Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-11-19
gressmen- excepting Bristow and

BreSSIllen- excepting DriStOW ana
Murdoch.
MIR. Taft voluntarily becomes
the champion of high protection
and in so doing he caters to the
east and shows questionable
Judgment of western ideals. He
rallies around him high pro-
lection republicans and brands as
traitors those who voted against
the bill. His public utterance
have but added fuel to a flaming
indignation until the entire west
is a seething, boiling protest
against high protection and Can
nonism.
The republicans have a right
to maintain their life long pO-
SitiOn as high prOtectioniSts. We
commend the Kansas delegation
for voting for what have always
been their ideals-high prOtec-
tion-but we seriously deprecate
their Judgment. Kansas is form
ing itself into a probate court of
inquiry where the sanity of their
actions will be tried and jud"
ment announced. The real prin-
ciple Of protection was not con-
Sidered; the congressional forum
almost became a horse market,
where induStrials privileges were
made and protected industries
played battledore and shuttle
cock. In the end it was simply
a game of give and take whose
principal players had but a COM
mon end in view. Pauper labor
was forgotten; infant industries
had grown to giants; home mar
ket was an exploded theory; a
tariff on farm products an insult
to the farmer. TrampS, pau
pers, strikes, a growing discOn
tent among the wage earners
were not referred to and this
feeling of unrest, growing more
formidable each year, under the
provisions of the Dingley bill
that was passed as a promised re-
lief measure for American labor.
The picture of an American labor
er with a full dinner pail was an
attractive Autograph that made
the Dingley law possible. Living
has increased fifty per cent since
that bill became an enactment
and wages have not nearly kept
pace with the increased cost of
living. That flattering Autograph
has become a monument to a
party's perfidy, and those in
charge dare not invoke the right
eOuS wrath of the great body of
American labor which felt then
more keenly the sting of betray-
al than they did the lack of
promised increase in wages. 1t
was dangerous to again presume
on the credulity of the wage ear
ner and argue higher wages. For
once discreet silence manifested
good judgment. American wag-
es will increase when contract
labor is no more, and a more Sc
we're restrictions placed on I'm,
desirable immigrants.
The west looked on the AID
rich bill as a denial of party
promises and popular expecta
tons. Helpless to stay the bick
ering and bartering, every dem
Ocrat in this great west, with
the least conception of party
principle or patriotism, grew dis
gusted with those of our own par
ty who, to gain some local fay.
or, allied himself with that ele.
ment of the republican party
which seeks to plumber under the
guiSe Of protection. We cannot
excOmmunicate those democrats
who betrayed their trust; they
are responsible to their cOnstit
uentS and if they have not act
ed in accord with the express
ed wishes of their districts thu
voters can be relied on to retire
them to private life. But i.
their support of the Aldrich bill
was the desire of the electors o.
their district, then that distric-
allies itself with and becomes
republican district, and thOst
men should now be longer rec
Ognized in the councils of democ
racy. There is no longer an ex
cuSe for installing the line of de
markatiOn; it is clearly defined
Tariff for revenue only is de
mocracy. A high protective tar