The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-27


ton of the government been on a
cleaner and higher level; never has
the public work of the nation been
done more honestly and efficiently.
Assuredly it is unwise to. change
the policies which have worked so
well. Prosperity has come at home.
The national honor and interest have
been upheld abroad. We have placed
the finances of the nation upon a
sound gold basis. We have done this
with the aid of many who were form
erly our opponents, but who would
neither openly support nor silently ac-
qriesce in the heresy of unsound f.
nance; and we have done it against
| the convinced and violent opposition
| of the mass of our present opponents
| who still refuse to recant the I'M
| sound opinions which for the moment
! they think il inexpedient to assert.
| We know what we mean when we
| speak of an honest and stable curren-
| cy. We mean the same thing from
| year TO year. we do not have to avoid
a definite and conclusive committal
on the most important issue which has
recently been before the people, and
which may at any time in the near fu-
ture be before them again. Upon 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 a matter OF. temporary
political eXDediency, 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 ma
tional 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
interest on that debt. All OF the war
taxes imposed during the Spanish war
have been removed with view to re-
lieve the people and TO prevent the ac
emulation of an unnecessary surplus.
the government so clOcelv CORE
have the expenditures and income of
the government so closely CORES
sponded. In the fiscal year that has
just closed the excess of income over
the ordinary expenditures was nine
millions of dollars. This does not
take account of the fifty millions eX-
pended out of the accumulated sur
plus for the purchase of the Isthmian
Canal. 1t is an extraordinary proof
of tho sound financial condition of tho
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 outright and yet
after it to have in the Treasury a
surplus of one hundred and siXty-one
millions. Moreover, we were able TO
pay this fifty millions of dollars out
of hand without causing the slightest
disturbance to business conditions.
We have enacted tariff law under
which during the past few years the
country has attained a height of ma |
terial well-beins never before reach |
ed. Wages are higher than ever be- |
fore. That whenever the need arises |
there should be a reimbursement of the |
tariff schedules is undoubted; but |
such changes can with safety be
made only by those whose devotion
to the principle OF a protective tariff |
is beyond question: for otherwise the
changes would amount not. to read
justment but to repeal. The read
justment when made must maintain
and not destroy the protective princi-
pie. To the farmer, the merchant.
the manufacturer this is VITAL but per-
haps no other man is so much inter
ested as the wage-wOrker in the main
tenance OF our present economic sys-
TEN, both as regards the finances and
the tariff The standard of living OF
our wage-workers is higher than thai
Of any other country. and it can nor
so remain unless we have a protective
tariff which shall always keep as a
minimum rate of duty sufficient to
cover the difference between the labor
cost here and abroad. Those who.
ike our opponents. "denounce protec
ton as a robbery" thereby 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 between