Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-09-18
TRUSTS SEIZE ALL
REAL EFFECT OF REPUBLICAN
TARIFF PROTECTION.
Prosperity Of Which tho Party Has
soasted csnaasd to the Few
Who Became MiIIlonairss
Net tS the People.

When four years ago the Democrats
predicted that the high tariff would
oeget 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
q. U. T. But TIE panic came and the
business depression still continues,
although our Republican friends are
trying to make rs believe that 1t all
mas been but little financial furry"
When We come to consider what eff
tect This exaggerated tariff protection
mas had upon the industrial condition
In this country, how far 1t has pro
ouced prosperity, to what extent 1t Ia
responsible for the perils which now
confront US, and which have involved
the Industrial system of this country
In confusion, If not in paralysis, nc
wonder our Republican friends change
front and instead of standing pat are
now promising tariff revision. The
Republicans still boast of the pros.
perity which they have produced in
tnis country, but no real prosperit!
mas existed. II was sham and moi
genuine, and the first breath of ad.
versity has blown down the who,
laprlc like breath demolishes the
child's house built Of cards.
Not that there has been no pros
perity, far from It. The too prosper
Gus trusts have 1ourished amazingly
out 1t 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
rtved to live and but few of them ia
save. Such are the fruits of protec
tionism. High Dsices for speculative
securities and waAered 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-real prosperity-consists in
the abundance ct commodities fairly
distributed among those who produce
them. 1t means more houses, larger
and more commodious rooms with
healthier people dwelling in them; il
means warmer clothing, covering
stronger and mere healthy limbs;
more abundant iced of better quality;
more shoes and more Of everything
in the nature & comfort that man
can use-mors 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 a pros
perity which is genuine.
Now, how Is that prosperity to be
reached, how are things available fol
the comfort Of asn to be reached?
Can Theodore Roosevelt or Taft
produce a dollars worth of such
things? Can ~ whole Republican
party insure the farmers good crops
although it impisssly claims to be al
lied with omnipetsnce? Have any Of
them, great or small, or all combined
as the government, the capacity ia
increase anything On the face of the
earth? They have shown themselves
to possess the power of spending, Sc
much so that with The end of the fiscal
year at hand there Is a deficiency OF
100000, 900 Of revenue to meet their
expenditures. But II requires the farm.
er and the laborse to produce, for the
trusts, aided BY the politicians, to dis
sipate. The Republican national plat.
form ascribes b fulsome terms all
the benefits that any of us have been
fortunate enough to receive to our
most exalted servant" Theodore
Roosevelt, and tAsn boastfully de.
scribes long LIE Of accomplishments
most of which have not yet been
achieved and never will be under the
plutocratic-bred psiicies for which the
Republican party n famous.
But, after all - Republican party
has had to turn tail and run for
cover from the Righteous wrath of an
injured people h declares its car.
dinal policy Of protection to have
been failure ~ promises to revise
1t after election What the prom.
Use stands for no one knows. The OF
gan of the Protective Tariff league
with joy declares that it means revis-
ing the tariff higher, while Reformer
La Toilette and Rsformer Cummins,
the father of the Iowa Idea" of tariff
reform are satisfied.
The disastrous effect of tariff pro.
lection leads many people to doubt
the honesty Of Republican profession