The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-24
STRUGGLE
 WITH BROKEN PROMISES
BY WALTER HARPER


 Washington, December 23-(special.)- The republicans have not yet claimed credit for the plan of divine salvation.
 They claim the credit for everything else that is good.
 This party that has betrayed the people with vain promises so often is now claim ing the leadership in the movement for the reduction of the tariff. Do not smile. The poor devils are dying.
 Listen to this from the Washington Post, published the morning after the Presidents message on the woolen sched- lIe was transmitted to Congress: What will the democratic House do? It will follow the President, of course, in re- ducing the tariff"
 Follow the President, indeed.
 Don't make us smile; we have blister on our lip.
 There was a time perhaps in the his- tory of this republic when innocent voters took such arguments from politicians ana partisan newspapers seriously and did not analyze facts for themselves. But that time has passed.
  act for themselves. They know who is following and who is leading in this op- eration of giving the people what they have been demanding for years. This eleventh hour effort to again Tool the people will end in miscarriage. The people are looking this time Let us briefly review bit of modern history We have indulged this diversion faxtr cir will not grow old for some time to come. There are those who would have us forget but that will be impossible.
 When William H. Taft was elected President of the United states the party | that elected him made solemn promise | to the people that the oppressive tariff | would be revised They did not designate whether this revision should be up or down but the implication was and the people believed that 1t was to be down. The republicans. after their success at | the polls, relying on past history. believed that they could continue to hoodwink | the people and proceeded to juggle with the tariff in their own sweet way. They made a great pretense at revising | the tariff The President himself went out on the stump and defended the bill that was produced-even the Payne-Ald- | rich law
 l But the people knew what they wanted | They had sense enough to define the sen ! sation in the short ribs as pain and | not as d jingle of exquisite delight. 50 IL came to rass that when they had an op-
 portunity in the frosty fall of 1910 they ap- | piled the recall 10 the party of deception | and vain promises.
 | About that time President Taft, who had previously declared the Payne law | the best ever got hunch and waking ur
 one morning in Winona with a bad taste l in his mouth reversed his views and de- | clared that the woolen schedule of this
 particular law was ndefensible and should be revsed-yes, revised downward | A hunch goes q long way sometimes in | showing public officials their duties 1 But it was getting late now for the re- pubicans to redeem their promises. They had been given all the opportunity that | any party could ask. They had had di- | rect petition from the people and had made direct promises. They had failed
 to deliver and their position had been | overthrown in the House of Representa- 1 tives, where tariff laws are originated and must be originated.
 The democrats had been given control | of the House because the republicans had
 refused to give the people what they want
 cd and what they had been promised. They | did not have so much confidence in the democratic party but they had no conn., dence in the republican party and hoped l that at least the new party could do9no worse than the party that had been ir l power so long.
 But the democrats were earnest and
 honest. They wanted to do something and | got busy Leaders of ability sprang UT
 in miraculous form. They did not go tc 1.-the extremes that many feared and some hoped that they would They adopted z conservative. sane business cepfpe ant