Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-08-15
AN APPEAL TO FACTS
GRAVE QUESTION TO BE DECIDED
BY THE VOTERS.
The Conflict Is Between the New
civilization and the old-FOr and
Agaknst the UNFOLDING of the
.-..;cnn standard of Living.

IN s-r
Peace hath its patriotism
No less to be revered than that Of war.
savage is patriotic. But his pa
triotism is chiefly evidenced by willing
use Of spear and club against defend
ing or offending foe. He exemplifies
current definition, MY country, right
or wrong" by fighting with his tribe
I'm any cause. Civilized man has other
foes than those who come with spear
or club, rife or cannon, and his pa
triotism. because he Is civilized and has
advanced from the crudeness of the
savage. should impel him to confront
these other foes as readily as he leaps
at the military kind.
Tribe against tribe and nation
against nation keep the world in a
state of perpetual war. The weapons
vary, and the warlike objects vary.
Sometimes land conquest or land de-
Tense is the object. Sometimes COM
mercial conquest or commercial de-
Tense is the object. But the United
States is engaged In a war peculiar, 1t
being q defensive war, waged on be-
half of its workingmen against the
workingmen Of Europe. 1t is war of
the new civilization against the old
1t is q war for the maintenance here of
comfortable homes supported by larger
than mere living wages" for the edu-
cation of the children of the toilers, for
the independence of that great body of
our people who create those American
products that have stormed all of
earth's countries. In short, 1t is a war
for the unfolding of that state and
style of everyday existence which Is
denominated "Americanv
Some conditions are "as they are"
and cannot readily be mended. Not
even Democratic stump speakers or
| demagogues can mend them. The So
cial condition, that one man is called
Capitalist and another is called
''workingman," is of this at present
Interchangeable kind. Possibly the time
may come when both of these desig-
nations, with the classes that they
| certainly not yet for awhile will
| money thrive without a handler nor
will machinery produce without
| guiding hand. Things are as they
are" in that respect. Here in Ameri-
ca, however, they could be made much
worse for the workingman, whereas
| now he is at the summit Of labOrs at
tainment And they may be much
worse unless he fights for his home and
| fireside against a foreign foe who is
aided by an American political party.
"My Countrywide whole world!' is a
noble sentiment, but as yet it is but
sentiment Happy it will be for all
mankind when, in the good coming
time, there are no national boundaries.
But that day has not risen,. and we
must wait a little longer, acting in
the meantime as a nation should that
would keep from entrance that which
| is harmful to it. And harmful and
| disastrous would 1t be to this country
were its workingmen reduced to the
| condition of those of Europe. What
prevents that disaster? What else but
a protective tariff! Remove it, and
| quickly the whole land would be flood
ed with European goods, sold at a
| price with which we could not COM
pete, because the American working
man receives, and must receive, larger
wages than the European. And it
| matters not to our workingman that
he himself might buy these goods
| cheaper than his own employer would
sell to him, for if the competition has
closed his factory and stopped his work
and income, wherewith shall he buy?
Let an appeal to fact be made. When
political campaigns threaten the sub
stitution of free trade for a tariff, the
business interests, long familiar with
the aims and powers of their foreign
rivals, take fright and curtail in
every possible way. Surely the men
at the compass and helm are more tC
be trusted in so vital a matter than
men whose lives are spent in talk
} talk talk, and in a fruitless fight fol
office
Under any tariff there will be Unequal
tiles and injustice, and this is special
ly true in the United States, where
there are so many conflicting com
mercial interests. Some men will grow
l richer than they ought, and others will
gain less than their due. Corruption
too, will here and there be manifest
But, taking things as they are" tn
II American tariff is the finest creation
9 Of our legislators. 1t has enriched ant
8 exalted the nation while providing con
a .tnuOus remunerative employment t
our workingmen Once again the can
paign for its permanency is rising to
crisis, calling once more to its supper
millions and millions of patriotic Amer
leans. Patriotism's test is being pre-
scented to the nation. 1t demands tha
factions in party subside, that elias
warfare be truced in presence OF
common foe, that every patriot be upo
q the ballot firing line on voting day an
that, by every lawful means, Repu
hcan victory, an American victory, |
assured against European invasio
Peace hath it's patriotism