The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1904-06-18
EpEE HnR AZ

MAAN
even In the heart Of staunchest Ne,
England-there will be preached
gospel from republican pulpits sue.
as would have made Mr.. Hanna won
der whether he was awake had b
lived to hear It. The word appear
70 have gone forth from the big me-
Of the party that there will be n
hide-bound inhibitiOns in the Plat
form, and that the stump must b
free. So the motto OF this campaigl
in the congressional districts will b
"every man for himself" The Low
tariff member will talk OF low tariff
the reciprocity advocate will tall
reciprocity, the conservative revis
innIst win talk conservative revision
the stand patter will talk no change
at all"
The New York Evening Post is il
an especial sense the mOuthplece Of
the administration And II the re,
publican party falls upon this plan Of
preserving the alignment Of Its
voters and its public men, it viii be
the wisest move it has made in recent
years. 1t is not Inconsistent with its
fundamental principles for the repub,
lican party TO declare for protection
or for free trade or to leave this
matter open for individual choice. 1t
would be Inconsistent in the demo-
cratic party. The democratic party
is founded upon right and the repub.
lican party upon expediency. The
democratic party is founded upon the
reserved rights clause OF the consti
tuition and the republican party on
the general welfare clause Of the
preamble. The democratic party
acknowledges the governments power
Of taxation for revenue, but denies its
right to levy tribute upon certain
Industries 10 order to make other
Industries prosper. II it could be
shown that a tariff of protection
promoted general prosperity, the
democratic party would have to oppose
t anyhow. 1t could never, consist
with its fundamental principles,
Wedge the right of the state to
AK one individuals private business
o support another individuals pri-
rate business. 1t acknowledges the
light of the state to tax the people to
maintain courts Of justice, improve
'lvers and harbors and do all the
for which government is
designed. But courts, post Offices,
ivers and harbors are not private
Institutions operated by individuals
or the purpose of making money. 1t
S not the inequality of the tariff tax
hat the democrat chiefly objects to,
that Is as a rule Objectionable.
There are many unequal taxes. The
ialoon license tax is an unequal tax.
Bot the saloon license tax goes wholly
or public purposes, II the saloon
license taxes were given to the hard
ware merchants or to the shoe mer.
'hants for the express and ayOwed
purpose Of making them more pros
'erous we should have a parallel Of
ariff for protection.
A few months ago we had some
excitement in this state over false
representations en- the subject of
police passes" in our cities. A
protective tariff law is a wholesale
olice pass saying to the iron manu-
acturer, "You are hereby authorized
D rob everybody who deals with you
D the amount Of 45 cents on the
Ollar ~withoutsiear OF a~rrest''; ana to
be glass manufacturer, "You may
'hort-change' your customers to the
mount Of 90 cents on the dollar with
npunitY." From the democratic
Olnt Of view it is more Objectionable
rob one individual OF a penny for
benefit Of another individual than
} tax him to the amount of hundreds
dollars for the Legitimate public
imposes Of government. h
1t is the popularity of the repub
can party that 1t can consistently
iopt the "free for all" policy upon
'actically all public questions, as is
lie case Of the parties in England.
nd 1t would be the part Of wisdom Z.
the democratic party to reduce its
sential creed to fundamentals. The
come tar plank, for instance, is not
fundamental any more than whether |
lyer dollars should be coined round
square. A. man could be a good
,mocrat and be on either side Of this
lestion. But be could not be pro-
'ctionist and democrat or imperlallst
ld democrat, no matter what might