Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1906-08-17

| PAOeNSeAfO eoA Ano ACdOu al NidcSC.
of productive labor everywhere
protection would cease to be of
interest to those who now stand
pat" as all protection means pro-
lection to none. Protection.
therefore, means primarily 9
bounty paid to special interests by
the consumer, and it is his for
which che stand patter" is fight.
ing.
ANY law that means millions to
a class, that without the law
would not be had, is dangerous
law, a menace to the country. and
maintenance of such law breeds
corruption. A bill before a legis-
lature donating a million of dol
lars to an individual, would soon
stimulate the individual and his
agents to spy out enough votes in
the body to carry it through. and
more especially if the bill were
put forth as an exempIi6cation of
a party principle, votes enough to
secure passage would be secured
by persuasion, hattery, or pur-
chase. And so long as the public
is hood winked into the idea that
such bills atands for a party prin-
ciple, SO long will the representa-
tlveS of that party. in the law.
making body, be kept in the atti-
tude of iustifying themselves in
accepting for their assistance part
OF the great profit that would
otherwise 90 undivided to the
donee. The tariff is such a meas.
ure, and its cOrrupting influence
lies at the bottom of a dangerous
ly perverted partisan senim ent, is
the prime cause of debauchery in
public officials and national Iegis-
lation. Its purpose being bounty
and unearned wealth to the few,
it becomes the first step in educat-
ing the new member of Congress
to look lightly upon improper in
tluences put forth to secure legis-
lation, and as a legalized gait of
the greatest magnitude it becomes
a precedent for the thousand
minor gratis from which the
country suffers.
With due respect to those who
have been elected to Congress
from Kansas for a number of
years, not one has shown himself
equipped by. thought, investiga-
ton, and courage, to stand intel.
ligently for the interests of his
district, his state, and for the
country as a whole, and to fear
lessly speak and vote for them.
At our late state convention the
speeches of two Kansas members
of Congress showed them wholly
untitled to represent their dis
tricts in Congress, while from
failure to speak and act the atti-
tude of the whole delegation seems
to have been voiced by those two
members. The Kansas members
Justify tariff ''standpatters" be.
cause they are Bourbons; protec-
tioDists of the radical type be-
cause their fathers were, because
twenty-five or thirty years ago
they were taught in, that school,,
regardless of the interest Of their
state, being unable to look at mat
tiers as they ere today, for the
people of today, and in the light
of conditions of today.
A single senator cannot, unald-
ed, change these conditions, the
entire Kansas delegation cannot
change them, but the Kansas dele
cation could help, could speak for
Kansas, and if in the end it must
accept an exorbitant schedule of
duties for the sake of party har-
mony, do so in silence and not in
suit the intelligence of Kansas by
returning to the state after a few
months or a few years in Wash
ington, under the immediate in
fiuence of the agents of the bene-