Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-08-02
RON. IErM GiIlIiNaN. :

Iowa, delivered the following address
Fellow Democrats: The hour Wa,
never more pYopitious for the applica
ton of democratic principles than thu
present. On all sides we behold unrest
and the feeling that the government
of our country is not satisfactorily nd
ministered. The elements contendine
for supremacy are frought with injus
tice and wrong-the concentration Of
power the exacting of tribute, the
wealth of the nation in control of the
few-and are all calculated to cause
the citizen to stop and ask himself
their meaning
The continued existence of politi'
cal party can only be justified where
principle is the basis of its acts For
more than twelve years the republi-
can party has been in control of every
branch of the government. During
this period it has enacted legislation
so contrary to the best interests of the
people, so undemocratic, that it is
now engaged in undoing the work of
former years. The people of the United
States may well stop for a moment
and examine the history 1t has made.
During this period of it's supremacy
1t has enacted two tariff laws that in
each instance increased the cost of
living, without a corresponding in.
crease in the price of labor. 1t has
permitted portions of the public do
main to become the property of syn
dictates for private purposes. 1t has
permitted the expenditure Of public
funds to become so wasteful as to call
for the contributors to such funds to
become beneficiaries of it's laws after
election. 1t has increased the office
holding force to such an extent that
millions of public funds are contrib
uted by way of salary to those whose
chief aim is to direct public opinion
for political purposes. 1t has refused
to permit the people of the United
States to elect by direct vote their
representatives to one branch of the
national congress, and has witnessed
the obtaining of seats therein by the
most scandalous methods it is posi-
BILE for man to conceive. 1t has en-
acted laws so repugnant to, public
opinion that mem bers of it's own faith
have refused to remain responsible
therefor and have publicly repudiated
its acts. During this period it has
witnessed the formation of gigantic
trusts, whose purpose was to stifie COM
petition, and who are today in control
of every agency that would contribute
to public welfare. 1t has enacted
tariff laws so oppressive and SO in.
creasing the tax as to call for the abb
solute necessity of the repeal Of such
laws. 1t has refused to remove the
tax on coal and lumber. so necessary
to the common people, but has reduced
that on diamonds for the benefit Of
its beneficiaries. 1t has refused to re-
move the tax on iron and steel, which
enter into the consumption of daily
arsenic and dragons blood. 1t has
refused to relieve of taxing sewing
machines, but has placed prussic acid
on the free list. 1t has placed tax
on corn meal Of forty cents per hun
dred pounds, but placed dried acorns
on the free list-presumably on the
theory that corn meal may enter into
general use, but dried acorns would
only be used by those who visit the
seashore. 1t has refused to reduce
the tax IN wooden goods, though go
ing directly into every home, but has
reduced the tax on imported silk. 1t
has given to the sugar trust such pro-
lection as prevents competition from
abroad, but taxes the saw of the work
ingman for fear he may have some
thing on rainy day. 1t has refused
to give to the people of Porto Rico the
right to elect one branch Of its legis-
lature, but has permitted the ap-
pointees governing these people to oc-
cupy public buildings without cost.
The People Won't Stand 1t.
Against this line of unjust and op.
pressive laws patient but suffering
people refuse to longer remain silent.
They ask that laws be enacted for the
nation at large, and not for the few;
that the expenditure of public funds
be reduced to the minimum, economy
exercised in every branch of the gov
eminent, and that extravaganza in
public affairs be discontinued; that
home rule be the basis of our legsla-
ton and that the tariff laws have for
their purpose the obtaining of revenue
for the government, and not tribute to
those who weave not, neither do they
spin. Against such legislation as this
in which graft and greed are the po-
tential elements, a united democracy
stands as its foremost enemy and will
at the bar of public opinion defy it's
defenders and overthrow it's makers.
This political organization, con.
demned By it's membership, without
the confidence of the public, is today
appealing for the approval of it's acts.
The spectacle is presented of the pres
ident of the United States, the chief
executive of the nation, proclaiming
that tn Payne-Aldrich tariff law is the
best ever enacted-the one act that
fails to reduce the tax to the con-
sumer, that gives to the wooden and
cotton combination and to iron aud
steel more of chance to exploit the
people of the United States than any
tariff act ever enacted, yet it is an
nounced this measure is to be the cri-
terion of the well-being of this admin
istration.
The Tariff.
Congress was called in extra session
for the revision Of the tariff, the su-
preme question being whether the tax