Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-05-28

| Popular Opinion - Fail to State
| if Revision Should Be Up or Down.
| Evidently there will be no openly
stand pat candidate for the Repub-
| licaD nomination for president. 1t
| seems DOW to be neck and neck race
between the former stand patters,
Cannon and Fairbanks, to see which
will make the largest bid for tariff re-
| form support without burning behind
them bridges that afford connection
with the heavily protected interests"
Speaker Cannon, through the Illinois
platform, declared for revision after
March 4 1909. On April 1 the vice
president, through letter read at the
Indiana convention, came out for re-
vision Immediately after the election
in November Now the speaker by a
resolution introduced in the house of
representatives on April 2 shakes a
big stick at one Of the conspicuous
tariff benefciaries, the paper trust.
The speakers resolution requests in
formation from the attorney general
and the department of commerce and
labor with reference to criminal prose
CutiOn of the paper trust and investiga-
ton into it's affairs. This action would
seem to be a flank movement to avoid
a direct issue at this time on the re-
mOvaI Of the tariff on paper and wood
pulp, as recommended by the president
and overwhelmingly demanded by pub
lie opinion and no doubt favored by
majority of congressman. Mr.. Cannon
is reported to have expressed the Opin-
ion that the high price Of paper may be
due to illegal combination on the part
Of the trust and not caused by the
tariff at all. He would have the trust
prosecuted, enjOined, dissolved, etc.
Far be it from us to shield the paper
trust from any of these dreadful pro-
Ceedings, but the speakers move illus
trateS well the usual attitude of the
politicians on issues of this kind They
give to manufacturers or allow them to
retain a tariff WALL which is in itself
strong temptation to combination and
monopoly and protection against pos
sible disturbance in the enjoyment Of
monopoly privileges This is their con-
tributiOn to the interests" But they
are equally generous with the people.
For their benefit rigorous laws are
passed, making criminal OffenSeS OF
the very things which the tariff has
encouraged and protected. Of course
such laws are not enforced. and if
perchance the big stick is brandished
too close to a trust it disappears" to
appear again in a form less vulnerable
to legal attack But the trust never re-
IinquiShes its monopoly or fOrgets to
raise the price to reimburse itself for
the trouble of prosecution or the pay
ment of fines.
If the high price of paper is not
caused by the tariff, the speaker must
yet acknowledge that it could do no
harm to remove the duty, even though
it did no good. He and other protect
OrS of the interests" might be driven
to try this experiment if the people
would show they are next to the pol
iticians' game.
All the Republican candidates ex-
Cept Senator La Toilette have forgot
ten to state whether they would revise
the tariff up or down The people
should inquire into this, for it is a mat
ter of some trifing Importance wheth-
er they are to be robbed more or less.
Suspicion on this point is aroused by
the fact that all Of the wOuld-be re-
yiserS insist on Il new lease of official
power before making any attempt to
relieve their constituents of the bur
dens now expressing them. If their
action were to be in the general inter
est Of the people, why not give the peo-
pie Il taste of the good things before
election? This might whet the public
appetite for more of the same sort next
year 1t would seem that general
promises Of fine things to be done
latter election" or next year" would
by this time have lost their seductive
power for American ears.
Jesse II OPTION