The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-09-24


which nominated Charles f. Hughes
for Governor of New York, addressed
the convention in part as follows:
Mr.. Roots speech.
I'VE can turn to the administrations
now drawing to a close, both in the
State and in the nation. and with con
fnence ask every American voter to
say whether they have not met all the
great fundamental questions of good
government, whether they do not jus
tify the belief that it is best for the
country to keep in power the party
which is responsible for them and is
entitled to the credit of them. Have
not these administrations within the
State and within tne nation been hon
est? Have they not been capable? Have
they not been efficient? Have they not
set before the people of America exam
pies Of pure, high-minded and patriotic
service in public office: Have they not
raised the standard of public duty
which the young men of America nave
set for themselves? Have they not
done us honor before the world:'
MIR. Bryan Answered.
Mr.. Root took up and answered at
length Bryan's question, "Shall the Peo-
pie Rule!" including the various ar
fragments of the Republican party and
its leaders made by the Democratic can
didate in recent speeches. Among other
things he said:
Mr.. Bryan charges that the Repul,-
lican party is responsible for the abuses
of corporate wealth. AS well might he
charge that the man who plants cotton
is responsible for the boil weevil, or
that the man who plants fruit trees is
responsible for the San Jose scale Tn
til the millennium has brought the
eradication of human selfishness and
greed. social abuses will come accord
ing to the shifting conditions of the
times. Adversely and prosperity, wealth
and poverty have each their own kinds
of abuse. Constan. viz lance and con-
slant activity to me,. ald put an end
to abuses as they arise is the task of
government and of good citizenship:
but the work is never finished. The
Republican party has produced the con-
ditiOns which have made our great pros
perity possible, and it is dealing with
the evils which have been incident to
that prosperity with vigor and effective
ness. Upon the course to be pursued
regarding these evils, upon the attitude
and action of the government towards
trusts, railroads, and all the great cor
porations. there is no substantial issue
between the two parties.
Tariff Revision.
The Democratic party proposes that
they will wipe out the protective tariff
and substitute tariff for revenue orffy
| shall not discuss that proposition, but
it ought not to be forgotten. The eley-
en- years which have passed since the
Dingley tariff was enacted have brought
about many changes i'm the conditions
| to which the tariff law is applied. Many
| of these changes have resulted from the
very prosperity which the protection
afforded by the tariff has produced. In
| the nature of things, such changes must
| occur and from time to time every tar
| if must be revised and adapted to the
new conditiO s. AS the period of revis-
ion, however, is always one of uncer-
tainty and consequent injury to bust
ness. revisions ought not to be made too
often or upon slight grounds. The
Republican party has not considered
that sufficient grounds for thus disturb
ing business have existed heretofore
| 1t now considers that sufficient grounds
do now exist, and it Las pledged itself
Immediately after tie 4th of March
next to devote an extraordinary session
of Congress to making such a revision
in accordance with the true principles
OF protection.
| .'The last time the Democratic party
! was I'm power the result was the Will
son-Gorman tariff of 1893. The very
| threat of such a proceeding at that
time stopped business, closed the mills,
threw millions of men out of employ
| ment. and was accompanied by uni
versal business depression and disaster
| : re we ready to repeat that experience
now, as we surely shall If we put the
Democratic party In power?
| The Railroads
'The Republican party believes il
| the regulation of railroads. 1t believes
that their managers ought to- be made
and can be made, to obey the law II
believes that by an enforcement of the
lav not spasmodic and sensational, but
steady, firm. and persistent, excessive
and discriminating rates can b.
stopped: and it is now, and has been