Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-16
HIGH PRICES AS AN ISSUE.

HIGH PRICES AS AN ISSUE.
The platform which has just beeh
adopted by the Massachusetts de'i'o'
Gratis says that the Overshado"lhg
ouestion this year is the cost or NV
ing" and it adds that the WORKING
man, the clerk, the salarled teacher
and the small tradesman can no long
or bring up his family in reason
able comfort" Democratic papers III
many parts of the country are quot
ing these expressions as if they some
how reflected on the republican
party. Either through ignorance or
dishonesty those papers intimate that
the republicans are responsible Tor
the high prices. The republican
state convention at Saratoga two
weeks ago also referred to the high
prices, but it did so in an Intelligent,
honest way. Advances in cost OF
living" it said, ARE only the local
reflection of tendency that is world
wide, and can not truthfully be said
to be due to the present tariff" Any
body who makes inquiry as to the
prices abroad, and also who takes the
trouble to do little thinking on his
own account, will see that this in
timation of republican responsibility
for the advance does not mean what
the democratic politicians pretended
it means.
Samuel Gompers of the American
Federation of Labor ought to have
been consulted by these democratic
newspapers before they made their
comments on the platform declaration
of the Massachusetts democrats.
After his recent return from trip
through Europe Mr.. Gompers, In an
article in the American Federationist,
the organ of his order, pointed out
that the cost of living, when the
style of living was taken into the
account, differed very little between
the United States and the leading
industrial countries of Europe, while
wages were much lower there than
here. Living is cheap to the wage
worker of Europe" he declared, "only
because he does without what IN
America soon becomes necessity to
him-food in good quantity and quail
ity presentable clothes among his
aspiring fellow-workmen and their
families, and comfortably furnish.
ed home in quarters responding to his
awakened desire for equality with his
American neighbors, and in general
q large and free life" He adds: III
the immigrant to this country is will
ing to continue living here at the.
same level at which he was obliged to|
accept in his native land, he can find
it for the same money" While say
ing this he also said that money
wages in America in many trades are
double those paid abroad" This is
the testimony of a man who has been
a democrat ever since he was natu'
rallied a quarter of a century ago.
He was on the stump for Bryan in
1908 and in his two previous cam
paigns. Nor is there anything new In
what he says. Every other intelligent
person who knows the conditions and
the stple of living here and in Europe,
from actual observation, and who has
talked on this subject, has said the
same thing. Nor are the Massachu-
sets democratic platform makers
sinners beyond the rest of their guild.
They merely repeat what democrats
in other states have been saying since
the campaign started. None Of these
romancers have made any attempt to
get at the facts.
II the Payne tariff act is RESPONSE
Bile for the advance in cost of living
which has taken place in England,
Germany, Belgium, France and the
other industrial countries Of Europe,
then the United States must be a
larger factor in the worlds economy
than any Of our spread-eagle orators
IMAGINE. Except rs 1t has given more
employment and better wages to
workers the tariff has advanced the |
cost Of living in the United States. ;