The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1908-08-25

consumer of the article taxed. He
knows that taxes in excess of the
needs of government are unjust and
oppressive and that extravaganza in
government administration INDUCED
in for the mere purpose of creating a
necessity for additional taxation is
profigacy.
He is also coming to know that the
taxing power of the government In
such ways that a few beneficiaries
may enrich themselves by levying
tribute upon the masses is legalized
robbery.
Every legitimate business interest
in the country is demanding tariff re-
form.
The manufacturer who is not mo-
nopolist is demanding cheaper raw
materials and wider markets for his
| products.
Labor Has Nothing to Fear.
The workingman understands that
| a restricted market means fireless
furnaces and enforced idleness. He
knows that American workmen, with
their superior intelligence and ingenu-
| ity, with their improved machinery,
| with cheaper raw materials and earn
| ing for their employers more than
twice as much as the labOrers of any
| other country, have nothing TO fear
from competition with workmen any
where when the products of their la
hor are set down side by side in the
markets OF the world. The American
workingman has had bitter expert
ences under the operation of the Ding
| ley bill. Under the shelter of this tar
If wall trusts and combines have
sprung up ON every hand and with ex-
tortionate prices confront the con-
sumner on every occasion when he
seeks to buy the necessaries of life.
Under this system the cost of living
so increased as to absorb the earn
ings of the laborer after the most
rigid economy and self-denial on his
part and that of his family. And 1t is
a noteworthy fact when, as an inev-
liable result of the fiscal policy of the
Republican party the panic of 1907
came hundreds of thousands of these
out of employment, instead of being
able to draw upon the fabulous saw
ings bank accounts so exploited in po-
litical literature in recent campaigns,
found themselves and families in a
state of destitution. The souphouses
of 1908 in the large cities of the
country were a realization of but a
part of the ''roseate expectations" OF
Republican statesmen.
The farmer understands that while
he has to buy everything in a pro-
tected market where, on nearly every
purchase, he is compelled to pay
tribute to the trusts and tariff bene-
fciaries, he is compelled to sell his
surplus products in a free trade mar
ket, where he comes in competition
with all the rest of the world.
One Cause of Swollen Fortunes.
Senator La Toilette, in a speech de-
livered in the senate last March, ex-
hibited list of less than one hundred
men who, he declared, controlled the
industrial life of the nation and held
in their hands the business of the
country. A casual reading of this list
shows that it is made up of men who
have been the beneficiaries of legisla'
tion or favorites in the administration
of the law.
The president rails against swollen
fortunes as menaces TO the public vel
fare and as promotive of evils which
eat at the very heart of society. AS
remedies he has suggested an income
tax and an inheritance tax, that their
growth may be to some extent
checked.
The national convention of his
party is silent upon the question OF
these reforms, while the possessors OF
most of these swollen fortunes, allied
as they are with the dominant forces
of the Republican party, are giving
generous support to the Republican
national ticket.
The Democratic party, while favor
ing the reform measures repudiated
by the Republican national conven
tion, has another remedy. 1t would by
legislation in large degree cut off the
streams of money which under the
present system are flowing from every
home in the land and emptying into
the Golfers of the trusts. 1t would
leave in the pockets of the producers
and laborers of this land every dollar
of the money they earn, save only
such amounts as may be needed fol
|, the economical administration of tht
government.
I will not at this time discuss the
several planks of the national plat
form. | endorse that platform in al
its parts and pledge my best en-
deavors towards securing the reform!
to which the party is by its term'
committed. AS the campaign pro
Igresses / shall discuss its various fea
lures from time to time, as opportunit!
lpresents.
Bryan Talks on Trusts.
Mr.. Bryan's prepared address OF
! TRUSTS" concluded the days pre-
gramme. He began by saying tha
t nowhere does the Republican part.
show it's Indifference to real reform
/ more than in it's treatment of tn
1 trust question" He then quoted tn
!, Republican plank on the trusts an
e,l.-