Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1912-10-23
WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
How Election of a Democratic Adj
ministratiOn Will Wipe Out
Prosperity.

! 1t is the favorite assertion of
Democratic orators, repeated in some
daily newspapers and agricultural
publications, that prosperity is the
gift of God and that it will not be in
any way affected, no matter how the
election goes in November
| That was precisely the position
taken by the Democratic orators and
newspapers in 1892. That was the
year of most bountiful crops and
good prices. Factories were running
full force, capital was eagerly seek
ing investment, labor was fully en-
ployed. The Republicans who tried
to make the people believe that a
change of political control would en-
danger prosperity, were met by jeers
as they are today, and yet in less
than two years there was distress all
over the country. Wheat which had
been 81 cents per bushel in 1892,
was "A cents bushel in 1895; oats
went down from % cents in 1892 to
ii cents in 1895; corn, which was
27 cents bushel in 1892 went down
to 16 cents in 1S95-all because a
Democratic administration had en-
acted the Wilson tariff law.
One of the tariff bills passed by
the Democratic house of representa-
tives during the past summer, places
cereals on the free list. If the presi-
dent had not vetoed this bill, farm
ers of this country would have been
compelled to meet the competition of
the great fields of Canada and all
other grain producing countries.
And not only the farmers but manu-
facturers will suffer by the menace
of Democratic free trade legislation.
AS soon as it Is certain that the pro-
tective system is to be wiped out, in
accordance with the pledge of the
Democratic platform, producers of
manufactured articles will at once
blow which will fall upon them.
Then will come the enforced idleness
of the workingmen and general dis
tress.
k If prosperity is a gift of God why
was Gods grace withdrawn from this.
country from 1898 to 1897? In
point of fact, it was not withdrawn.
The earlier and later rains fell as
usual, the soil was just as fertile,
the people were just as industrious
and the crops were just as bountiful
as in the preceding four years and
yet the prices of farm products dur
ing those four Cleveland years were
less by $4,000, 100000 than the
same crops would have brought If
sold at the prices which prevailed
during the preceding Harrison ad-
ministration. That is to say, the
penalty. which the farmers of Amer
lea paid for four years of Demo-
cratic administration was equal to
one and one-half times the cost of
the civil war.
Eountiful crops are indeed in
very large measure 1.-The gift of
Cod" but God does not look after
the markets. That is mans busi-
ness and it is markets which really
determine the prosperity of the farm
er. The prices which he receives in
those markets depend in largest
measure upon the purchasing power
of his customers. Men who are
sleeping in the parks and eating at
public soup houses do not make
profitable customers for the farmer.
Democratic victory means change
from the protective system under
which the country has prospered for
sixteen years and with that change,
if history repeats itself, will come
disaster.
1t does make a difference who is
elected. 1t is a serious matter for
this country whether the Republican
administration shall be continued or
whether a Democratic administration
shall come into power.
Remember, a vote for Roosevelt
is a vote for Wilson!
-O-
Great are grandmothers. They
fill sphere in life that no one else
can attain Usually they entertain