St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-09-18
PRESS COMMENT
Taft's EconomY Record

The country will be forced to lis
ten to many specious arguments and
statements from each of the three
parties in the course of the campaign
for no one party has a monopoly Of
political faults any more than-de-
spite the colonel-there is mono
poly of the virtues. But among all
the arguments to be made, none, TAX
en- by itself, will be sounder or better
based than the claim put forward by
Mr.. Hilles upon Mr.. Taft's economy
record" Unfortunately, this is not
thing which commands the popular
interest it deserves; but it is thing
which touches us all, since the gov
eminent can be run only by the pay
ment of taxes, and since taxes are at
least one factor IN the cost of living.
Many OF Mr.. Taft's accomplish
ments. are open to argument and dis
pute, but there is no question of his
having reduced the cost of running
the government, for the figures are
there to prove it. This is the more
of an accomplishment when it is
remembered that for many years the
national budget has been increasing
annually. Reduction has only been
brought about by firm insistence up
on Mr.. Taft's part in dealing with
his subordinates that, without re-
ducing the efficiency of the govern
ment service, waste and extrava-
gance must be progressively done
away with.
The $191,OOO,OOO by which the an
nuaI expenses of the government
were increased under Mr.. Roosevelt
came out of the peoples pockets;
the $S,OO0,000 by which, in spite of
further growth of operations, the ex-
penses have been reduced under Mr..
Taft, will find their way back to the
peoples pockets unless this admin
istration is succeeded by one more in
tent on noise than on performance.
In spite of the scant encouragement
which he received from the demo-
cratic leaders in the house, there is
at least one thing in Mr.. Taft's re-
cord which Gov. Wilson, if elected in
November, can protitably study and
emulate, and that is Mr.. Taft's
painstaking, laborious care to reduce
the national expenses and to put the
Operations of the government as
nearly as possible on a business ba-
sis. 1t has been wise as a matter of
public policy, and in an era of gener-
al extravaganza, private as we'll as
public it has been a valuable eX-
Springfield Republican.
Roosevelt Can't Carry Vermont
There is considerable comfort in
last weeks Vermont election result
for the progressives; perhaps more
for the democrats; but mighty little,
as we figure, for the republicans. The
third party made big dent in the
old one, perilously near putting it
to the bad and threatening its future
ascendancy. It is such an outcome
as will give courage to the Bull
Moose in other states. 1t was bet
ter showing than almost anybody an
ticipated. Talk is free that Vermont
will give Roosevelt it's electoral vote
in November. We do not see it that
way. The recent test was a pretty
fair enc and it is unlikely that the
Colonel will pull enough more 1-epub-
lican votes to give him a plurality.
AS to the democrats, they made a
substantial gain, with no losses to
the Bull Moose people. If they can
do anywhere nearly as we'll accord
ingly in other states, Wilson's cleo
ton will be overwhelming. We are
sorry that, not being able to extract
sunshine from cucumbers, we can
not endorse the opinions of some
Taft leaders who profess to derive
comfort from the Vermont verdict.
Taft will have to improve his stand
ing very, very much in states where
the tide is now against him to get
within the distance flag at the finish.
But unless T. r. can make heavy in
roads on the democrats, his case is
equally hopeless. Simple arithmetic
teaches that when two parts are
nearly equal and one of them divides
the other of the first named parts is
much the larger. This is a lesson that
ought to have been learned at
Chicago, but wasn't-CHerald and
News.
A Worldwide Movement
Americans who complain of high
prices should remember that the
cost-of-living problem is at least as
perplexing in other countries as it in
the United States. The upward price
movement is world wide, and just
now it is the cause of serious anxiety
lin Germany, where the advancing
cost of food menaces the poor, en-
harnesses those having small fixed
incomes, and suggests the possibility
that important tariff changes may be
made in the near future. Record
prices for beef, mutton and pork
have been established in all parts OF
Germany Riotous demonstrations
have been made by angry customers,
who refuse to be satisfied with the
governments statement that dealers
in meat have been forced by the ris-
ing cost of doing business to advance
their own prices. Consumers are
demanding that the tariff on certain
Ifoodstuffs be removed in order to
ir1n0rfoffnT North
and South America, and they make
no bones of saying that the tariff
on these products is maintained for
the benefit of the landowners and
that it is the chief cause of the high
cost of living.
Meanwhile discomfort, always
most acute in laboring classes, is said
to be spreading to industrial employ
ers, who know that a long period