The Washington herald., 1911-06-25

When I wrote again had to inform her
| of my nomination by the Democrats for
\ lieutenant governor. We bit the dust
! that year, as you remember. but reduced
the Republican majority almost to the
| vanishing point.
How He Surprised the Country.
''The following spring, there was a
vacancy in the Fourteenth Congressional
district. William C. Lowering had been
elected to the Sixty-first Congress by a
plurality of 1920 votes. He had been
in Congress for twelve years. His death
and the special election that followed
brought on the first test In the country
of the feeling of the public toward the
new Payne-Aldrich tariff law for which
he had voted.
There was some confusion among the
Democrats with respect TO a candidate
largely Republican that Democratic effort
seemed ridiculous. ri take the nomina-
tion myself / said, rather than see the
chance go to protest My campaign was
made in eight days. 1 rode the district
in an automobile, talking from sunrise
until far into the night for Canadian
reciprocity and against the Payne-Aldrich
tariff schedules. I was elected by a ma
jority of $40 votes in the banner Re-
publican district of Massachusetts,.
Last year 1 was nominated for gov
ernor. In the ten days of my campaign,
I Travelled the State from Cape Cod to
the Berkshires. battling for my old ideas
and fighting exorbitant protection Mr..
Taft carried Massachusetts in 1908 by
plurality of 110,423 votes. My plurality
two years later was 5000 votes. l was
the only Democrat elected. the Repub-
licans getting every office but governor,
and also both branches of the legisla-
ture. / was compelled, of course, to
resign from Congress. Thus 1 hastily
sketch my adventures in politics. They
are of no personal importance. The
triumph Of a principle, however, II the
principle is good, is always important
THE Payne-Aldrich law, you think,
gives New England industries more pro-
lection than they need?" I said
II reply that 1t does, although 1 am a
manufacturer of machinery and cotton
goods and one of the beneficiaries of
high protection. But I am not a free
trader. believe in reasonable protec-
tion to the industries that actually re-
qufre it. The time is past, however,
when the people of this country will con-
sent 60 a tax on either food or clothing
In our eagerness for money and in our
thing and to make everything That is
one of our infirmities as a people. /
have forges and, machinery, but when I
need a tool, send to toolmaker.
blacksmith has no business to cut his
own hair or make his own coat or
shoes. We are the. quickest and most
Inventive people on the globe produc-
ing cheaply and well, and do not re-
quire prohibitive protection against the
est of mankind. Moreover. protection
to such a degree permits aggregations of
capital to control production and prices
and making living unduly expensive.
..The manufacture OF shoes is one of
the greatest industries Of New England.
While protection to our shoes has never
gone beyond Is per cent, yet we are
enabled to sell shoes in all parts OF the
world. Our workmen, meanwhile. are
getting high wages. On the other hand.
the tariff on some OF the manufactures
OF cotton is so high that importations
are impossible On all cotton It Is ex-
eessive. Yet the average wages OF the
cotton operatives at FAN River amount
to only s7.5e week. and to ss.52 a week
at Lowell.
New. I am = cotton manufacturer