The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1908-07-07

till it controls, say. fifty per
cent 0 f the product. Then forbid its
r growth"
was unable to see how the govern
could regulate such business any
better than it could lailrOads, but Mr..
Bryan said the government could
withdraw the use of the mails, express,
telegraph, and railroad facilities
from any corporation that is cOnspir-
ing against the public good. And he
proceeded to show how the license sys-
tenn could provide against watering
stock and cutting prices to beat com-
petition in one locality. ''This meth
3D." he concluded, ''hits only the man
you are after, the monopolist."
Returning to the tariff, Mr.. Bryan
called it 1.-THE great source of privi-
lege and prizes" Manufacturers had
been permitted to make the schedules
in their W interest and to levy trib-
ute and increase their private fortunes.
He would go after the tariff in the
public interest: first making free, as
he said above, articles in competition
with trusts: then, cutting the tariff
materially on the necessities of life;'
and SO on down to the revision basis.
Mr.. Bryan, unlike the President,
does not put the trusts and the labor
unions in the same category, nor
would he legislate against them to-
gether. To Mr.. Bryan, unions are
associations of men to improve the
conditions Of labor and living, and
they are not at all like combinations
to control a commodity. His attitude
toward injunctions and other details
of the labor question is we'll known.
and l pass that by. What l wanted
to know was what we all were to do
about this struggle of Labor and Cap
ital, each for a greater share of the
profits of production. He said it was
a struggle that would never be settled.
"We shall gradually approximate to
Justice"
Certainly this is as bad as Taft's
reply, "God knows" when the voice
in Cooper Union asked what he pro-
posed to do about the unemployed. ..
Indeed, these two men-and for that
matter all the leaders questioned-do
not differ essentially in the final anal
ysis of their programs. They all
would return to competition, which
socialism and the trusts would abOl-
ish. They all want to struggle for
survival to 90 on; it is to be a fair
fight. but a fight. and for wealth, too,
even between Capital and Labor.
Bryan, having had more time to re-
fleet and having lived out West, where
the problems of business and politics
are clearer and simpler, sees them
mor definitely than Roosevelt and
Taft, who have been men OF action al
ways. Bryan sees it more as La Fol-
lette does. who, though a man of ac-
ton, has been occupied also in the
West. For example, Bryan goes at
the problem of poverty consciously.
All his policies are directed, as he
himself points out, at excessive
wealth. which is, at bottom, the same
as excessive poverty. And besides
the remedies listed above, he advo.
Gates, like the President, an inherit
ance tax and, more important still,
"a tax on incomes as a regular item
in our fiscal system" So does Taft
advocate these measures; but Bryan
sees the relation to other taxes. "An
income tax would Offset a little the
burden of other taxes, which fall most
heavily on the poor" The constitu-
tional objection of the Supreme Court
Bryan meets with q proposition to
amend the Constitution. Taft regards
this as unnecessary. Indeed. Taft
doesn't want any more legislation
than is necessary to make our present
laws effective. And there we have a
big difference between the two men.
Bryan sees the part privileges play
in our system; he sees it clearly as a
cause of injustice, and he would legis-
late and legislate and legislate till he
had abolished all the artificial ad-
vantages that are granted by govern
ment. privileges for none, justice
for ALL" he repeats. And he sees how
much of our political, commercial,
and social corruption would be re.
moved If the government were to cease
to be a sOurce of advantage for one
man oyer another.
Taft, q proved executive and a born
Judge, would depend upon the execu'
tive and judicial powers of the gov
eminent to achieve the same end. more
| vaguely seen. Bryan is not of the
executive type, and there is reason
to fear that he is no better judge Of
men than Roosevelt, to say nothing Of
Taft; but, seeing the end more clearly,
he would not depend SO much upor
the men he appointed and the courts
to- prevent and punish evil as he
would upon Legislation to remove the
cause. And, unlike Taft, but very
much like Roosevelt, Bryan would
preach and teach and-lead. For, as
he began his talk with our lowered
ideals, so he ended it with higher
ideals: I'VE must not only see to il
that the government shall take away
the prizes that make men pursue a low
ideal; we must all of US as individual:
strive to live better lives and to in
c~ulcate higher ideals in others" Tai
should give us better government o.
things as they are; Bryan, leading III
on to change things, should make u
a better people,
The Lullaby,
| S~hrpvapOpt journal