Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-04-13

masses of the people find themselves,
for 1t is extremely difficult for the
average head of a family who is not
-extravagant to keep his head above
water.
of course, Americans who are en-
travagant are e~xtravagant upon the
principle of come easy, go easy The
average head of a family in the United
states earns only about $500 annual
ly, n with rents and everything
else going up faster than his wages
are. he cannot be very e~Xtravagant,
however; n his in life are
not very alluring The two things
which congress can and should do to
help him out of this situation are to
cut down the tariff on the necessaries
laws be enforced"
Can these things be accomplished
without a tremendous cuisines cata-
clysna?" I inquired.
Yes. The Walker tariff bill was
passed in 1916 and remained on the
I'd day of March, 1851. a period of IL
years. 1t was on the average a great
reduction of the rates of Henry CLAWS
tariff bill of 1912. James q. Blaine, in
his Twenty Years of Congress- states
that the II years of the Walker tariff
life of the republic, and that the pco-
pie We're so thoroughly satisfied with
1t. that in 1856. after it had been in
operation 10 years. neither me of the
great parties which presented presi-
Dental candidates even mentioned the
tariff subject in it's platform. That
was a happy condition and never has
existed since.
so thoroughly We're the people sat
istled with "A low tariff in those days
that on the I'd day of March, 1857, by
almost common consent, they reduced
the rates which the Walker bill pro-
vided for. because there was a vast
surplus in the t%reasury-a surplus vast
for that day. The House which made
those reduction was composed of re-
p~ubllcans. knOw-nothings and demo-
Gratis, in almost equal proportions. and
General Nathaniel p. Banks, the first
republican to hold office. was it's
bill was democratic by a small ma
jority and President Franklin Pierce,
who signed it, was a democrat. but the
law cannot be called political in any
sense of the word. l count the high
tariff system which the civil war fast
greatest calamities which it produced.
And when that high tariff system was
fastened on the country was exactly
when high prices for the first time
came into fashion here
Will the fight to reduce duties be a
ie1t ~OIle, 10 you CnlIlk L asked.
Il am rather inclined to think" Mr..
Clark answered. that. in view of the
reciprocity agreement with Canada.
President Taft will, at least, not fight
us very hard when we begin to work
toward a reduction of the tariff
Mr.. Taft and Mr.. Clark are close
friends, despite their political differ
ences. n the belief, in many quarters
is that. at the next election. they will
be opposed to one another as the cam
dldates of the two great parties. There
fore this remark made me prick up
my airs.
"IIas he ever told you that he would
not??" l inquired.
No. He has not. He has not au-
thorized me to speak for him." was the
very careful answer.
Why are trusts SO purely an Amer
ican institution? % l asked then.
I've thought of that from time to
time" he answered. II imagine that
the reason why monoplies do not
flourish in Europe as rankly as they
do in this country is because of the
live. The opportunities for grabbing
things in a new country are much
greater thar they are in an old
established country. Another reason is
that in early European days. especially
in England. the kings SO much abused
&AASAh ROWS1 W a lIIOllODOIIGS,
creating trouble of all kinds, including
rebellion and civil war, that they
taught the people there their lesson.
Finally. the parliaments wrested from.
the kings their power to make such
grants. Consequently the English peo-
Geavored constantly to prevent monop-
oiies and in a great measur have
succeeded. And in Germany the barons
with their castles and their power over
the general population became such a
hindrance to all commercial trans
actions that the people there arose and
OverthreW them by main strength.
The consequence was that in those
countries the world monopoly became
one of %reproach, and it has never since
been difficult to array the people in
their strength against such combina-
tions.
Let us take, as an example, the mat
ter of railroad building. We have for
years now been fighting in this country
to compel the railroads to abolish the
grade crossings, but it is only very re-
Gently that any Roadway worth consid-
ering has been made in this regard.
When the roads We're built there was
no amer of restriction. and, once es-
tablished, an evil is hard to get rid OF.
In England they have never had grade
crossings to any considerable extent.
and an effort to introduce them would
be resisted firmly. You see, in England
the population was thick when the rail-
roads were first built. and they were
taken in charge by the government
that is, they We're controlled by the
government in the interests of the peo-
pie, at least In such matters-from the
start, and when they became great and
powerful those conditions were already
firmly established and universally
recognized. But in the United States
population was sparse when the rail-
roads were first built. The people were