Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1907-11-15
A REPUBLICAN PANIC.

paratlvely unimportant. The certain
and significant thing ia that it will be
known as a republican and high tariff
panic. Protest as republicans may, they
Flu be held responsible. And it will
be not only poetic but political justice
:hat they should be.
Out OF their " mouths, the ~republi-
AN party end the Dngleyites will stand
condemned. They fixed in 1896 the
'tandLrd by which they can not escape
beng judged. In the party platform
of that year, they referred to the panic
VI 1873, and the hard times following,
squarely to churge up the entire &c
o~ountability to the party in control Of
the national government. Not one word
did they utter nbout the hand Of the
Lord having been heavy upon the
country i'll crop failures; not Il syllable
was admitted about the unwiS % fiscal
measures, and the dishonest silver legis-
alton, for which the republican party
VAS directly responsible, and which all
impartial students Of the time agree had
igreat deal to do with the financial dis
%turbances that came later. No, every
Jung was charged up to the imhecile gov
,rment. 1t was the democratic admins
ration winch, the republicans fervently
'lleged in 1896, had ~~psecipitated panic
and ahalted enterprise And the poll.
lcHl inference WIS stated with merciless
logic. @Every consider ration nf public
safety and individual interest demands
hat the government be rescued frou
he hands OF these who have shown
themselves incapable Of conducting it
\ y : and shall be restored to the party
which for thirty years administered it
with unequalled success and pros
oerIty."
Now, what are the republicans gong
20 do when the democrats hand them
back their poisoned chalice? What,
above all, are they going to say about
the tariff rs an infallible and magical
creator OF wealth and guarantor of
prosperity? y great emergency has
come, and the high tariff is seen to he of
no avail whatever. 1t was To keep - al
rich and prosperous. IL any man talked
about In! ing "A rash revising hand upon
it, he was to be denounced aud squeIch-
ed, As President Roosevelt WAS, lest
even TO question the supernatural Writ
ues of 81. Tarifa might cause her 10
withdraw her favor, when We should all
be miserdbly ruined.
1t If, I'D fact, an extraordinary feature
81 this period OF apprehension and panic
rlnl 10 mortal mar has, to our knowl-
u any help whatever III the time al
trouble. Yet il the re liz a word OF truth
III what has been said by republicans all
thsse years, the tariff Is the first thing
every body ehuuld lave been turning t.
III the crisis. Is it not high customs
duties which keep wages high ana
everybody employed, make the Trade
balance favorable, uId stuff the bauKs
with money! So We had fonlIy be-
level. II the iirst alarm, however, III,
republicans dropped their tariff fetch
They had not even the consistency OF
the worshippers Of Baal, who stood by
their idol even when it did not seem to
be dong Its work we'll. What We
should hnve witnessed these past weeks,
II republicans nave writ their prosperit!
annals true, was II loui demand for II
higher tariff as our only salvation. AS
III 1896, the republican should have
Inflated the prophets OF Bual, cried
aloud and cut themselves with knives
and lancets, and from morning unit
noon called out, "Oh, Tariff, hear u.s.
One reason they did not, may possibly
have peel that they feared lest some
trec-trRder Elijah nigh: stand by ana
mock them: "Cry aloud; FOR he in u
god; either he is talking, OF he is pursu.
ing, or he is in Il journey, or pcradycnt-
ure no %sleepetb, and must be awaked.T
But Baal was Il respectable object of
Worship compared with the tariff.
or course, sensible republicans have
never believed n thousandth part OF the
nonsense about the tariff as our sole
hope and stay. They nave thought OF
il as II clever politicn! dodge to diIatc on
their party as the orly one that can
make the nation prosperous by meaDe Of
protective taxes, and have only hoped
TINT their good luck in avoiding paDics
would keep on. Tho panic oi 1893 was
really their punic, but they ran and left
1t on Cleyeland's doorstep. For some
time pasi, they have been praying that
tho good tImD might not fail till after
the next presidential election. This
shows how they have thought Of the
whole thing M political. But nov their
panic chickens have come home 10 roos, .
llore Wa arc 10 M "oT' year; the little
talk there ia Of tariff reform comes more
from republicans than from democrats;
no polite Il bugabOo can be alleged to
be interfering with the benciiceni
workings Of the high tariiT, yet il IL
visibly failing to do what it's champions
have vowed il nlwuys would do. The
advance agent OF prosperity Inns been
replaced by tho till collector Of
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