The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1912-11-01

But for YOU, the workers and taxpayers, this contest is serious
business, and you should weigh the consequences with a serious
mind. Don't take mere words. Seek facts.
Out of this whirlwind of language which the "spellblnders send
beating about your ears, what is it that stands out, first and all
the time?
"We want a change in Washington"
A change for what? To what?
The present administration, after nearly four years hard work,
has finally succeeded in restoring the country's business to a pros
porous basis.
The mills y running fu1 time. Mines n operating all their
shifts. Factories n working to capacity. Commerce is thriving.
The country is free of labor troubles and financial troubles.
The working man is steadily gaining better wages: The farmer
is growing steadily more prosperous. The market for farm prod
uts has never been SO broad and generous.
The railroads report the heaviest freight and passenger traffic
on a great scale are everywhere under way. Trade is moving
smoothly, in ever-ncreasing volume. The savings banks are over
flowing with money.
The United States is o the threshold of the greatest boom in
its history. Within six months, under present conditions, we will
dwarf the great period that followed the Spanish War.
And our prosperity will be here to stay, for we are on sounder
ground than we were in '9s.
The trust problem has been setted-and settled right. "Big
Business in1s., has b. been d;.p put IN its proper roper. place The an cnr ,ns w' dnostio naI t.
understood as it never has been, and will be solved along sound
The tariff is gradually being placed on a business basis, and soon
will be out of politics, as it should.
Everything is shaping to give the American people a long, un-
broken, unparalleled period of peace and plenty.
And at this time of all others, along come these political gentle
men shouting for a change.
Do you want to change? Do you want to check prosperity just
as you are about to pluck its choicest fruits?
Would you, the workers who must pay, commit the mad folly
of taking your government out Of tried and proven hands and
turning it over to the selfseekers who are camoring for its control?
When President Taft took over the government the country was
PROSTATE. Industry was parayzed. Business was chaotic, uncer-
tam, suspicious. Millions were out of employment. Investors,
wherever possible, had withdrawn their capital. Enterprise vas
dead.
All this was the result Of the panic of 1907, the "taking panic"
The "Rich Mans Panic, it was called. But do you remember
any poor man who was not hurt?
It took the Taft administration over three years to repair the
damage of this panic. 1t required infinite patience, skilful manage
ment at home and abroad, unflnchlng enterprise, good judgment
and vast prudence to bring the country out of that black pit.
And now that the pit is covered, and the country is basking
once more in the level sunshine of prosperity, do you want to take
a chance on being thrown back? Do you want to take a chance
on being talked into another and a needless panic?
The question is no. to be settled by talk, no matter how smart.
Te huzzahs of the hastings may make sweet music, but in the
background of the future you may hear the mutterings of a people
unemployed.
Your family stands with you at the dividing line, which has
happiness and prosperity on one side and unhappiness and even
want on the other.
nv ali means follow the adventures. But if you own a stake in
the country, if you have kith or kin dependent on the job you hold,
weigh carefully the words and deeds of those who would lead you in
a mad galop to the precipce Of experimental government.
Remember, a change at Washington would mean everything for
them. But what would it mean for your
Would MI. Taft's defeat help youP
Would the theories, .untried and unproven, on which the poll
ticians arc seeking to ride into Office, benefit your wife and family?
Brush aside all the fine language of the orators long enough
to dig out answers to these questions. You will then have a rea-
sonably safe guide on election day, for, like true charity, true
politics begins at home. The intelligent man votes for that which
is best for himself and those dependent on him, and not for that
which is best only for the other fcllow. He is not misled by the
shadow of the bone in the water.
The american people, for the first time in years, haze the bone
of prosperity firmly between their teeth. Are they prepared. like
the dog in the fable. to drop it, to chase elusive shadousS