Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-09-12

AuI llcT ADVANCE
hdustrlal science. The American
.l,'iiuiac. urer never could have placed
.nis ->a.ioh at the head of the manu-
his haions OF the world if he
iidu hot mao behind him. securing him
e|els variety OF raw material, the ex-
I'D ua'ies" resources OF the American
iarih' oeNeioped by the skill and the
enterprise OF intelligent and educated
American farmers. On the other hand
the dept OF the farmers to the MANN
fdctufers Is equally heavy, and the
future OF American agriculture is
bound up IN the future of American n
manufactures. The two industries
have become, under the economic
| policy of our Government, so closelv
| interviewer, so mutually interdenan.
dent, that neither can hope to main
tain itself at the high-water mark of
progress without the other. Whatever
makes to the advantage of ona 10
equally to the advantage of the otbar
| So it is as between the capitalist and
the wage-worker. Here and there tbaro
may be an unequal sharing as between
the two in the benefits that have come
! by protection; but benefits have come
to both; and reversal IN policy Would
mean damage to both: and while the
damage would be heavy to all. it would
be heaviest, and it would fall Soonest
upon those who are paid in the form of
wages each week or each month for
that weeks or that months work.
| Conditions change and the laws must
be modified from time to time to fit new
IeXigercies. But the genuine underlying
| .i,,I. If Lo
embodied in all but one of the American
tariff laws for the last forty years, has
worked out results so beneficent. so
evenly and widely spread, SO advan-
tageous alike to farmers and capitalists
and WOrkiEgmcn, to commerce and
trade OF every kind. that the American
people, if they show their usual practi-
! cal business sense will insist that when
these laws are modified they shall be
modified with the utmost care and con-
Servatism, and by the friends and not
| the enemies of the protective system
They cannot afford to trust the modif-
cation to those who treat protection and
robbery as synonymous terms.
In closing what | have to say about
the. system Of promoting American
industry let me add n word of cordial
| agreement with the policy of in some
way including within its benefits, by
| appropriate legislation, the American
merchant marine. 1t is not creditabla
to us as nation that our great expert
and import trade should be well nigh
exclusively i'll the hands of foreigners
1t is difficult to know if our opponents
are really sincere IN their demand for
the reduction Of the army. If inSincere.
there is no need for comment, and ii
sincere what shall we say in Speakin ;.
to rational persons of an appeal to re-
duce an army of sixty thousand men
which is taking care of the interests OF
lover eighty million people? The army
is now relatively smaller than it was in
the days of Washington, when on the
peace establishment there were thirty
six hundred soldiers, while there We're
a little less than four millions of popu-
lation; smaller than it was in the
peaceful days of jefferson, when there
/ We're fifty-one hundred soldiers to five
million three hundred thousand pOpula-
ton. There is now one soldier to every
fourteen hundred people in this country
less than one-tenth of one per cent.
: We cannot be asked seriously to argue
as to the amount of possible tyranny
- contained in these figures. The army as
it is now is as small as it can possibly
: be and serve its purpose as an effective
nucleus for the organization, equip
ment and supply of volunteer army in
time of need. 1t is now used as never
before, for aiding in the upbuilding of
the organized militia of the country.
I &c. rod in, n
systematic effort to strengthen and de-
v"lop the National Guard in the several
States: as witness, among many other
instances, the great field manOeuverS
at Manassas which have just closed.
If our opponents should come into
+, power they could not reduce our army
| below its present size without greatly
impairing its efficiency and abandoning
part of the National duty. In short, in
| this matter, if our opponents should
come into power they would either
have to treat this particular promise
of the year 1904 as they now treat the
promises they made in 1896 and 1900.
| that is, as possessing no binding force:
or else they would have to embark on
Il policy which would be ludicrous at
the moment, and fraught with grave
danger to the National honor in the
future.
Our opponents contend that the
Government is now administered ex
travagantly, and that whereas there
was "a surplus Of sSO,OOO,OOO in 1900"
there is "a deficit of more than $40. O.000,
000'' in the year that has just closed.
This deficit is imaginary, and is
obtained by including in the ordinary
current expenses the sum of fifty
millions, which WAS paid for the right
of way Of the Panama canal out of the
ac, umulated surplus in the Treasury
Comparing the current or ordinary eX-
penditures for the two years, there was
a surplus of nearly eighty millions for
the year 1900. and of only little more
than eight millions for the year that
has just closed. But this diminution
of the annual surplus was brought
about designedly b. the abolition of the
| war taxes i'll the interval between the
two dates. The acts of March 2. 1901
and April. 10. 1902, cut down the internal
revenue taxes to an amount estimated
at or hundred and five millions n year
In other words. the reduction of tax
| atiop has boeO cDDSidera b1y great or