The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-25
WILL THE PROSPERITY FABIAN
 WIN?


 Speaker Cannon's keynote speech has been received by the country as it de- serves to be, It was-we may well say it is, for 1t will not die very young - really great production. Through out the congressional campaign that paean of progress and prosperity will be the inspiration of thousands of elo- quent writers and speakers, who will plead, with what they believe to be god authority, for continuance of Republican rule uninterrupted by po- litical break in the legislative depart ment. Since the election of William Mckinley as President" said MT. Can non, "the business of the country has doubled, and material interests of all the people have become better than ever before in our history aye, better than the condition of any people any, where on earth in any time since his- tory began. Attribute this condition to what cause you may, speculate about it as you will, call it confidence in men or measures the fact remains that it exists, and that there never has been recorded anywhere else such industrial development and such wave of pros- perity as has swept over the United States in the last decade.' It will not be easy to break the force of that dec- laration, nor. will the opposition be helped by comparison of party rec ords in legislation on economic subjects
 In entering upon it's present crusade for tariff reform, the Democracy is confronted with the story of it's signal failure to carry out promises in that direction when, for the first and only Congressional term since 1858, it found itself clothed with legislative powers. Another feature of the campaign Is that, if the Democrats win, the Demo- cratic House will be utterly impotent for tariff legislation, confronted, as 1t will be, by a Republican Senate and a Republican President, That situation would render tariff revision impossible, thus giving the overprotected monopo- listic combines an assurance of im- munity from the menace of reform by the Republicans under compulsion of the growing demand in their own party We shall have telling exposures of the iniquitous inequities of the present schedules. It will be shown that hun dreds of millions of dollars have been Ilegislated into the coffers of a com paratlvely small number of special fa- vorites It will be demonstrated that dividends have been paid and are still being paid on enormous aggregations of fictitious capitalization. Indeed, one of the most difficult phases of tariff reform lies in the fact that a fair, req sonable rate of protection, such protec- ton as the fathers of that policy stood for, would be likely to produce panic | by letting floods of water out of stocks | that are now earning dividends by compelling the masses to pay exorbi- tant prices for indispensable commodi- | ties. But the one great weakness of the Democracy the one strong hope of the Republicans, is that the Democrats will not abandon their futile contention foI
 "a tariff for revenue only; that ir their lexicon protection spells rob- bery" The realization of that dream | is further off today than 1t has ever seemed to be since the Republican par | ty was born, nor will 1t be brought an hour nearer by tying up legislation be- tween a Democratic House and a Re- publican Senate in the sixtieth Con- gress.-From the Washington Post.