The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-07-24
TRUSTS SEIZE ALL
REAL EFFECT OF REPUBLICAN
TARIFF PROTECTION.
Prosperity Of Which the Party Has
Boosted Confined to the Few
Who Became MlIllonaires,
Not to the People.

When four years ago the Democrats
predicted that the high tariff would
beget panic instead of prosperity and
that Republican policies would pro-
duce business depression in place OF
welfare and happiness, the whole
| pack, from Roosevelt to the littlest
spellbinder Of them all, pointed with
| pride, etc, to the achievements OF the
| G. o. Z. But the panic came and the
business depression still continues,
although our Republican friends are
trying to make us believe that 1t all
has been but little financial furry"
When we come to consider what ef-
| feet this exaggerated tariff protection
has had upon the industrial condition
in this country, how far it has pro-
| duced prosperity, to what extent 1t Is
responsible for the perils which now
confront us and which have involved
the industrial system OF this country
In confusion, If not in paralysis, no
| wonder our Republican friends change
front and instead of standing pat are
| now promising tariff revision. Tho
! Republicans still boast of the pros
pcrity which they have produced in
this country, but no real prosperity
| has existed. Ii was sham and not
| genuine, and the first breath OF ad-
versity has blown down the whole
fabric like a breath demoishes the
child's house built of cards.
Not that there has been no pros
perity, far from ii. The too prosper
| Gus trusts have flourished amazingly.
but II was not the well doing that
comes from successful labor but the
fortune produced by successful plum
| der. The few have become million.
aires and the many have just con-
| trived to live and but few of them to
save. Such are the fruits OF protec-
tionlsm. High prices for speculative
securities and watered stock doled out
| to gullible victims is the Republican
conception Of prosperity, and that is
the only kind Of prosperity they have
| ever shown in the long years they
| have controlled the government.
Now, the Democratic notion OF pros
| perity-rcal rOsperity-cOnsists in
| the abundance of commodities fairly
| distributed among those who produce
| them. II means more houses, larger
and more commodious rooms with
| healthier people dwelling in them; It
| means warmer clothing, covering
stronger and more healthy limbs;
more abundant food of better quality:
| more shoes and more of everything
| in the nature of comfort that man
| can use-mOre books, higher wages
and shorter hours; more leisure to en-
JOY what increased earnings can buy.
! This alone is what Democrats mean
| by prosperity, and this alone Is pros
perity which is genuine.
Now, how is that prosperity to be
| reached, how are things available for
the comfort of men to be reached?
Can Theodore Roosevelt or Taft
| produce Il dollars worth Of such
! things? Can the whole Republican
| party insure the farmers good crops,
| although It impiously claims to be al.
| lied with omnipOtcnCe? Have any of
| them, great or small, or all combined
| as the government the capacity to
| increase anything on the face Of the
| earth? They have shown themselves
| to possess the power Of spending, so
| much so that with the end of the fiscal
| year at hand there is a deficiency OF
| $50 900 900 of revenue to meet their
! expenditures. But 1t requires the farm
or and the laborcr to produce, for the
| trusts aided by the politicians, to dis
sIpate. The Republican national plat.
| form ascribes in fulsome terms all
the benefits that any Of us have been
! fortunate enough to receive to our
most exalted servant" Theodore
Roosevelt, and then boastfuly de-
scribcs long list of accomplishments
| most OF which have not vet been
| achieved and never will be under the
plutocratic.br policies for which the
! Republican party is famous.
But. after ALL the Republican party
has had to turn tel and run for
cover from the righteous wrath of an
| injured people 1t declares its car
dinal policy of protection to have
been failure and promises to revise
| il after election" What the prom.
Use stands for no one knows. The or.
gan nf the Protective Tariff league
with Joy declares that it means reyis.
ing the tariff higher while Reformer
La Toilette and RcfOrmer Cummins,
the father of the Iowa Idea" Of tariff
reform are satisfied.
The disastrous effect Of tariff pro-
lection leads many people to doubt
l -. colo
and to hope for real tariff reform that
will curb the trusts.