Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-08-11
A WoRp TO YOUNG VOTERS
They Should Remember That the Re-
publican Party Is Opposing
Tbsir Advancement.

Tbsir Advancement.
A great effort has been made by the
republicans to control the young men
who will cast their first vote for presi-
dent this year. Documents have been
prepared especially for that purpose and
distributed by the Protective Tariff
ssague. These are artfully written and
would deceive even older heads than the
1rst voters unless well grounded in the
ialalcies and folly of protection. The
promise of big wages is an alluring bait
10 catch the young mar who is intent on
pleasure or to save enough to start in
business for himself. The correspond
ing and even greater cost of living does
not affect the young man as it does those
with a family to support. High trust
prices do not impare the income of the
young man as they do the father of a
family.
But the republican system of protec-
ton is nor disastrous to the young
man than to the father. The first voter
has to win his way to independence, and
he finds the tariff bred trusts have by
concentration of business into large cor
p%orations eliminated many opportuni-
ties that used to be open and free. Most
young men must now be content to serve
others, and can never aspire to be their
own masters. The reduced number of
well-paid employees of corporations and
wholesale houses is another curtail-
ment Of the chances of young men for a
good position in life. The number of
travelling men sent out since the CONSOLE
dalton of manufacturing and distrib-
uting concerns, is much smaller than it
used to be and the salaries and allow
ances for expenses are not as generous.
Clerks in stores do not get nearly as
good wages now as before the trust era
reached its height. If the cost of living
is taken into consideration the decline in
wages is much greater, reckoned by the
purchasing power. Unless a young nan
has influence, or is especially bright, his
chances of advancement in the services
of a corporation is restricted to filling
the place of those who resign or through
the deaths of other employees that may
occur.
In the professional world the number
of aspirants has increased in a much
greater ratio than the population, in con-
sequence of the greater number of col
leges and reduced outlook for a good liv-
ing in other occupations.
When those young men who choose a
professional career have embarked in
1t they will soon feel the full burden of
the tariff and its high prices, as a pro-
fessional mans income does not rise and
fall with the cost of living. When the
cost of meat, coal, groceries and rent in
creases the fees of the doctor or the law
yer remain comparatively stationary.
In the mechanical trades many av-
enues have been closed by the consolida-
ton of the small manufacturers into
great corporations, or the competition
Of the trusts has wiped them out of ex-
~istence.
The increased cost of land has re-
duced the opportunities for young men
to acquire farms of their own, unless
they are willing to work many years to
save enough money to make the re-
quired payment and buy the necessary
stock and implements. There they find
the full weight of the protective tariff
and the resulting high trust prices. The
farmer sells nearly all of his farm prod
ucts in competition with foreign coun-
tries and everything he buys is advanced
to the highest possible price by the pro-
lection the tariff gives to the corpora
that produce what he buys.
The system that has been developed
under these republican policies is all
against the young man starting out in
life unless he is content to only aspire
to being a drudge for a corporation and
then only one in a thousand ever gets
beyond the lower rung of the ladder.
The labor unions have made it posi-
BILE by combination, for a few young
to obtain fair wages as stone ma
sons, ~bricklayers, carpenters, paper
hangers, painters or machinists, but the
number of apprentices is limited in those
trades and the high cost of living again
prevents much saving and the slack
times when work is scarce has to be
provided for.
Under the democratic policy of equal
to all and special privileges to
everyone could achieve indie
pendence by work and attention to his
business. The moderate tariff does not
protect the trusts at the expense of the
consumer. Wages might not be so high.
but the cost of living would be much less
and the balance saved for the rainy day
would be greater. That was the, condi-
ton during the low tariff period before
the war, when nearly every mar could
sit under the shadow of his own vine and
fig tree. Now the great majority are at
the mercy of landlords and masters or
the soulless corporations.
The young man just starting in life
must investigate and weigh the advan-
and disadvantages of the two sys-
TENS and vote accordingly, and not be led
away by the specious promises made by
the republicans.