St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-10-02
Why We should Not Change

Why We Should Not Change
Certain classes of voters believe it
is time to make a change in the ma
tional administration because it
would be a good thing" Just how
/. would be beneficial is not made
clear as the claims are so varied
Every man with crouch or some
dissatisfaction is confident a change
would bring him relief, although his
particular desire may be directly OPP
posed to that of his neighbor who is
just as confident the relief is coming
to him. The laboring man for in
stance believes a change would give
him more money and less work. He
is getting higher pay for his labor
today than ever before, there is a
sharp demand for every laborer who
is willing to work and earn his wag-
es. This demand is the result of
great industrial activity and this ac-
tivity is caused by a demand for
manufactured articles by people
earning enough money to buy them.
There is no safer or more stable
condition for labor than the demand
for the products of labor existing to-
day and no matter what chimerical
notions he may have the laborer will
have a long wait before he will see
more favorable conditions than have
come with the sane and progressive
administration of President Taft.
The politician cries for a change
because it offers him a chance to get
political berth and he says a square
deal. Never before has the country
seen it's political methods under a
closer scrutiny, more open to the
public or more free from the dicta-
ton of the political boss than at pres
ent. Yet the disgruntled and the
holier and thou politician cries that
all is dishonest and they alone can
make things honest. To bring about
this honesty they have pledged their
support to a man who has openly viO-
lated his publicly spoken pledge and
whose standing for probity and hon
or depends entirely upon his unsup-
ported charge that every man who
says anything against him is a liar;
man whose whole campaign is bas-
ed on the promise to one man that
a certain remedy will kill and to the
next man that it will not kill. Men
with such a record and ready to
promise whatever will secure the
most votes in given sec
ton can never bring this
country political honesty. Poll
tical honesty is nearer at hand when
we elect a man who for nearly four
years has been in charge of the adj
ministration of the government and
against whom it has never been
charged that he has proven untrue to
public welfare for the purpose of
promoting his personal political am
billions.
Others tell us that change would
bring a perfect tariff, one that will
not take away from the laborer his
hire, from the manufacturer his bus
mess but will bring a flood of for
eign manufactured goods into this
country at greatly reduced cost The
leading champion of tariff reform adj
mits that his changes should be in
troduced gradually to prevent injury
to business but fails to explain why,
if they are to be an unquestioned
benefit to business, they are not safe
to take at one dose. He clamors for
the same changes in our tariff system
that have without exception brought
diaster to American industry but
claims they will not do so now. The
champion of political honesty claims
that his tariff remedy will reduce the
price of goods and increase the labor
er's share in it's benefits. Just how
this is to be done he has not at
tempted to say but he would call any
man who questions it's practicability
a liar and silence all doubt concern
ing it. On the other hand the pres
ent incumbent would continue the
same tariff policy that has kept the
wheels of American industry hum
ming and American labor profitably