Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-08

the democratic party is in favor of free
trade. The charge is utterly false-a lie
made of whole cloth. There are individual
democrats who free traders just as
there are individual republicans who are
atheists, but 1t would be precisely as true
and fair to denounce the republican party
as the party Of atheism as to denomlnate
the democratic party the party OF free
trade
ut never was free trade party and is
not now. The man who charges that 1t Is
does so because of his ignorance or be-
cause of his mendacity
Democrats favor the cutting down OF
exorbitant tariff rates to reasonable basis.
They believe that in many schedules of the
present law the rates are too high; those
that are too high we are in favor Of cutting
down.
I'VE favor any modification of the tariff
schedules that may be required to prevent
them becoming 4 shelter for monopoly. l
wonder II Mr.. Secretary Shaw ever heard
those words before? They are taken YER
batim from the Iowa republican platform
Of 1901. The Secretary whooped 1t up at a
great -ite for Governor A. B. Cummins and
others nominated on that platform. He
scornfully Genounces it now as the dead
Iowa idea But it was righteous dcclara-
ton borrowed from democrats and Is not
dead-not even dying.
''WherA tariff rates are so high they en-
able American manufacturers to sell their
wares abroad cheaper than they DO TO
Americana; here at home. we say that they
ought to be reduced Is the anarchy or
treason? If So make the most OF 1t.
Let republican spellbinders and editors
explain why an American farmer should
pay from third to one-half more for an
American pillow than his competitor in farm
ing pays for it in Australia or South Amerl-
ca or the ends of the earth. Democrats say
ii is wrong and they stand by the American
farmer Republicans say 1t Is right ana
they stand by the Australian and South
American farmers. Choose we between US
in November!
Mr.. Babcock's Declaration.
Not cutie all republican statesmen be-
lcve it light. Once in while a ray of light
breaks in on the benighted intellect of
republican. For example, year or two
ago the hon. ]. w. Babcock of Wisconsin,
chairman of the republican congressional
committee had a lucid interval and advo'
Gated III several interviews the cutting down
of tariff rates when they SO high as to
encourage the formation of trusts and when
they enable the manufacturer to sell his
wares cheaper abroad than at home. He
went farther and introduced bills to that
effect; but the republican leaders got hold
OF Bah and by coaxing. bullying or other
means. checked his ardor as a tariff re-
former, since when he has been as dumb as
an oyster.
Il am citing Babcock'S performance in his
moment of lucidity to show that to advo-
cate III" cutting down of outrageous tar1n
that man is the enemy of his country. as
the '5tanI patteIS' would have you believe.
The stand pat organs and speakers
claim tE1t only Anticipated sorts OF manu-
featured tiCleS are sold abroad cheaper
than to Americans at home. That theory Is
very ingenious, but. unfortunately, it Is not
true: for steel rails sold abroad at So
a ton boss than they arc sold at home. and
the fashions in steel rails remain the same
or Subst antially SO.
will he or some other stand patter ex-
plain why Americans should be made to pay
cne-thrl more for American steel rails
than she citizens of other nations pay for
them? He may answer as did Mr.. Repre-
sentative Olmstead of Pennsylvania that
the railroad companies pay for the steel
rails an that 1t is the business of nobody
else how much they pay for them: but Ohm
stead had more courage than information.
for everybody with ideas above a Hotten-
tot knows that everybody that travels on
railroad, that everybody that ships any
thing on them. that everybody that uses
anything SO shipped. helps to pay for the
steel rails. The railroad companies foot
the bills in the first instance and then make
their customers repay them with interest,
at the highest rate the traffic will bear.
Safety Of American Industries.
'Of a piece with the foregoing false pre-
lenses is that other one that democrats
would destroy American industries. There
Is not syllable of truth in It, Why should
they desire to destroy industries? They
are vitality interested in maintaining them,
and they would like to see them all prosper
by giving them all an equal chance. and not
by fostering some at the expense of the
others.
The true democratic position on the
tariff Is this: Recognizing the fact that
large portion of our revenue has always
been raised from customs duties or taxes.
democrats divide all imports into three
classes-necessaries, comforts and luxuries
and contend that the tariff taxes should
be highest on luxurteS. lower on comforts
and lowest none at all on the necessi-
ties. They Furthermore say that taxes
should be uniform on all articles belonging
to one class. That is the democratic party's
position. from which 1t will not be driven
coaxed or bulried. No amount Of mis-
representation will cause it to bulge
from that position. We say, Furthermore.
that not one dollar more in the shape of
tariff taxes or any other sort of taxes
should be taken from the people than Is
necessary to pay the expenses of a govern
ment economically administered On these
propositions we believe we are right. and
on them confidently rely in our appeal
to the American people in November.
Our Merchant Marine.
when Napoleon signed the title to this
vast country west of the Mississippi he
turned to the American commissioners and
said: Now 1 have given England a mari
greed and criminal maladmnistratiOn ban
ished the starry banner of the republic
from the high seas and abdicated the
domain of the ocean. In 1860 we had the
second largest merchant marine in the
world: our sails whitened every harbor and
our flag fioated in every breeze under the
heavens. How sadly all this has changed
after thirty five years of republican mis-
rule. Last year Of all the merchantmen
that went through the Suez canal not
single vessel. great or small. except battle
ships. bore the American flag at its mast
head. and our flag Is seen in foreign waters
only when flying over a man-of-war.
Worse than thiS-mOre humiliating than
this-a few years ago. when Congress APP
propriated large sum of money to buy
corn and wheat and meat to send to the
ADMINISTRATION East Indies. we could not
send 1t in American ship. for the all
sufficient reason that there was none to
send 1t in. but to our great humiliation had
to hire a foreign ship in which to send over
charity to our starving fellow-men.
when an American goes abroad he must
sail under a foreign nag on a foreign ship.
under a foreign officer.
/ why have things come to this shameful,
| this pitiful complexion in a country that
| has the finest material for ships and sail
ors in the world? Because our exorbitant
| tarin system has made II impossible for an
| American to build ship in competition