The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-15
md mas SPOKEN.

| = expresses 1t. "the Republicans will fix the tariff . We have no doubt as to either proposition. The Republicans dare not touch ths>.tariff until after another presidential election. and Lodge knows it. And we have no doubt that they will fix it." They have been fixing 1t for years and each I time leave it in worse fix than 1t was | before Of course the Democrats are powerless to accomplish anything. As The Richmond Journal expresses it, 'the thinking we Democrats may do along the revising line can hardly ma terialize in concrete workable statutes. as there are fewer of us than of you, both in the House of Representatives ! are in large minority of one in the 1 White House. The pleading of the Democratic Party for a relaxation of l the robber tarif's death grip upon the throat of industry and the toiiing masses will be as the croaking of the solitary bittern in the vasty wilderness or the pitifui plaints of the Korean Emperor. and none is more alive to this fact than is the Senatorial Pres idential photograph.
 That is about the size of it, but Dem- ocrats can do something besides plead They can show up the cowardice of the
 Republican leaders who refuse to let any demands of fairness and justice
 stand in the way of their hope of suc- cess next year. They can show up the | hypocrisy of promises put forth by | such men as Senator Lodge. What Is
 more. the Democrats can unite in
 making tariff reform one of the main
 issues--if not really the main ope-in
 the next campaign, and by so doing
 force the Republicans to do the re-
 vision at the next session of Congress,
 or else come out boldly before the
 people of the country as the defenders
 and uphoiders of the .robber tariff ]"
 They can do something more than
 'plead": they can demand and thus
 force their opponents to go on record
 for or against the great body of the
 people of the country. Will Democ-
 racy have the courage to do the right
 thing?
 And. speaking of tariff matters, our
 attention has been called to a recent
 official report made to the President by
 Robert Knox Smith, Commissioner of
 Corporations with reference to Stand
 ard oil operations. Without going ex-
 tensively into the details of Mir. Smiths
 report it is sufficient to say that he
 shows that the great corporation has
 been selling it's products much cheaper
 in Europe than it sells them to the American consumers. It is pointed out
 that the Standard has to deal with
 strong competition in foreign countries
 and in order to keep up it's business
 over there it sells its products much ' cheaper to the people of those coun- :. tries than it does to the American
 purchaser. In short. it undersells for eigners in their own market and forces the home people to pay the cost. That Is a serious charge. and we
 do not propose to defend the Standard or
 attempt to palliate its offences, but
 is it not just a little bit strange, not ! to say ridiculous. for an official of the
 1raSart adpniO4stra tfau 4o sot ,,n suoh porteatious official indictment against , the Standard when every one connect ed with the present Government knows
 that other corporations have been do. a ling the same thing right along under q the protection of our tariff system and P nothing said about 1t officially? Not s to mention others. it is a wei known fact that the great iron and stee trusts sell their products in foreign
 countries cheaper than they sell then
 here. and for exactly the same reason 7 The great producers of England, Ger, , many and perhaps other foreign coun n tries sell their manufactures of iroI t and steel at prices which would effec 7 tually shut out American products f l. tthe latter did not sell at prices tha enable. them to compete successful! | with them on their own ground. Then [ as our ''robber tariff' Is practical! r prohibitive, the trust can charge Amer a a iean consumers much greater price t than it does the foreigners and stil 7 defy competition at home. because thei
 robberies are built up and protecte, Q by the tariff.
 e This Is one example of what is dom q here and we might give others. but thi e Is enough to show that Standard oi o is not alone in the work of iniquity e But Standard is now under sentence if and on the principle that 1t is alway s safe to hit the under dog. the admin II isrtation finds it good to take a fal
 out of it. Being in bad odor already
 the President and his officials propos ,+ to make capital for themselves b jumping on it also, and thus pose be l. fore the country as the protectors O 1T the people.
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