Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1912-04-12
I II Z S EN- tt N Ell.
ROCKVILLE MD
Friday Morning""".....April IL, 1912
THE TARIFF THE ISSUE.

A perusal of the literature" sent out
daily by press agents Of both Mr.. Taft and
Mr.. Roosevelt reveals that these candidates
for the honor of leading their party are
making lot of noise and kicking up lot
of dust about everything except the one
thing that is going to be the real issue of
the coming campaign, namely, the tariff
All the Democratic candidates are not
only willing but anxious to tell the people
where they stand on the tariff. Look to
the opposition headquarters for discus
sion of this vital subject and you are greeted
with silence so thick that it could be cut
with knife. Mr.. Roosevelt is busy trying
to arouse the people " h the recall of
judges" issue, and Mr.. Taft is trying his
best to stand pat. The Democrats, on the
other hand, are citing facts and figures to
drive home the one great truth that the
cause of the present high cost of living in
this country is due to the high tariff wall,
and to that alone.
So apparent has il become that the tariff
trusts have been using the tariff all these
years as a weapon to gouge profits out of
the consumers of the land that il Is next to
pathetic to hear the protectionists in Con-
gress shouting, as they occasionally do that
to remove the tariff or reduce the rates of
the present law would take away the pro
lection for the American working man."
Protectionist orators in both houses of
Congress, driven to desperation by the
knowledge that the people at last under
stand the real issue, are making a last
frantic effort to drag out the old, tattered
DOGGY man of Competitions ith-the-pau-
per-labor-o Europe, in the hope of making
the voters once more swallow the bait But
the tariff will not down, and the protec-
tionists' cries are becoming weaker and
and weaker
The Democratic Investigations, which
were so much derided when they were first
put into operation, taught lessons which
are daily sinking deeper and deeper into
the minds of the people. The light thrown
on the methods of the steel trust by the
Stanley committee; the exposure of the
rottenness in the administration of the
Agricultural Department by the Moss COM
mittee; the shameful conditions in the
WOODEN industry as brought out by the Rules
committee investigation; the petty manip-
ulation Of public moneys in the State De-
partment as shown by the inquiries of the
Hamlin committee. and the various other
revelations by the Democrats of the House,
all revealing that wherever the light was
thrown on maladminstration, inefficiency
and actual graft lay exposed all have
served to convince the people that the
Democrats not only have proven worthy of
the trust placed in them year ago, but
that they are worthy Of those "graver re-
sponsibilities" which Speaker Champ Clarke
said the party would prove itself capable
of carrying.
The battle of next November is going to |
center around the tariff, which is the moth
er of all the evils that have grown up I'M
der the present system, despite the efforts |
OF the protectionists to sidetrack that ques-
ton and bring less important issues to the
front.