Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-03-11
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
b POLITICS aaaa B
81 ==OF THE DAY M
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
NJ l1k~o~~>~%-

of the accounts and financial methods
of the railroads. To vote this large
sum will make some Of the Republican
friends of the railroads in Congress
squirm, and their action will be watch
ed closely. II the railroad rate law
Is to be useful In reducing rates, the
commission must be given the means
to discover how much the railroads
are now making, and how great reduc-
lions of rates can be made without
crippllng those corporations.
The Tariff and STANDARD OIL,
On Feb. IS, Mr.. Rainey, Of Illinois,
made an excellent speech on the tariff.
Mfr. Rainey is the man who so vigor-
ously attacked the watch trust in the
last Congress. His recent speech, how
ever, dealt with the Standard Oil Trust
and the Presidents attitude toward 1t.
1t was made in support of his bill to
exempt from duty petroleum and Its
products.
Mr.. Rainey is not one of those Dem
ocrats who applaud every adcap tan
dunn trick of Mr.. Roosevelt 1.-THE eff
fort Is made by the President" said
he, ito prove that he is engaged In a
terrific warfare against the. Standard
Oil. AS matter Of fact, the Standard
OIL has not paid the fine Of $4,000, 600
recently assessed against 1t, and no eff
fort has been made to collect 1t. Like
the revision of the tariff, the collec-
tion of the fine has been postponed I'M
til after election. When the elections
have been held the friends of the tariff
and the Standard Oil will, as they
hope, postpone both the revision Of the
tariff and the collection of the fine"
Furthermore, he showed that the
Standard OIL was making 60 per cent
profit on its capital; that Its product
was protected to the extent of 10 cents
per gallon, though ostenslbly on the
free list; that 1t sold its product abroad
much cheaper than at home; and that
the Trades against 1t by the President
were not sincere, because the President
was opposed to any reduction Of the
tariff before the coming election. eat
the present time," said he, "a new
method has been devised to postpone
the revision of the tariff. 1t is tariff
commission, which is to be composed
of Republican tariff experts. The Re
publican idea of tariff expert is a
man who is either In favor of. main
tanning the schedules Just as they are,
or of revising them upward"
Mr.. Rainey's speech was perhaps
the severest arraignment of the Ding
ley tariff law that has been made this
session. In this connection it may be
well to remember that on March 81,
1897. when that bill was under consid-
Grafton in the House of Representa-
tives, the Democrats voted solidly for,
and the Republicans solidly against a
motion to recommit the bill, with In
structtons to report the same back to
the House with amendments placing
upon the free list all articles manu-
factured. purchased, or controlled, by
any combination or organization of per-
sons, formed In the United States for
the purpose of limiting, regulating. or
controlling the supply OF price of any
such article. Record, Vol. 30, page
557. If this motion had prevailed, the
instructions been carried out, and a
bill in conformity with them enacted
there would not have been to-day a
single trust in the United States. But
the motion was defeated by solid Re.
publican vote. and hence the Presi-
dents buncombe TRADES against trusts
are but so many indictments of him
self and his own party. The cure for
trusts is not vulgar billingsgate and
false pretenses. but tariff revision
along the lines proposed by the Demo
crafts in 1897