The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-02

extravagance. it Is perhaps not strange. but will be regarded by Nthe taxpayers as significant, that the words econo- my" ''retrenchment" and reform, once the rule of the nation and the shibboleth of statesmen. do not once appear in your entire speech Of accept ance-Not once!
 You say in your speech of accept ance that prosperity has come at home." Are there not many thou- sands of workingmen who have great reason to feel that prosperity Is de- parting? Does the army of striking cotton operatives, whose wages have been reduced 22 1-2 per cent. since 1S0O. find that wages are higher than ever before? Do the tens or thousands of employees dismissed by our great rail- way systems share your roseate views. Are the participants in or the victims of the strike against the exactions of the Beef Trust throwing up their hats over the full dinner pail!
 Deserting your early convictions in
 favor of a freer trade, you cultivate the monopolistic campaign contributors
 of your party by standing pat" for a tariff higher in its average duty than a tarin which the Republicans of Iowa
 have declared to be a shelter to mono
 poly" which the Republicans of Wis consin demand shall be revised in the
 
 of thousands of Republicans in Mas sachusetts and elsewhere insist snail
 be modified by reciprocity treaty with Canada.
 The principle of protection has been
 maintained by every party that has held power in this country since the adoption of the Constitution, including
 the administration of eight Democratic Presidents. Representative Clark, chairman of the St. Louis Convention.
 satl na,. l.
 is not a free-trade party Protec-
 tion, however necessary under some
 conditions, is both needless and unjust
 when infant industries have become
 hoary monopolies. 1t is especially op- pressive and exasperating when per verted to enable favored manufactur- CTS to maintain arbitrary high prices in the home market while underselling
 foreign competitors in the markets Of the world
 The free coinage of silver. which was the decisive issue in the last two cleo
 tions, is no longer a living question, though there are indications in your speech that you will seSk to revive it.
 The overwhelming verdict of the peo- pie. regardless of party. in the last two elections: the law of 1900 re-establish-
 ing the gold standard; the enormous increase in the worlds production of gold; the fact that no party and no public man of importance, not even
 Mir. Bryan, Is now advocating free sill yer; and, beyond all, the declaration of
 your opponent. Judge Parker. that he
 regards the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established"- a decla-
 ration unreservedly accepted by the St.
 Louis Convention by a vote of TIA to 191--afford cumulative proof that the silver issue is dead and buried past resurrection.
 You boast that your policy Is ito do fair and equal justice to all men. pay ing no heed to whether a man Is rich or poor" Can 1t be maintained that tariff law which enables favored | manufacturers. in return for big cam paign contributions, @ levy tribute on | the whole body of the people is an ex- ample of fair and equal justice?" Who rights of labor in your Cabinet? Is It Secretary of the Treasury Shaw. the banker. who breaches that high prices are a blessing ?-or Attorney General ! Moody. who has not lifted finger to | enforce the antitrust laws?-or Sec | retary of the Navy Morton, lately a Vice President of the Santa Fe Rail l road. an ally of the Beef Trust?-or
 Secretary of the Navy Metcalf. a poli-
 tical representative of the Southern 1 eral Payne, long the legislative and | lobby agent of railroad and other cor | porations?
 Do these acts of yours give very l strong backing to your words assert | ing equal regard for all classes? 1 You say of the great organizations
 known as trusts" that we do not have | to explain why the laws against them
 were not enforced. but to point out that
 they actually have been enforced | This will be news indeed to the vic tims of the unpunished and unhamper- l ed Beef Trust and the other con | spiracies in restraint of trade" which | continue to stifle competition and to rob consumers in defiance of law. Far worse than this political part nership with trusts under the tarir is the blow which you dealt to public confidence in the sincerity of youl opposition to monopoly by the changes
 in your Cabinet on the eve of your per sonal campaign for election to the Presidency.
 The polite removal of Attorney-Gen-
 eral Knox just as he had demonstrated in one notable instance his ability tC enfor$e the law against combining cor poratidps. after all previous Attorneys Generay of both parties had failed. was
 a shocking submission to the pluto cratic bower which with admirable the NCVthern Securities case. But ths transf&r of Secretary CorteIyou from the hehd of the Department of Com
 merce-t tcreated, as the law declares. tc | make f'diligent investigation" of the affairsi of corporations. and. as your platfoT1n says to secure reasonable publicity to their operations"--to the
 Guardianship of your Campaign Com
 mittee, has all the appearance of delib- mail of the very corporations that were