Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-16
Socialists Affected.


view when he gave the doctrine the indorse-
ment of the foremost man in public life
politicians agreed that the socialists will
Immediately point to it the triumph OF
one of their teachings. With the Presi-
dents words as their text, the socialists, it
was predicted, will preach their full creed
and distort his meaning to their own ends
all down the line.
Farsighted politicians have been expect
ing a socialistic campaign this fall of un-
usual energy. Mr.. Hearst set the ball
rolling in New York last fall in the mayor
atty campaign. He is keeping it up at this
moment throughout the state. In the pre-
lminaries of his campaign for the gov
eTnorship nomination. In Chicago, Boston
and San Francisco his newspapers are To-
menting the cause in their own pecullaf
way.
The debates in Congress this session have
been laying the foundation for socialistic
preachngs later on. The country mas peeh
told of the alleged wronging of the people
by the railroads. of rebates, dlscriInlna-
tfons and the like and of the necessity OF
passing a stringent law to curb the car:
riers The magazines of the muck rake
variety. mathematical by the President
last Saturday have intlamed the country
with tales of the alleged intrenchment OF
corporations in legislative bodies and PIC
tured the President as being hampered
nv the representatives of special interests
Organized labor has declared defiance
against Congress and has entered the arena
of politics with the declared intention of de-
featine every man who is not pledged to do
the bidding of the organization in Congress.
There is unrest among the coal miners and
possibility of grave halting OF production
and earnings among the workers.
Politicians say that this is just the KIND
of a situation wherein the soclallsts prosper
and their doctrines thrive In fertile SOIL
The socialist vote has been growing steaully,
year after year, coincident with the lncreas-
ing prosperity of the country. with all the
conditions ripe for a great boom in social
ism the politicians were asking each other
TODAY how far the socialists would succeed
in making capital out of the Presidents
suggestion OF a tax on inheritances
The Presidents Friends.
The Presidents friends insisted that his
speech might prove to be happy political
stroke. Viewed in this light they said,
''the President sees the drift of sentimen,
in certain quarters, appreciates the unrest
and the mutterings. He forestalls the sit
uation by placing the republican party IN
the position of admitting the evil and pro-
posing the cure with the idea that the peo-
pie would trust him and his party in pref
erence to some professed reformer. 1t is
very much like setting the grass afire ahead
of you to check the prairie fire in the rear.
Some of the ra-cOnSerNatlVeS among
the politicians feared that the socialists
will successfully comfort the Presidents
suggestion to meet their own platform. ii
was pointed out that previous platforms Oh
socialist and popuiist conventions contain
ed pianks which the unthnking might
identify with the Presidents new doctrine
Debs was nominated for the presidency
In 1904 on a platform declaring for the
graduated taxation of incomes, inherl-
tances, franchises and land values the
popuists in their convention OF 1900 rec
commended graduated income ana ltiheri-
tance tax The middle of the road popu-
lists at their convention of 1909 demanded
a graduated tax on inheritances and IN
comes. The socialists in New York city IN
1896 recommended a progressive tax on in
comes and inheritances, the small incomes
to be exempt
OF course. no well posted politician IN
Congress argued that the spirit of these
platforms was breathed in the President
utterances, but the question that bothered
them was. how closely VIII the unthlnkfng
vote be able to differentiate when the So
cialists make their claim?