Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-09-27
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE NATION
UNDER POLICIES OF THE REPUBLICANS
GLORIOUS RECORD THE UNITED STATES AS DEPICTED BY
TOR J. P DoLLivER AT PARTY ANNIVERSARY
sTEADFAsT ADHERENCE TO SAFE ECONOMIC PoLciEsREPuBL
CAN PARTY WELL GROUNDED IN THE RGHT-OuTY
PATRIOTIC CITIZENS.

oTIc CITIZENS.
troll had produced business disasters
which had plunged the community into
such depths of financial ruin as to demon
strate the necessity of returning prompt
ly to the protective tariff policy as under
stood by our fathers
ut needed no persuasion to bring the
republican convention of 1860 to the de-
Tense sof the protective tariff system.
Lincoln had defended II all his life. while
from the sanctum eff the old tribune of
the common people, Horace Greeley had
for twenty years warned his countiymen
against the calamity that had never
failed to follow the policy of buying cur
merchandise i'm Europe at the expens
of the employment and wages Of our own
citizens.
o. An Original Platform.
FL hold in my hand the original state
ment of the republican tariff doctrine,
and for the benefit of those who are
younger, and especially OF those who
have been taught to believe thai the
tariff system of the United States is a
scheme of Il few manufacturers to rob
and despol the market place of the
American people, | will read it, 1t was
good doctrine when Abraham Lincoln
approved it, and Notwithstanding the
noise of our political controversies it il
good doctrine today throughout the Uni
ted States:
That. while providing revenue for the
support Of the general government by
duties upon imports, sound policy re-
quires such an adjustment Of these i'm
posts as to encourage the development of
the industrial interests of the whole
country: and We commend that policy of
national exchanges which secure To the
working men liberal wages, to agriculture
remunerative prices, to mechanics and
manufacturers an adequate reward for
their skill labor and enterprise, and to
the nation commercial prosperity and in
dependence
From that doctrine the republican
party has never departed, and the prac-
teal wisdom of ii has never been demon
strated more perfectly than during the
last ten years.
Revisions by Republicans.
By the favor of my old constituents of
the Tenth district have had the OPP
portunty of participating in the work
of the house of representatives during
three revisions of the tariff; the first, in
1890, when William Mckinley reported
from the ways and means committee the
measure which bears his name. 1t was
up to that time the best considered act
of congress looking to the simpllfication
of our revenue laws and the adequate
protection of all the industrial interests
of our people. II was a tariff revision
undertaken by the party friendly to the
tariff system. at a time when the de-
fccts of the existing law were more
noticeable by far than they are today.
1t was a measure conceived in practical
wisdom, and whatever disturbance in our
Industrial system its enactment created,
the spirit and purposes of congress toward
these industries were very far from hos
tile. Within a year after It's enactment
it was indicated by the experience OF
the business community and became the
basis for a general revival of prosperity
throughout the United States. Its opera
ton was so beneficial to the employments
and business enterprises of our people
that in his last message to congress Cen
eral Harrison had only to quote the cur
rent trade journals to exhibit fortunate
commercial and industrial surroundings
of the country never before attained in
our history
yet that friendly attitude of congress
toward all American industries did not
avail to prevent a general depression or
business incident to the very fact that con-
gress was engaged in revising the sched-
ules of the tariff law. have very distinct
recollection of the effect of this business
disturbance. Factories cut down their
output; the trade limited it's orders: the
demand for breadstuffs and meats I'M
mediately fell off; so that as / went from
county seat to county seat, discussing
the tariff question it was no uncommon
sight to see banners stretched across the
streets by our opponents noting the price
of farm products-'Corn, 10 cents; oats,
10 cents followed always by the sheer
ing exhortation. Keep on voting the re-
publican ticket
II refer to these things so as to ex-
plain the hesitation of such men as
President Roosevelt and Speaker Can
non, charged as they are with heavy re-
sponsibilities for the welfare of the COM
munity. in recommending to congress
wholesale overhaulng of the schedules
of the present tariff law in order to re-
duce duties which are confessedly higher
than present conditions of American busi-
ness require.
Democratic Revisions.
'.Tbe financial panic which followed the
election of Mr.. Cleveland found the demo-
cratic party, for the first time since the
civil war, responsible in all departments
of the government for the administration
of national affairs. Year after year the
party platforms had threatened the de-
struction of the protective tariff system.
1T had been denounced as robbery OF
the many to enrich the few, and every
where described as a scheme OF avarice
and greed to Cypress and defraud the
community The victory of Mr.. Cleve-
land amounted to a proclamation that
the industrial system OF the country,
which had slowly grown up under the
influence of wise legislation, was about
to be attacked. Mr.. Cleveland himself
in his earlier messages to congress and In
a dam rah hn
tective tariff In language so malevolent
that when he said in his first message to
congress on the heels of the election of
1892 After a hard struggle tariff reform
is directly before u.s. the business COM
munity had every reason to believe that
they knew exactly what he meant
THE prostration of our market place
which followed that election can never be
forgotten by the American people. 1t
stands there in the record of these times
as a perpetual object lesson of what hap
pens to the complex and intricate ma
chinery of production in the United States
while the manufacturing and mercantile
communities are standing helpless wait
ing for the axe of tariff reform to fall
upon their necks.
''The ordeal of that national experience
had two far reaching results: 1t drove
the democratic party out of the tariff re-
form business to find a refuge in the
free silver agitation. and it made William
Mckinley the leader of his countrymen
not only i'm the restoration of their wasted
and stricken occupations. but in the
broader responsibilities to the whole
world upon which they have entered.
with his election to the presidency be
gan a new epoch i'm the life of the nation
and the republican party; and the ques'
ton before the American people now II
whether the party is equal 10 the respon-