Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-07-28

! the laws We're not enforced hut' IN
point out that they actually have been
enforced and that legislation has been
enacted to increase the effectiveness of
| their enforcement. We do not have to
propose to turn the rascals ont ;, fo,.
we have shown in very deed that when
ever by diligent investigation a nuhlic
official can be found who has ravad
his trust he will be punished to the
| full extent of the law without reear d
to whether he was appointed under q
Republican or Democratic adminis.
tratiOn. This is the efficient wav to
turn the rascals out and to keen them
out, and it has the merit OF sincerity
Moreover the betrayals of trust In the
last seven years have been insignificant
in number when compared with the ex-
tent of the public service. Never has
the administration of the government
been on a cleaner and higher level.
never has the public work of the ma
ton been done more honestly and
efficiently.
Assuredly it is unwise to change the
policies which have worked so well and
which are now working so well. Pros
perity has come at home. The national
honor and interest have been upheld
| abroad. We have placed the finances
Of the nation upon sound gold basis.
We have done this with the aid of
many who We're formerly our oppo.
nents, but who would neither openly
support nor silently acquiesce in the
heresy of unsound finance; and we
have done it against the convinced and
violent opposition of the mass of our
present opponents who still refuse to
recant the unSound opinions which for
the moment they think it inexpedient
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 Il definite and conclusive COM
initial on the most important issue
which has recently been before the peo-
. pie, and which may at any time in the
near future be before them again. Up
, on the principles which underlie this
issue the convictions of half of our
|. number do not clash with those of the
other half. SO long as the Republican
party is in power the gold standard is;
settled, not as matter of temporary
political expediency, not because OF
shifting conditions in the production of
gold in certain mining centers, 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 circulation IL
/ worth dollar in gold. We have re-
duced the interest bearing debt and il.
still larger mea sure the interest on that
. debt. All of the war taxes imposed
during the Spanish war have been re-
moved with a view to relieve the people
and to prevent the accumulation of an
. unnecessary surplus. The result is
that hardly ever before have the eX-
pendtures and income of the govern
ment SD closely correspondent. In the
fiscal year that has just closed the ex-
cess of income over the ordinary eX-
penditures was nine millions of dollars
IhIs does not take account of the fifty
millions expended out of the accumu-
lated surplus for the purchase of the
lsthmian Canal. 1t is an extraordinary
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 We're able to
make the payment outright and yet
after it to have in the treasury q sur
plus of one hundred and sixty-one mil
lions. Moreover. we We're able to pay
this fifty millions of dollars out of hand
without causing the slightest disturb
ance to business conditions.
We have. enacted n tariff law under
which during the past few years the
country has attained height of ma
terial wellbcing never before reached.
Wages are higher than ever before
| That whenever the need arises there
should be Il reimbursement of the tariff
schedules is undoubted; but such
changes can with safety be made only
by those whose devotion to the princi-
pie of a protective tariff is beyond
question; for otherwise the changes
would amount not to reimbursement but
to repeal. The REIMBURSEMENT when
made must maintain and not destroy
the protective principle. To the farm
er. 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
economic 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 4
protective tariff which shall always
keep as minimum rate of duty sutf-
cient to cover the difference between
the labor cost here and abroad. Those
who. like our opponents, "denounce
protection as robbery" thereby eX-
plicitly commit themselves to the pro-
position that If they We're 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 i'm other countries;
and therefore on this point their
anita gonism to our position is funda-
mental. Here again we ask that their
promises and ours be judged by what
has been done i'm the immediate past
We ask that soher and sensible men