is the best for all the people of the United States.
 In the application of the tariff principle legislation for that purpose may simply degenerate into a selfish scramble between different interests that may be able by reason of their power and control of members of Congress to obtain by combi- nation and log rolling the schedules which these combinations desire for their own peculiar purposes. But the Republican principle of protection is to legislate for no one locality. The centre of political influence and power of this country is hundreds of miles west of its business and industrial centre. We find the for mer west of the Ohio, while the indus trial centre Is found in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New Eng land.
 Should a selfish combination between the various sections of the country seek to Iegislate on the tariff for themselves alone, New England. New Jersey. New York and Pennsylvania would be power less to protect themselves. If selfish con- alterations. as distinguished from a gem eral principle. were to govern such leg islative efforts, these great industrial centres might easily be driven to the wall.
 Signs of Prosperity.
 Now. in testing the results of this gen. eral tariff principle the ordinary citizen looks out over the country at large and ascertains whether or not prosperity blesses all the people. by observing the condition of wage earners; whether mills are moving. and whether business as a whole is profitable If the wage earn CTS are rofitably employed and money and products are being accumulated and distributed, then we have prosperity But my very good friend. MT W Bourke Cochran. of New York, in the closing hours of Congress, during a tariff speech, said:
 Now, if this definition of prosperity be correct it follows that any system that tends to swell the production of commod- ities is the system that produces for the