Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-02-28

ed as not only conservative but neces.
sary. (Applause.) ! believe in the Inn
mediate revision of the tariff, down
ward not upward, and would COM
mence by putting upon the free list
the articles that come into direct COM
petition with the articles controlled by
the trusts (Great applause.) would
give these men certain length of
tme-not too long, Qaughter) say
Few months. and would say to them:
II you don't stop conspiring behind
this tariff wall we will take the wall
away and make you compete with the
world. Great applause.) would then
proceed to make material reductions
IN the necessaries Of life, and would
pick out the fraudulent paragraphs
that were put in by stealth for the
purpose OF securing advantages that
even the trainers of the law did not
understand. and one Of them would be
the duty of $50 per cent. that was put
In for the protection Of oil, after 1t had
been put upon the free list. II you
read the statute, you will find 1t says
that II oil comes from a country that
puts a tariff on oil. then we shall put
similar tariff on oil from that coun-
try. and It happens that our only COM
petitor in oil is Russia; she puts a tar
III on oil, and therefore while on its
race we have free trade in oil, yet
really we have not got it at all. ZAP
plause.) would then proceed to mako
such other reductions as were pos
sible-and when say possible,
mean that the laws are made by the
representatives of the entire country,
and in the making OF the law you
have to consult the opinions Of these
people who represent all sections OF
the country-and would proceed az
rapidly as possible to make such re-
ductons as would be necessary to put
our tariff upon revenue basis, 30 that
our tax laws would be made for the
purpose OF securing revenue for the
government and not for the purpose Of
enabling few people to get rich at
the expense of the rest Of the people.
(Applause.)
@. You said that the proposed as
set currency would give US no-cene
dollar. Is this fair statement, in
view Of the facts that assets worth
dollar for dollar and guaranteed by
national banks will be held as secur-
ity for it?
A. am permitted to use the Ian
guage OF my opponents and they
talked about the silver dollar as a 60
cent dollar: they said that II you melt
ed 1t it was worth only so cents. Let
them apply the melting test to their
dollar and find out how much 1t is
worth. (Applause.) The silver dol
lar was never a 50-cent dollar. It was
1OO-cent dollar, because the law de-
clared that you could use 1t to dis.
charge your debts at 100 cents on the
dollar. People were quite indiscrin,-
mate few years ago. (Applause.)
Q. Has not President Roosevelt
taken the wind out of the sails OF
everybody except socialists? Then,
where is the room for Bryanism-De
mocracy?
A. am not sure that can answer
this question to the satisfaction of
the man who asked the question. for
he evidently believes that the presi.
dent has done everything that can
be done by anybody or any party ex-
cept the Socialist party. I do not
agree with him at all. The president
has tried to do some things. He has
not tried to do everything that is
necessary. For instance, he has not
tried to secure the election OF sena-
tors by direct vote Of the people, ana
that is very important reform. And
he has done some things that 1 do
not think he ought to have done. But,
my friends, the leaders. of his party
have not assisted him to do even
what he tried to do (Applause.) And
SO far most of his recommendation
have not been acted upon.
@. When you speak of "watered
stock" as not representing property,
do you or do you not recognize good
will as being as valuable a property
as is mere tangible property? Would
you confine stock Issues to actual
| tangible property?
A. / think the question fair one.
There is such thing as good will.
II man has built up a business
and established trade and won the
confidence Of people, his business has
a value larger than the mere tangible
property would indicate. But you
will find that good will IL not a large
factor in the monopolies that have
been established. That good will
is preserved under competition. What
we complain Of is not the capitalizing
Of little good will. but it is the cap
italizing OF the power to rob the pub
lic-the good will of the public il q
thing that trusts have not yet cap
| italized.
@. You have condemned the stock
exchange in toto. Don't you recognize
the fact that millions of securities
that are gilt edged and solid ara
bought and sold there every week on
q high basis Of honor9
A. have already answered this.
I stated that there is legitimate
function for the board Of trade, the
chamber Of commerce and the stock
| exchange. We need institutions Of
| this kind, but it IL not necessary to
have large part of the transaction
gambling in order to retain the bene-
fits Of the stock exchange, and what
| we ask for is legislation which will