The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-10-04
THE THOUGHTFUL CITIZEN.

Both of the opposing parties assault
with equal vehemence the present
tariff under which our country has so
markedly prospeled. That tariff act
has closed no factory, has put out the
fires in no furnace, has thrown no me-
chanic or laborer out of employment.
Il has opened no free soup houses for
starving families deprived Of the wage
of the hread-earner; 1t has formed no
bread line of jaded, disheartened
seekers for employment It has kept
wide open the home markets for the
produce of the farm and factory; in
dustrious workingmen having the
highest wage ever known have been
able to build new houses; to clothes
well their children: to provide for
their schooling and to give them a
generous measure of the comforts
and luXuries of life. The landlord is
not embarrassed in the collection of
his rent, the grocer Is receiving pay
for his supplies. The church Of his
choice is receiving his free gifts from
the prosperous citizen Nearly ten
millions of depositors in the savings
banks had. last year, laid away over
four thousand millions of dollars ($4,-
212 $4,000, while every branch of
moral, social and educational better
ment has received vital impulse and
generous support. Wherein can the
thoughtful citizen see promise of a
betterment in the frantic cry for
a changer"
have seen In no speech or litera-
ture made or issued by member of
either of the opposing parties the
fact stated that of the. hundreds OF
millions of foreign goods imported
last year, fifty-one percent came in
duty free. Have any of the rancorous
critics of the tariff law cited the
fact that under its provisions the
duties on all importations were re.
duced twenty-one per cent? And yet
this revision downward" was accom-
plished without harm to American la
Dor. unbridled ambition and long de
ferred hope have little regard for rea
son and for truth. Our export trade
has mounted marvelously. In The last
fiscal year, in manufacturers alone, it
passed the billion dollar mark ISL.
021.u00,000). The annual product OF
our manufactures surpasses that OF
any other nation, and besides fully
Simplifying our own people, exceeds all
competitors in the value of exports.
The democratic majority in our
house Of representatives Is writing in
/ lurid characters the extent to which
our opponents are willing to go in
their Jealous efforts to ruin protec-
ton. The several bills reducing vari.
Gus schedules, passed by the house
and under the strange condition exist
+ ing in the senate, acquiesced in by
| that body, exhibit the crudities and
i destructive aims of the advocates OF
tariff for revenue only The need
4 Of republican president is clearly
proven by the defense of American In
dustry by President Taft in his yetoes
/ of these recent tariff bills, from
which he has saved every interest Of
labor and production. Had he ne
other title to both gratitude and sup
port land he has a muititude), these
yetoes alone call for the support a
! the polls of every American either
who tolls with hand or brain, on the
| farm or in the factory, in the mill OF
in the shop or in the office, who
values present blessings and desire:
to preserve them
1 Speech OF Acceptance of Vice Presi
dent Sherman, August 81, 1912