Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1912-08-22
WASHINGTON PARK PICNIC.
(Continued from Page One

such a way that they shall thrust
others aside and usurp the centre of
the stage! reply, No. There is not
a single class of the nation that ought
to demand that it should be occupy
ing constantly the centre Of the stage,
but there is also not single class in
the nation that ought not to demand
constantly that it be regarded as a
member of the firm in the great part
nership.
| have seen the interests of a great
many classes especially regarded in
legislation, but | must frankly say
that have never seen the interests
of the farmer very often regarded in
legislation. And one of the greatest
impositions upon the farmer of this
country that has ever been devised is
the present tariff legislation of the
United States have not heard of
farmers waiting for hearing before
the committee of Ways and Means of
the House and the Finance Committee
of the Senate in order to take part in
determining what the tariff schedule
should be. ! have not heard anybody
but orators on the stump say that the
tariff was intended for the benefit of
the farmer, because you have to be on
the stump to keep straight face
when you make a statement like that
When the United States was the gran
airy of the world and was supplying
the world far and near with the food
stuffs that 1t subsisted upon the far
meTs were not looking for protection,
and while they were not looking
everything else had duties upon it,
and the cost of everything that they
had to use was raised upon them and
raised upon them, until now it is al
most impossible for them to make
legitimate profit.
While you were feeding the world,
Congress was feeding the trusts. Mo-
body doubts what the process of tar
if legislation has been, because every
body who has been curious enough to
inquire knows what the process of tar
if legislation has been We could
give you list of the gentlemen who
have been most prominent in securing
tariff legislation We know the kind
that secured it and the purpose they
secured it for; and they weren't
thinking about the general prosperity
L
thinking about the balance sheets in
particular investments, and these in
vestments were not investments
which were easily within the reach
and work Of the farmer himself.
would be ashamed of myself, lad
les and gentlemen, if I tried to stir
up any feeling on the part of any
class against any other class. | wish
to disavow all intention of suggest
ing to the farmer that he go in and do
somebody up. That isn't the point
All that j am modestly suggesting
to you is that you break into your
own house and live there And |
want you to examine very critically
the character of the tenants who have
been occupying it. 1t is very big
house and very few people have been
living in it; and the rent has been
demanded of you, and not of them.
You have paid the money which en-
abled them to live in your house and
dominate your own premises.
regard this campaign as / re-
garded the last one, and the one be-
fore the last, and every campaign in
which people have taken part since
the world began, as simply contin-
ued struggle to see to it that the peo-
pie were taken care of by their own
government And my indictment
against the tariff is that it represents
special partnerships ind does mot
represent the general interest. It is
a long time since tariffs were made
by men who even supposed that they
were seeking to serve the general in
terest, because-as l think my friend,
Congressman Hughes will bear me
out in saying are not made by
the general body of the members of
either House of Congress. They have
in the past been made by very small
groups of in individuals in certain
committees of those Houses, who even
refused information to their fellow
members as to the basis upon which
they had acted in framing the sched-
ules. One of the gentlemen who has
been most conspicuously connected
with this thing has in recent years
prudently withdrawn from public life.
I mean the one-time senior Senator
from Rhode Island, Mr. Aldrich I,
at least give Mr. Aldrieh the credit of
having a large weather eye He saw
the weather was changing in Rhode
Island even in Rhode Island as well
as in the rest of the union; that men
who had long known that he was i'm
posing upon them felt that the limit
had been reached and they We're not
going to be imposed upon any longer.
They saw that he wasn't even doing
what he pretended to do, namely, to
serve the special interests of Rhode
Island, because he was serving only
some of the special interests of
Rhode Island and not all of them.
You can not go into a game like that
without narrowing and narrowing
and narrowing the circle of interests,
until presently you will not think
about anything but one particular in
dividual interest The only way you
can conduct politics is in widening
circles, not in narrowing circles, and
these gentlemen have been trying to
c0Oducf II in nypr narrQWinO circles