Arizona republican., 1911-11-26
Mir. Folk a False Alarm.

democrats yesterday the Hon. Joseph Folk of Missouri made the serious blunder of talking free trade.
 About the most unpopular of all political doctrines in Arizona just now is the doctrine of free trade
 Arizona does not wish to put her self on an equal footing with MeXi- co in selling her products in the markets of the world Arizona wants protection for oranges and lemons protection for cotton. protection for wool, protection for cattle, protection for lead and zinc. protection for beet sugar. and protection generally for the products of Arizona soil.
 MT Folk shot another wild arrow in attacking the Adrich plan of cur rency reform The monetary com mission has been working for some years on a plan to provide for a system of elastic currency, so that in times of panic, it will not be nec- essary for sound banks to suspend As was to be expected, the first bill
 prepared by the commission was inn perfect in many details; at any rate
 congressman in both parties, and bankers in various parts fo the Coun- try suggested changes. For one thing the notion of a central bank which might acquire too much power was criti-
 cized. Mir Aldrich and the other members of the commission thereupor
 set about meeting the sundry Objec-
 tions. The degree of their success ir this regard is best judged, We fancy United States. As the readers oi The Republican will remember. at the recent meeting of the American Bankers association at New orleans some five hundred bankers were ad- dressed by former Senator Aldrich and at the close of his address he was keenly quizzed by the assembled delegates and at the end of the dis cussiOn the bankers unanimously voted their approval of the revised Aldrich plan for currency reform.
 The Republican does not pretend to know any more than does MT Folk about the merits of the plan so strongly endorsed by the bankers of the country. But it seems worth while to suggest that in all proba- bility the bankers of America are better qualified than MT. Folk to say how their business ought to be con ducted.
 The Hon. Mir. Folk was a failure as district attorney of St. Louis county. He gained some notoriety by causing the indictment of several grafters in the municipal government But he proved himself sadly lacking in knowledge of the laws of his state Invariably the indictments drawn by him were found so defective by the courts that the criminals escaped through the loopholes which he had left unguarded. While his popularity gained by the graft prosecutions was at it's height he was elected governor of the state. But the democracy oi Missouri found that as governor he was quite as weak as he had
 been as a prosecuting attorney-al
 his goods were in his show window
 At the first opportunity he was re-
 tired to private life. and since thai sad event he has been adorninS the lecture platform instead of practicins
 law. He finds that his value tf lecture associations is somewhat in creased by touting himself as possible candidate for president, but the possibility of his candidacy IS
 not alarming the Missouri democracy On the whole, the amiable MT
 Folk must be classified as one Of oul
 country's prominent false alarms.