The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-08-25

employment at remunerative wages,
and our "roseate expectations" real
lied, why should we now, when fac
tories are closed and an army of men
unemployed, seek TO revise that ben
eficent measure at all7
If the wages of labor depend upon
a high tariff, why should any man IA
vor reduction Of that tariff?
II, after eleven years of surprising
prosperity, brought about by the Ding
ley bill, business languishes and labor
suffers. why not excite some more
"roseate expectations" by raising the
tariff rates, to the end that there may
be a much-needed revival of business,
and that labor may again find employ
ment?
The voters o; America are not likely
to be deceived as to the tariff question,
by the stock arguments of the opposi-
ton.
The average voter understands that
the tariff really is tax TO be paid by
the consumer of the article taxed He
knows that taxes in excess of the
needs of the government are unjust
in governmental administration. In
dulged in for the mere purpose Of Gre
ating a necessity for additional taxa
ton. is proflgacy.
He is also coming to know that the
use Of the taxing power of the govern
ment in such ways that q few benefi.
Charles may enrich themselves by levy
ing tribute upon the masses. Is legal
lied robbery.
Every legitimate business interest in
the country is demanding tariff re-
form
The manufacturer who is not a mon
opolist is demanding cheaper raw ma
terials and wider market for his
products.
The workingman understands that a
restricted market means fireless fur
naces and enforced idleness. He
knows that American workingmen
with their superior intelligence and
ingenuity, with their improved ma
chinery, with cheap raw materials and
earning for their employers more than
twice as much as the laborers of any
other country. have nothing to fear
from competition with workmen any
where, when the products of their la
Dor are set down side by side in the
markets of the world. The American
workingman has had bitter experience
under the operation of the Dingley bill
Under the shelter Of this tariff wall,
trusts and combines have sprung up
on every hand, and with extortionate
| prices confront the consumer on every
hand when he seeks to buy the neces-
saries of life.
Under this system the cost of living
so increased as to absorb the earnings
Of the laborer, after the most rigid
| economy and self-denial on his part
and that Of his family. And it is a
noteworthy fact that when, as an in
evitable result of the fiscal policy of
the Republican party, the panic of
| 1907 came, hundreds Of thousands of
these American laborers were thrown
out of employment, and instead of be-
ing able to draw upon the fabulous
savings bank accounts so exploited in
political literature in recent cam
paigns, found themselves and families
In state Of restitution.
The soup-houses of 1908 in the
large cities of the country, were a re.
ahzation of but a part Of the "roseate
expectations" of Republican states
men.
The farmer understands that while
he has to buy everything in protect
ed market, where. on nearly every pur-
chase, he Is compelled to pay tribute
to the trusts and tariff beneficiaries
he is compelled to sell his products in
a free-trade market, where he comes
in competition with all the rest Of the
world
He looks no longer with indifference
upon the fact that the farmer OF Can.
ada, Argentina, Australia and other
civilized countries buys agricultural
implements of American manufacture
cheaper than they are sold to him. in
these days American farmers read aad
think. and are fully advised as to the
evils Of a system which invites such
enormities.
Thinking people of all classes arr
becoming interested In the moral as
pect of this question. The President
In vigorous language. has pointed out
the evils which have grown out OF the
existence of swollen fortunes" the
most of which have been amassed b.
the benef1ciaries of this system.
Senator La Toilette, in a speech de
hvered in the Senate last March, e1
hibited list Of less than one hundred
men who, he declared, controlled thu
industrial life Of the nation, and held
in their hands the business of thu
country. A casual reading of this lis
shows that 1t Is made up of men whC
have been the benehciaries of legisla
ton or favorites in the administrator
of the law.
The President rails against swollel
fortunes as menaces to the public wei
fare and as promotive of evils whicl
eat at the very heart of society. A
remedies he has suggested an incom
tax and an inheritance tax, that thei
growth may be to some exten
checked
The national convention of his part
was silent upon the question of thes
proposed reforms, while the posses
; sors of most of these swollen fortune:
allied as they are with the dominan