The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-06-20

licity for campaign contributions. They
absolutely dominated the Chicago con-
the platform anything they desired to
put there And the publicity plank was
defeated by vote of $50 to "a, ma
jority of nearly 500 votes. That is,
eight-tenths Of a convention controlled
by Taft and Roosevelt went on record
against a proposition ostensibly favored
by the controllers.
1t is hard to account for this over
whelming vote except on the theory
that Messrs. Taft a, Roosevelt are
not really in favor of making a frank
statement of the contributions received
and TO be received by the Republican
national committee in this campai-n.
II must be that they are expecting to
receive money from sources of which
they would not care for the public TO
have knowledge. There is no other
avenue of escape.
The voting down of the popular cleo
ton of senators was not surprising. 1t
may have been Influenced, in part at
least. by the recent result in oregon,
where a Republican legislature is in
honor bound to elect a Democrat to the
United States senate, because the Dem
ocrat received a majority of the votes
cast at a recent election. But the Re-
publicans, as a party. have never been
in favor of electing senators by popu-
lar vote. If it had not been for the
votes Of Republican senators a consti-
tutiOnal amendment covering this point
would long since have been submitted
to the legislatures of the various states
The usual Republican lack of interest
i'm the west was manifested in the de-
feat of the bureau of mines PROPOSE
ton. Mr. Roosevelt is often spoken of
as a western president because he lived
for a time on a Dakota ranch. The west
had a right to believe he took enough
interest in it TO at least suggest,
through the platform. the establishment
of this bureau. for the west would be
distinctly benefited by it. But Mr..
Roosevelt and his political heir did not
take the necessary interest, and so the
plank was left out.
The refusal 10 adopt anything re-
motely approaching an honest tariff re-
vision plank shows quite conclusively
| that the countrywide desire for a re-
vision of the tariff can never reach
| fruitiOn through the Republican party.
/ The revisionists did not ask for much.
/ They only wanted to commit the party
/ to a reduction of duties TO point equal
/ To the difference between the cost of
I production at home and abroad. That
would be fair. 1t would prevent the
/ manufacturers from using the tariff as
a tax on home consumers. But the Re-
publicans. hoping TO be able TO fry
/ the fat" out of the protected interests.
promptly killed this mild suggestion.
There was another sop for the trusts
in the defeat of the appeal for a law
TO prohibit combination formed for the
! purpose of sitting competition and i'm
| posing the Imprisonment penalty for
violations. 1t was doubtless the prison
alternative that brought about the re-
/ lection of this plank.
! The refusal 10 adopt the plank pro-
viding for the extension of the eight
/ hour law to all government depart
/ ments is an indication of the Repub-
lican love for the laboring man. The
| fact should not be lost sight of in the
/ campaign.
! And the responsibility, the full re-
sponsibility, for al these sins of omis-
sion rests upon the shoulders of Will
/ They cannot evade it, for the record
shows that the convention was theirs
10 handle as they pleased.