Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-10-23
WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

IL Is the TaVOrIG0 assertion OF demo
| cratic orators, repeated in some daily
newspapers and agricultural publica-
tlons, that prosperity is the gift Of
God and that it will not be in any
way affected, no matter how the cleo
tion goes In November.
That was precisely the position TAX
en- by the democratic or tors and
newspapers in 1892. That was the
year of most bcuntiful crops and
good prices. Factories were running
full force, capital was eagerly seeking
investment, labor was fully employed.
The republicans who tried to make
the people believe that a change Of
political control would endanger pros
perity, were met by jeers as they are
today, and yet in less than two years
there was distress all over the. Coun-
try. Wheat which had been 81 cents
per bushel in 1892, was Al cents a
bushel in 1895 oats went down from
% cents in 1892 to IA cents in 1895;
corn, which was 81 cents Il bushel in
1892 went down to IS cents in 1896
all because a democratic administra-
ton had enacted the Wilson tariff
law.
One of the tariff bills passed by the
democratic house of representatives
during the past summer placed cereals
on the free list. If the president had
not vetoed this bill, farmers 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 manufacturers will
suffer by the menace Of democratic
free trade legislation. AS soon as it
is certain that the protective system is
to be wiped out, in accordance with
the pledge of the democratic platform,
producers of manufactured articles
will at once cease manufacturing and
await the blow which will fall upon
them. Then will come the enforced
idleness of the wUrkingman and gener-
al distress.
If prosperity is a gift Of God why
was Gods grace withdrawn from this
country from 1898 to 1872 In point
of fact, it was not withdrawn. The
earlier and later rains fell as usual,
the soil was just as fertile, the peo-
pie were just as industrious. and the
crops were just as bountiful as in the
preceding four years and yet rhe
prices of farm products during those
four Cleveland years were less by $4,-
500, 900, 900 than the same crops would
have brought if sold at the prices
which prevailed during the preceding
Harrison administration. That is to
say, the penalty which the farmers of
America paid for four years of demo-
cratic administration was equal to
one and one-haIf times the cost of the
civil war.
Bountiful crops are indeed in a
very large measure 1.-THE gift Of God, 81
but Goo does not look after the mar
kets. That is mans business and it
is markets which really determine
the prosperity Of the farmer. The
prices which be receives in those
markets depend in largest measure
upon the purchasing power CT his Gus
toner. Men who are sleeping in the
parks and eating at public soup
houses do not make profitable GUS
toners for the farmer. Democratic
victory means a change from the pro-
tective system under which ths coun-
try has prospered for sixteen years
and with that change, if history re-
peats itself, will come disaster.
It 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. -Dubuque
Times journal. |