Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-05-11


labor from competition with the pauper
labor of Europe. Then they insisted on
protection for the American farmer.
He must be protected, forsooth, by pre-
venting the importation of articles
which he is constantly exporting and
world and in competition with all the
world.
Driven from one position to an
other, / indulge the hope that they
reached their last ditch when they
proclaimed that the law should guar
antee q reasonable profit to the manu-
facturer. No conditions imposed, no
qualifications provided! The invest
ment may have been a foolish one; the
machinery may be out of date; the
business may be mismanaged the cap
ital stock may be inflated; so, or 100.
or even 200 per cent Of water may
have been pumped into the stock, as
appears to have been done In the case
OF the steel trust, but still, according
to the platform promise, the concern
is entitled to a reasonable profit, and
the interested parties are to decide
what constitutes a reasonable profit.
TT is said when the "a directors
of the steel trust sit down TO their
wealth OF the United States is repre-
scented IN their chairs. This is further
illustrated by the fact that one per cent
of the American people own more prop
erty than the other 80 per cent.
"Of all those who have suffered
from tariff exactions none have suffer.
ed more than the farmers None
have given more or gotten less through
protection than they have. 1t is said
by protectionists that putting agricul-
ural implements upon the free list will
not give them any relief; that they
can now buy agricultural implements
cheaper than they can be bought in
any other country. Then what objec-
ton can there be to putting agricul-
tural implements on the free list?"
TAFT ANTAGONIZES PROGRESsIvEs.
President Taft took the leading part
in the light against giving the progress
sive republicans of the senate the COM
mittee places they demanded. which
fight resulted in leaving all the big
senate committees the same citadels of
special privilege that they were in the
previous congress.
Before the republican caucus was
held the regular republicans of the
senate signed an agreement by which
they agreed to give the progressives
the one-fourth representation upon all
the committees to which they were en-
titled because of their numerical
strength Senator Penrose, who sign
ed the agreement for the reactionaries,
is said TO have bitterly arraigned his
regular colleagues for putting him in
the position of breaking his political
word, which he declared he had al
ways especially prided himself upon
keeping inviolate.
II is declared Penrose's breach of
faith with the progressives was forced
by White house pressure President
Taft considers progressives like La
Toilette his personal enemies, and he
does not want them in a position 60
assist the democrats to pass progress
sive house legislation like the farmers
free list bill through senate commit
tees, which they could do by combin-
ing with the democrats IL given the
on the big committees
that was promised them and which
they are justly entitled to because OF
their numbers.
SCHEDULE X Is NEXT.
Schedule K, the joker-filled wool
schedule of the PAYNE ldrfch tari6