Arizona republican., 1906-08-31

the public welfare may require. The control which congress has over fn- terstate commerce is complete and if congress can prevent the transporta- tion of a lottery ticket through the mails by the express companies or by freight it can certainly forbid the use of mails, the railways and the tele- 1 graphs to any corporation which is ! endeavOring to monopolize an article 1 of commerce.. and no party can long be | credited with sincerity if t scOndemns | the. trusts with words only and then permits trusts to employ all the instru- mentalities of interstate commerce in carrying out of it's nefarious plans. It is far easier to prevent a monopoly than to watch it and punish it and this presentation can be accomplished in practical way by refusing a license to any corporation which controls more than certain proportion of the total product-this proportion to be arbi- trarily fixed at point which will give free operation to competition.
 The tariff question is very closely allied to the trust question and the reduction of the tariff furnishes an easy means of limiting the extortion which the trusts can practice. can not permit this opportunity to pass without expressing the opinion that the principle embodied in the protec- tive tariff has been the fruitful source of a great deal of political corruption as well as the support of many of our | most iniquitOus trusts.
 THE TARIFF.
 But one of the worst features of the tariff, levied not for revenue, but for the avOwed purpose of protection, is that it fosters the idea that men should use their votes to advance their own financial interests. For a generation the fat has been fried out of the manufacturers by the republican con- gressiOnal committee and then the manufacturers have been reimbursed with legislation. With the public con science educated to believe that this open purchase of legislation was en- tirely proper. no wonder that insurance companies have used the money of their poIicyhOlders to carry elections no wonder that trusts have hastened to purchase immunity from punishment with liberal donations. How can we draw a moral distinction between the man who sells his vote for five dollars on election day and the manufacturer who sells his political influence for fifty or a hundred dollars. payable in divi- dends? How can we draw a moral line between the senator or congressman elected by trusts to prevent hostile legislation and the senator or congress- man kept in congress by the manufac- turers to secure friendly legislation? The party which justified the one form of bribery cannot be relied upon to condemn the other.
 There never was a time when tariff reform could be more easily entered upon, for the manufacturers by selling abroad cheaper than at home, as many of them do. have not only shown their ingratitude toward those who built the tariff wall for them but they have dem onstrated their ability to sell in com petition with the world. The high ! tariff has long been a burden to the consumers in the United States and it 1 Is growing more and more a menace to | our foreign commerce because it | arouses resentment and prOvOkes re- | taliation
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