Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1910-08-19
A REPLY WHICH ADMITS THE
ACCUSATION AND DENOUNCES
THE ACOUSEP


progress. That is to say. the fact that he
has deemed it essential to make a reply
indicates that the walls of the old fortress
in which the standpatters have been in
trenched are becoming rickety. The main
Notification of Senator Aldrch and his fol-
lowers for the past is years has been the
stolid Republican majority in the Senate.
This majority has deemed itself safe from
the reach of the people and any attack
upon Senator Aldrich in the past has been
treated with cynical and sneering indiffer-
ence. But the rise Of the Insurgent Re-
publican power has made the position of
the reactionary Senators so perilous that
account must be taken of an attack from
even the Insurgents whom the Rhode Is
land Senator affects to despise
In point Of fact, Senator Aldrich's de-
Tense reads more like confession than a
defense. He confesses, or he does not
deny, that he is interested as stakeholder
and director in the great Inter- ontinen-
tai Rubber Company and that his son is
the general manager Of this $40,0O0,OO0
corporation. He does not deny that this
corporation paid over IS per cent divi-
dends in eight months. He does not deny
that he was chairman of the committee of
the Senate which had the tariff bill in
hand. He does not deny that the tariff
law, which by the solemn pledge of the
Republican National Convention and by
the personal pledge of President Taft, was
to be revision downward, made in fact
revision upward" in manufactured rub
Der. amounting to an advance of some II
per cent over the Dingley rate. The Sena-
tor confesses that if tariff tax had been
put on crude rubber, which his company
imports, it would have increased its cost
IF this important raw material" he said,
which completes with no domestic product,
should be placed upon the dutiable list, the
duty would be clearly added to the cost of
the rubber to the manufacturer or the con-
sumner and would not affect the producer"
This is an abandonment of the good old
Republican doctrine that the foreigner pays
the tax.
If tax upon crude rubber would raise
the price to the consumer, we may well
believe that tax on manufactured rubber
also raises the price to the consumer. The
difference is that in the case of the tax on
the raw material the consumer would pay
the tax and the Government would get il
while in the case of the tax on manufac-
tured rubber the consummer still paws the
tax, but Mr.. Aldrich's company gets il,
enabling the company to pay IS per cent
dividends in eight months.
Senator Bristow charged:
First-That Mr.. Aldrich was chairman Of
the Senate committee which increased the
duty on manufactured rubber from 30 to
35 per cent.
Second-That during or Immediately after
the session Of Congress Aldrich in connec-
ton with others had organized a trust
known as the Inter- Continental Rubber
Company, in which he was a large stock
holder and director
Third-That this trust advanced the price i
OF crude rubber, the supply of which ii
controls.
FOurth-That this trust was abe, be-
cause of the increase in the tariff, to ad- |
vance prices of manufactured rubber.
Fifth-That the increased rate on rub |
Der enabled the trust to realize enormous |
profits.
To the first count in the indictment Mr.. |
Aldrich enters a plea of guilty, but he |
claims that he as owner in the stock of |
the rubber company had no interest in the |
protective rate on manufactured rubber,
and that it made no pecuniary difference
to him whether the rate was IS or 800 per |
cent on manufactured rubber, or whether
crude rubber was on the free list or not.
Will the Senator kindly explain why we |
have protective tariff if it makes no diff |
ference to the protected interestsY
He denies that the Rubber Trust was
organized after or during the session of |
Congress 1t was already organized and |
ready to receive the benefits that Senator |
Aldrich bestowed upon Stakeholder and
Director Aldrich.
He admits that the price of crude rub |
Der, which was 70 cents pound in 1902, |
was So pound in April of this year and
is now $2.40, and says the trust has been
holding it down. but surely with slight sue
cess. 1t produces only 100000 pounds
year, or about one-ninth of all used in
the United States, and that amount, he
claims, is too insignificant to affect the
market. But he does not tell how much is
controlled in addition to that which is pro-
duced by his company and those which
are subordinate to it. In this, as in other
points. the Senator's defense consists more
of evasions and denials than of arguments
or proofs In word a dispassionate read
ing Of this alleged defense reduces it to a
practical admission of all the essential
points in Senator Bristow's indictment.
Senator Aldrich's sneer at the Insuraent
Republicans as lacking in convictions and,
inferenually, in capacity, except fer mis-
representation, will not strengthen him with
the American people, who realize fully that
the insurgents are the brains and the con-
science of the Republican party. No won
der that a man who was the especial
champion Of the system Of robbery sane
toned by the Aldrich-Payne Tariff bill,
and who is one Of its particular beneficial
ries, should regard with scorn the Repub-
licans who pirate about the treatment of
the tariff as moral question" Robbery was
formerly considered "a moral question" by
everybody, but. although Senator Aldrich
does not seem to so consider it, the country
has reason to rejoice that other Republicans
do not hesitate to call it by its true name,
and that they decline to be frightened by
the high tariff dragons, roar they never so
hercely.- Baltimore Sun.
nANnHD AMMAN