Gloucester County Democrat., 1908-07-16


ligated to the highly protected interests
as is the Republican party. We call
attention to the significant fact that
the promised relief was postponed un-
| til after the coming election, an cleo
ton to succeed in which the Repub-
lican party must have that same sup
port from the beneficiaries of the high
protective tariff as it has always here
tofore received from them, and to the
! further fact that during years Of un-
interrupted power no action whatever
has been taken by the Republican con-
gress to correct the admittedly existing
tariff iniquities.
We favor immediate revision of the
tariff by the reduction Of import du
ties Articles entering into competition
with trust controlled products should
be placed upon the free list, and mate
rial reductions should be made in the
tariff upon the necessaries of life, es-
pecially upon articles competing with
such American manufactures as are
sold abroad more cheaply than at
home, and graduate reductions should
be made in such other schedules as
may be necessary to restore the tariff
to a revenue basis.
Existing duties have given to the
manufacturers of paper a shelter be-
hind which they have organized com
binations to raise the price of pulp and
Of paper, thus imposing tax upon the
spread of knowledge We demand the
immediate repeal of the tariff on pulp,
print paper, lumber, timber and logs
and that these articles be placed upon
the free list.
The house of rep
Arbitrary Power resentatives was de-
Of Speaker. signed by the fa
Tiers of the consti-
tuition to be the popular branch of our
government, responsive to the public
will.
The house of representatives, as con-
trolled in recent years by the Repub-
lican party, has ceased to be a deliber-
ative and executive body, responsive
to the will of majority of its mem
bers, but has come under the absolute
domination of the speaker, who has
entire control of its deliberations and
powers of legislation.
We have observed with amazement
1.-The popular branch of our federal gov
ernment helpless to obtain either the
consideration or enactment of meas
ures desired by majority of its mem
bers.
Legislative government becomes a
failure when one member in the per-
son of the speaker is more powerful
than the entire body.
We demand that the house of repre-
sentatives shall again become a delib-
eratiye body, controlled by majority
Of the peoples representatives and not
by the speaker, and we pledge our
selves to adopt such rules and regula-
tions TO govern the house of represent
atiyes as will enable q majority of its
members to direct its deliberations and
control legislation.
We demand fed
Publicity of eral legislation for
Campaign ever terminating the
Contributions. partnership which
has existed between
corporations of the country and the
Republican party under the expressed
or implied agreement that in return
for the contribution of great sums of
money wherewith to purchase cleo
tons, they should be allowed to con-
tinue substantially unmolested in their
efforts to encroaeh upon the rights of
the people.
Any reasonable doubt as to the ex-
istence of this relation has been for
ever dispelled by the sworn testimony
of witnesses examined in the insurance
investigation in New York and the
open admission, unchallenged by the
Republican national committee, of
single individual that he himself, at
the personal request of the Republican
candidate for the presidency, raised
over $250000 to be used in a single
state during the closing hours of the
last campaign. In order that this prac-
tice shall be stopped for all time, we
demand the passage Of a statute pun
ishing with Imprisonment any officer
of corporation who shall either con-
tribute on behalf of or consent to the
contribution by corporation of any
money or anything of value to be used
in furthering the election of presi-
dent or vice president of the United
States or of any member of congress
thereof
We denounce the action of the Re-
publican party, having the complete
control of the federal government, for
its failure to pass the bill. introduced
in the last congress, to compel the pub
| lication of the names Of contributors
and the amounts contributed toward
campaign funds, and point to the evi-
dence of their insincerity, when they
sought by an absolutely irrelevant and
impossible amendment to defeat the
passage of the bill. AS further evil
donen 0f their intention fo conduct