Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-02-28

| ~ w uO CAtiuSuiouCu w tuC Nic'S-
land administration. have not
again been reinstated. No stten-
tion whatever seems to have been
paid to the warning contained in
the last speech upon earth Of our
matyrred President, Mckinley. il
which he admonished the people
that the time mad come for mate
rial changes in the tariff schedule.
and pointed olt the danger Of per-
m'tting the present tariff system
to continue. Six wears have pass
! ed, and in the..six annual messages
of our president. this subject
seems to have heen Studiously
ignored, or relepated to more
convenient season. Our noIiticians
have had but one voice upon thi u
question, Don't touch the tariff
lest you bring on a panic" Let
we'll enough ::out a lone. and the
like. Mean while the trusts are fast
rivetlng upon the common people
a commercial tyrany beside which
the tyrrany of Nero was not a
circumstance, and we are rapidly
drifting into peonage. The panic
has come, and that under the
highest tariff ever known in
American. When is the best time
to reduce the tariff During pro-
sperityY No or you will bring on
a panic. During adversityl No,
or you will then remain under
panic conditions. When then
Well. the next day after never is a
pretty good time. This is the
only deduction we can draw from
the attitude of our politicians. [ t
will be remembered that Congress
man Babcock introduced a bill to
take the tariff from all trusts ar
ticles, and it created a great SEN
sation. 1t died in the pigeon hole
of the committee to whom it was
referred. Mr.. i}abcock's creis
grew less and less, and in very
short time ceased altogthtr. Co.
Incidentally, he blossomed out as
a chairman of one CT the most i'm
portant committees in the gift of
the party. ] think. the National
Congressional Committee; of
course. not as a reward for his
silence but for bis eminent fitness.
Several other inclient ATTEMPTS
have been made BY some of our
party leaders TO bring up the
question Of tariff reform in Con-
g ess, but seem TO have been easi.
ly quieted down. In con-
clusion, | would say l believe we
have lost six years of very valuable
time and should lose no more. /
know no better issue for Republi-
cans, one more important to the
common. people, for Presidential
campaign. than roposition to
strip down with no gentle hand
behind which a trusts op-
preston has sheltred itself. Il
am fully in accord with the tariff
theory of Governor Cummiu of
Iowa; namely. that the high tariff
has long since completed is mis-
sion in promoting industries. and
that the expenses of our govern
ment are now so great that a tar
if sufficient to raise the necessary
government revenue will be found
abundant to protect labor and in-
dustry.
| hope to see general and fair
discussion of this question now.
There is no better illustration
of James g BIaine's reciprocity
theory than is afforded right here
10 Beloit. For lack Of it. our two
principal industries have been
Obliged to expend nearly $1,000,
600 in building and equipping un-
necessary shops in Canada This
seems to me to mean unnecessary
waste Of resources. II the tariff
boundary had been wiped out by
reciprocity between the two coun-
tries. and the tariff on iron and
steel had been reduced horizontal