Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1910-08-19

Vi VIC cuuull5 "ic pusy ehcSC uay5 tiy
ing to convince the people that the
increased cost OF living has not been
caused by the protective tariff. Most
Of these distinguished Journalists, for
the sake Of being regular, are sadly
wanting in consistency Only few
months ago they were pleading with
Congress to put newspaper on the free
list because the tariff was advancing
the price Of the paper they had to
| buy If the tariff more asses the cost of
print paper why will it not increase
the cost of other articles? The Aid
rich-Payne tariff bill increases the
tariff on wooden goods the price of
wooden goocs has increased. There Is
not family in the county which does
not use weolen goods and they have
| to pay the increase in the cost.
The same can be said Of cottoa
goods, Of article made of iron and steel
and there is not all individual, old or
young, rich or poor, who does not use
these and thousands OF other articles
needed in every house In the country
every day.
The very purpose of the protective
tariff is to raise the cost on the articles
upon which it is laid and the claim
that the tariff has not increased the
cost of living is on its very face foolish
and unreasonable.
1t is true that the farmers of the
country are getting higher prices for
the produce thaH some years back but
when the increased cost of producing
these articles is considered it will be
found that it is not the farmers who
are making the money but the trusts
which control the cost of articles the
farmers have buy. 1t costs the far
mer much more to farm now than
ever before. His expenses are greater
which correspondingly cuts down his
profits. The trusts griad the farmers
just as they do every other class q
people. He is made to pay more for
the machinery with which he Guilt
Yates his crops than the farmers of
foreign lands have to pay for the same.
The American farmer must pay more
for his mower, his plew, his threshlng
machine and every other machine
than the farmers of Argentina, thous-
ands Of miles over the sea after the
payment of railroad and ocean trans
! portatIon though the American farmer
/ may live within sight of the smoke of
the factory making the machinery.
a The truth Is that the protective tariff
IS a fraud and hum bug and the peo-
! pie are getting their eyes open to the
fact. The farmers Of the great agricul.
tural states Of the West are especially
getting awake to the truth and there
Is trouble in the republican party in
those states. The Western farmers
are getting exceedingly tired Of paying
tribute to the trusts and they have
called halt. The republican party
in Kansas and Iowa, both Of which
states have been for years as steadfast-
ly republican as Maine or Massachu.
settle, last week in their state conYeu-
tons, rebuked the administration at
Washington fer the deception which
1t prscticed Oh the people in revising
the tariff upward and thus increasing
the tribute to the trusts. Never has a
national administration received such
a rebuke from its party as these states
, have given the Taft administration
and the Aldrich-Payne crew have
been com pletely demoralized.
1t is not only the increase of the
eost of Giving that has caused the
growth of Emergency in the West but
the way in which the tariff laws have
been made that has aroused the
people. They have at last seen that
the beneticiaries of the protective tar
i'll have control OF the adm inistratic ]
aud Congress and that they make the
tariff laws while the interests of the
consumers, are neglected and the
ipeople are robbed The pespl e
are beginning to sac that the re-
publican party, as it Is run to-
day, is IN partnership with the
trusts in their nefarious business of
p.underlng tie consumers, that the