Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-11-02
will be to pass such law.
Republican Party Progressive.

"It is not necessary to vote for the
third party from the standpoint OF
progressivism. The republican party
always has been progressive. l ask
you when has the republican party
| failed to pass any sane and reasonable
law that the people wanted?" Mr..
Bray reviewed some of the progressive
state measures adopted by the repub-
lican party, including the abolishing
of the free pass, the adoption of two
cent fares, the aholishing of the
caucus and the enactment of prim.
airy law, the adoption Of law pre-
venting watered corporation stock.
These are all progressive measures,
he declared, and he asked how party
could be more progressive than the
republican party.
The Real Issue This Year.
Mr.. Bray then turned his attention
to the real issue in this campaign, the
question Of whether the voters are
ready to overturn the policy of pro-
lection for another experiment with
democratic tariff theories.
'My friends" he said, "if you be-
lieve in the present economic policy
Of the government you can't vote the
democratic ticket. And you are vot-
ing for the democrats If you do not
vote for Taft Roosevelt cannot be
elected. Therefore, vote for Theo-
dore Roosevelt is a vote for Wilson,
an indirect way of voting for Wilson.
The real fight Is between the republi-
can party and the democratic party
and that gets us back to our business
proposition. ..
"Are you satisfied with present con-
ditions? If you want change how
can you expect to better yourself?
Everyone is employed at good wages,
which makes good markets for the
things the manufacturer makes and
the farmer grows. Everyone Is enjoy
ing the comforts Of life; most every
one is enjoying the Injuries. 1t is an
unparalleled condition Of affairs and it
is due to the economic policy Of the
republican administrations you have
sent to Washington. We have been
enabled to set up higher standard
of living in this country than in any
other country on the globe through
the protective tariff" y.
Mr.. Bray reviewed the wage sched-
ules paid in foreign countries, in some
of which workers are paid twenty-five
cents a day, against which has been
set barrier in the form Of pro-
tective tariff. Remove, this barrier"
he said "and an American factory
could not live" This barrier, this
artificial wall, he added, enables us to
equalize the cost of manufacture here
and abroad and protects the high paid
American labor from open competi-
ton with cheaper foreign labor.
The Conditions in 1893-1896.
"The democrats have different
policy" said Mr.. Bray. They say
protection is unconstitutional, rob-
berry, etc. They said the same thing
in their 1892 platform and you re-
member you elected a democratic
president and a democratic congress
in that campaign. In that campaign,
as in this, they said you were being
robbed. They spoke Of the unjust
distribution. They said the cost Of
living ought to be reduced. 1t was
favorite practice of their campaign
orators to hold up dinner pail and
declare that you paid tax of five
cents on each pail So we voted to
elect Cleveland and we let the demo-
cratic congress have full sway to put
their theories into operation and after
that man didn't have to pay tag
on dinner pail because he didn't
need the pail
MIR. Bray then read a vivid descrip-
ton of the panic of 1893-1896, pfctur-
ing the distress in the land during that
period He added that the description
thus given was not written by the re-