The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-02-16

of their recent platforms, that the peo-
pie needed relief from the burdens
.hat have been piled on their backs Dy
laws enacted to benefit only the sDe-
cial interests, and in order to tide over.
until after election, they promise every
thing in sight They have promised re-
lief but they fail to keep their solemn
pledges. The special interests secure
all they ask for and as Vanderbilt
once said, the people be damned"
P. T. Barnum said, "the American
people like to be humbugged" and that
lis what the republican party always
has done and which they always will
do 50 long as the people will be so fool
ish as to believe their specious prom.
ises made only for the purpose of be-
| ing broken. Taft and Roosevelt are
no worse than their party, only in 50
far as they have been the leaders
Their last pronunciamento, in the plat
form of 1908, to revise the tariff tax
schedule is only a sample of republi-
can faithlessness. 1t has been ever
thus.
Conditions have been growing worse
for the great body of the American
people ever since 1870, and it is pri-
Imarily due to the robber tariff taxes
Imposed by the protective tariffs on
1.-THE necessaries used, worn and con-
lsumed by the people. Alexander liam
lilton said, Protection to be available,
lIuust be got out of the belly and back
lple." Our republican friends have
worked that principle to its utmost in
lGll their tax schedules, and every tariff
tax that they have passed has taxed
1.-THE belly and back" to the limit, and
lgiven the greater portion of the bene-
fits to the privileged few and built
Iup and fostered the special interests
land classes to the detriment OF the
lgreat mass of the American people.
IInyaroably they have promised and
Those promises to the people have in
Iall cases been shamelessly broken and
Irepudiated. The history of the repub-
Ilican party has been one of broken
pledges to the laborer and farmer.
They have shifted position so often
that it is well night impossible to keep
track of them. They are like the Irish
Iman's flea, when you try to put your
finger on them they are not there. In
1.-THE early days the tariff tax was i'm
lposed ostensibly to protect infant in
Idustries;" then the foreigner pays
1.-THE tax" then to protect "the wages
of the American laborer;" then ito
keep up prices;" now they say that the
tariff has nothing to do with the prices
on the necessities of life, They have
been driven from one false position
to another and compelled to take
new stand but they invariably come
back with new suggestion.
Taft unequivically promised down
ward revision before election in his
, speeches and letters; after election he
,signed the "All-Rich-Pa robber tar
lift act, and at the time said it did not
fulfill the platform pledges; then
when he went travelling some more he
said that it was the best republican
tariff law ever enacted. We will ad-
NIT that is is the best republican tar
iff'' and in the sole interest of those
who have and do furnish the sinews
ol war to the republican campaign
funds, but we also say that no tariff
| tax ever devised by the hand of man
:. was ever so unfair and burdensome to
THE common people. 1t is protection
;. for the interests gone mad and is so
q obviously unfair that many of the most
prominent men in the republican party
have openly repudiated it. The rates
are so high on everything that enters
+ the belly" and is worn on the backs"
: of the common people that the people
now say there must be a new and a
9 square deal. The edict has gone forth,
and the republicans see the handwrit-
q ling on the wall and say that such pol
icies must be suggested as will insure
. success in the approaching campaign
The people are now determined that
we shall once more go back to an era
lof democratic tariff for revenue only,
and that the lowest taxes must be on
1.-THE necessaries of life and highest on
the luxuries, and that no more be
levied than is needed for the proper
:. and economical administration of the
!. government. Democratic tariffs al
@ ways have been made in the interests
IL of the people, The people of this coun-
f try have been more prosperous under
: democratic laws than under protective
laws, and they now say they are