Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1912-08-16

| second great duty we are lace 10 lace VIII
questions of conservation and of develop
ment, questions of forests and water pow.
ers and mines and waterways of the
building of an adequate merchant marine
and the opening Of every highway and
facility and the setting up Of every safe
guard needed by great industrious, ex-
panding nation.
Tariff NECESSARY FoR REVENUE
How does the present tariff look in the
light Of il! ! say nothing for the moment
about the policy Of protection. conceived
and carried out as a disinterested states
man might conceive it. Our own clear
conviction as Democrats is, that in the
last analysis the only safe and legitimate
object Of tariff duties. as Of taxes Of every
other kind, is to raise revenue for the support
of the Government but that is not my pres
ent point We denonnce the Payne-A-
drich tariff act as the most conspicuous
example ever afforded the country of the
special favors and mooopolistic advantages
which the leaders Of the Republican party
have 50 often shown themselves willing to
extend to those to whom they looked for
campaign contributions Tariff duties, as
they have employed them. have not been
a means Of setting up an equitable system
Of protection. They have been. on the
contrary. g method Of fostering spec ial
privilege They have made it easy to
establish monopoly in our domestic marx
cts Trusts have owed Their orein and
Their secure poSeT 70 then The economic
freedom Of cur peoqae- our prosperity in
trade oar uutrznDeled energy in mann
fsc1ure depend upon Their reconsideration
from top to bottom in an entirely different
Sp5rii-
We d Dot SeDnre the fscs that the
business q country iike ours IS exceed
llsly sensitive 70 changes IN legislation Of
TINS Ea5- i mas heen huili ID however
lA-s1ylssa,y. upon tariff schedules written
II ths EEy hEVs iDdicsted. and It's foun-
cations ms NO he toe radically o. TOO
sn33s1ly dss,utse5 When ne act Np
shHuli BIZ vii zEuCian and prudence Ike
ussu shr E1i1w what they ar shout. and
nlc hfs t1Inss Ms are n lgVs with Theory.
i 3 1cs5als thsi the changes re make
sslsirEl: y u.B3= sCly Al s3ch rate and IN
szcn I Szy As ~ ssEss interfere nth the
z,,r-1aI an .sa3.hfzl crc-Se q commerce .
ant aazztacr--s- 5'1f -e shall noS on 4
thac account acs ~irh timidity. as if We
nd not kno~ oGr On minds. foC We are 4
certain Of cur ground and our object. There
should be an immediate revision. and it |
should be downward. unhesitatinsly and
steadily downward.
TEusr SCHEDULES The FIRST.
IL should begin with the schedules which
have been most obviously used to kill COM
petition and to raise prices in the United
States, arbitrarily and without regard to
the prices pertaining elsewhere in the mar
kets Of the world and it should, before it
is finished or intermitted, be extended to
every item in every schedule which affords
any opportunity for monopoly, for special
to limited groups Of beneficial
ries, or for subsidized control of any kind
in the markets or the enterprises Of the
until special favors of every sort
shall have been absolutely withdrawn and
every part of our laws of taxation shall
have been transformed from a system of
governmental patronage into a system of
lust and reasonable charges which shall
TALL where they will create the least burden.
When we shall have done that, we can fix
questions Of revenue and Of business ad-
lustment in new spirit and with clear |
minds. We shall then be partners with |
all the business men of the country, and a |
day of freer, more stable prosperity shall |
have dawned
CosT Or LIVING BURNING ToPIc.
For what has the result beenP Pros
perityY Yes, il by prosperity you mean
vast wealth no matter how distributed or
distributed at all, or not; if you
mean vast enterprises built up to be pres
emily concentrated under the control of
small bodies of men, who
can determine almost at pleasure whether
there shall be competition or not. The
nation as nation has grown immensely
rich She is justly proud Of her industries
and OF the genius of her men of affairs.
They can master anything they set their
minds to, and we have been stimulated
under their leadership and command.
Their laurels are many and very green
We must accord them the great honors
that are their due and we must preserve
what they have built up for US. But what
of the other side of the pictureH II is not
as easy for us to live as it used to be. Our
money will not buy as much. High wages,
even when we can get them, yield us no
great comfort. We used to be better of
with less, because dollar could buy so
much more. The majority Of us have been
disturbed to find ourselves growing poorer,
even though our earnings were slowly in
creasing. Prices climb faster than we can
push our earnings up.
Moreover, we begin to perceive some
things about the movement of prices that
concern us very deeply. and fix our atten-
ton upon the tariff schedules with more
definite determination than ever to Oct to
the bottom Of this matter. We have been
looking into it, at trials held under the
Sherman Act and in investigations in the
committee rooms of Congress, where men
who wanted to know the real facts have
been busy with inquiry and we begin to
see very clearly what at least some of the
methods are by which prices are fixed.
We know that they are not fixed by the
competitions of the market, or by the an
cient law Of supply and demand which is
TO be found stated in all the primers Of
economics, but by private arrangements
with regard to what the supply should be
and agreements among the producers them
selves. Those who buy are not even rep
resented by counsel The high cost Of
livingis arranged by private understanding
MUST STRIKE AT MONOPOLY
THE general terms of the present Fed
eral Antitrust law. forbidding 'combina-
tons in restraint Of trade. have apparently
proved Intellectual. Trusts have grown up
under its ban very luxuriantly, and have
pursued the methods by which so many of
them have established virtual monopolies
without serious let or hindrance. II has
roared against them like any sucking dove.
] am not assessing the responsibility.
am merely stating the fact But the means
and methods by which Trusts have estab-
lished monopolies have now become known.
II will be necessary TO supplement the
present law with such laws, both civil and
criminal, as will effectually punish and