The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-05
CAUSE OF HARD TIMES.

There are nearly always a variety OF
reasons that cause hard times. h
present hard times are due to more
than one cause, some due to BAD
legislation ana extravagant govern
ment, and some to natural causes.
Those hat are preventable should De
charged to the party in power; those
that are worldwide should not fig
ure In political discussions Govern
ment should not undertake to make
any people prosperous or otherwise,
and because Republican policies I'M
dertake to make protected
turers and trusts prosperous at the ex-
pense Of others we see over-grown for
tunes on the one hand and deplorable
conditions on the other hand. In ms
first inaugural address Mr.. Jefferson
laid down the true thory Of govern
ment. Mr.. jefferson asked what
more is necessary to make us a happy
and prosperous people?" And he then
made answer: Still one thing more,
fellow citizen-a wise and frugal
government, which shall restrain
men from inJuring one another,
which shall leave them otherwise free
to regulate their own pursuits Of in
dustry and Improvement, and shall
not take from the mouth OF labor the
bread it has earned. This is the SUM
Of good government. and this is nee
essary to close the circle OF cur fefici-
tics
The laws under which the tariff
takes ten dollars every year directly
into the Federal Treasury from every
man, woman and child, and more than
that sum indirectly for the favored
protected interests, and the immunity
to trusts which fatten on the people
tax from the mouth of labor the
bread it has earned To that extent
the Republican party cannot escape
responsibility for the hard times that
touches every home, This Is no Dem
ocratic statement, but comes from
high Republican authority, for in a
speech delivered at Hot Springs, Va,
I, by Mr.. Taft, in August 1908. he said:
'The last Democratic administra-
ton entered upon its labors in March.
1888, and gave up power, under the
of the people, in March, 1897.
During this period it repealed The Nc
kinney tariff bill, passed in 1890, m
enacted the Gorman-Wilson tariff bill
of 1888. With the prospect OF a. Dem
ocratIc tariff for revenue and Under
the operation of the Gorman-Wilson
tariff bill subsequently passed, a pc
Rod Of industrial depression set in,
which continued through the next
Presidential campaign of 1896"
If the Gormon-Wilson tariff raised
the price Of What the people to
buy to enrich special interests, then
the party at that time was RESPONSE
bic. To that extent and no more.
and yet Mr.. Taft undertook to make
the people believe that all the indus
trial depression" was due to the lower
tarlff. The indianapolis News, an able
independent paper, thinks Mr.. Taft
was wrong in his Hot Springs speech.
and says:
But the Wilson law was passed,
not IN 1893, but in 1894. It went into
operation IN August Of that year. The
mistaken statement was doubtless due
to carelessness, but its repetition in
permanent form at this time is Ger
taInly a still groSser c-arelessness Fur
Their, the period Of Industrial depres-
sion began long before the passage
of the law. The New York clearing
house issued its first certificates-the
lnfalllbie sign Of business distress
June p, 1898. It issued the last Sep
tenber 6, and retired them November
l, 1888. Yet all the time we were I'M
der n Mckinley tariff; the Wilson
tariff law not going into effect until