The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-10-12
Our Washington Letter.
(By Clyde H. Tavenner, special
Washington correspondent of The

Washington, Oct. 7.-(Special.) y
The president has been in the west.
The people have listened to his de-
Tense. And they still believe he did
wrong in vetoing the honest efforts
of both branches of congress to re-
duce the awful cost of living in the
United States.
Such is the tenor Of the news that
has come over the wi1es fran the
special correspondents who either ac-
companied or trailed Mr.. Taft on his
1900 mile swing.
Arthur Henning, Washington cor
respondent of the Chicago Tribune,
interviewed hundreds OF westerners
and found that the people generally
liked Mr.. Taft personally but abso-
lutely disapproved his record as
president.
Angus McSween, the celebrated
Washington correspondent of the
Philadelphia North American, (also
republican, wired from Topeka,
Kansas, as follows:
president Taft did not make a
dent in the surface of strong pro-
gressive sentiment in the state of
Kansas during his visit here
1t developed, too, that a great
many men, in all walks of life, CALI
didly admitted that next year they
proposed to vote for democrat for
president, Notwithstanding they al
ways before had voted for a repub-
lican. A great many Of these re-
ferred to the magnificent record the
democrats made in congress last ses-
sion, and frankly admitted that since
the democrats had shown real ability
TO govern, and govern we'll, it was no
more than their due than they should
be given greater responsibility.
All Legitimate Business Safe.
Chairman A. o. Stanley, of the
steel trust Investigating committee,
says the republicans are endeavoring
to create the impression that the
democratic investigation of the steel
trust is in the nature of an attack On
the steel business. He denied that
this is true.
Stanley, ARE trying to make the
country believe we are prosecuting
the steel corporation. Nothing could
be further from the truth. The inves
tigation has been conducted with the
utmost fairness, and not a single ore
of the steel men who testified failed
to thank the committee for the fair
and generou way in which he had
been treated.
1.-THE democrats realize the neces5-
lty for constructive action. They
want the country to feel that no bus
mess is going to suffer at their
hands, and that no business which is
not legitimate is going to prosper if
they can help it.
1.-The democratic party is not bent
upon ruthless policy Of destruction,
and no legitimate business need fear
that it will be treated unfairly
That Tariff Board is Peach.
Is it fair to judge president Taft's
tariff board by what the chairman of
the board himself thinks Of it? If
so, it is sort of a joke.
Chairman Emory of the tariff
board, in speaking at a banquet of the
American Association of Wooden and
Worsted Manufacturers at New York
City, said:
''There are certain things that are
very difficult to get, and one thing,
that according to the platform of the
republican party-1and incidentally
that does not mean anything to me,
except that have been given the job
according to the Platforms to try
to get the cost of production. I
thank you all gentlemen, that you
did not laugh. Laughter,) I
frankly say right here that this idea
of settling things on cost alone is all
nonsense. You must not think am
Joking about this thing, but there is
joke about it, and the joke is this:
I have no powers whatsoever. The
tariff board has no powers. There is
really no such thing as tariff
board. The law says that for certain
purposes the president may employ
such persons as he sees fit. l am one
of such persons. That is ALL"
daughter and applause.)
And it was because of this board,
even the chairman of which treats 1t
as joke, that President Taft vetoed
the efforts of both branches of con-
gress to reduce the cost of living.
Protection Boosts Prices.
The United States is not the only
nation suffering from excessive pro-
lection. The rigid protective policy
of Germany, though not nearly so
drastic as that of the United States,
has so increased the cost of living as
to compel the most severe economies
on the part of the wage earners. The
families of the masses cannot afford
the luxury of meat. Horses, and
even dogs, are killed in large num-
bers for consumption as food.
Wages are not increasing in Ger
many, nor are labor conditions being
improved. In the last five years
statistical returns show that, making
due allowance for increase in popu-
lation, that the employment of fe-
males in industrial occupations
where male labor is to that extent
supplemented, has increased over SO
per cent.
Kenyon Progressive-React
The only prominent republican
progressive who persists that Taft
ought to succeed himself as president
is Senator Kenyon of Iowa. This
senator, it will be recalled, was one
Of the famous family of republican