Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-10
Platform Adopted BY Roosevelt Party

says:
THE high cost Of living Is due part
! ~ to worldwide and partly to local
causes; partly to natural and partly to
artificial causes. The measures pro-
(posed In this platform on various sub.
jects, such as the tariff, the trusts and
conservation, will OF themselves re-
move the artificial causes. There will
remain other elements such as the
tendency to leave the country for the
city, waste, extravaganza, bad system
Of taxation, poor methods OF raising
crops and bad business methods In
marketing crops. To remedy these
conditions requires the fullest Informs
ton and, based on this Information.
effective government supervision and
control to remove all the artificial
causes. We pledge ourselves to such
full and immediate inquiry and to I'm
mediate action to deal with every need
such inquiry discloses."
Business.
Under the caption business, the plat
form says:
1--WE demand strong national regu-
1ation of interstate corporations. The
corporation Is an essential part of
modern business. The concentration
of modern business. In some degree, Is
both inevitable and necessary for ma
tional and international business effic-
iency. But the existing concentration
of vast wealth under corporate sys-
tenn, unguarded and uncontrolled by
the nationa, has placed In the hands OF
a few men enormous, secret, trrespon-
sible power over the daily life Of the
citizen-a power insufferable In free
government and certain OF abuse.
This power has been abused, in
monopoly Of national resources, In
stock watering, In unfair competition
and unfair privileges and finally In sim
lister influences on the public agencies
of state and nation. We do not fear
commercial power, but we insist that
it shall be exercised openly, under
publicity, supervision and regulation of
the most efficient sort which will pre-
serve it's good while Graduating and
preventing It's evils.
ITO that end we urge the establish
ment of strong federal administra-
tive commission Of high standing,
which shall maintain permanent active
supervision over industrial corpora
tons engaged in interstate commerce,
of such OF them as are Of public i'm
portance, doing for them what the gov
eminent now does for the national
banks and what Is now done for the
railroads by the interstate commerce
Such commission must
enforce the complete publicity of those
cooperative transactions which are of
public interest; must attack unfair
competition, false capitalization and
special privilege, and by continuous
trained .watchfulness guard and kept
open equally to all, the highways of
American commerce.
Thus the business man will have
certain knowledge OF the law and will
be able to conduct his business easily
in conformity herewith The investor
will find security for his capital: divi.
dends will be rendered more certain,
and the savings Of the people will be
drawn naturally and safely into the
channels OF trade.
Under such a system of construc-
tive regulation legitimate business
freed from confusion, uncertainty and
fruitless litigation will develop nor
mally In response to the energy and
enterprise of the American business
man."
Waterways.
The plank on waterways declares:
'The rivers of the United States are
the natural arteries Of this continent.
We demand that they shall be opened
to traffic as indispensable parts Of q
national system of which the Panama
canal will be the center, thus enab.
ling the whole interior of the United
States to share with the Atlantic and
Pacific seaboards in benefit derived
from the canals. It is a national OBJ
legation to develop our rivers and es.
pecially the Mississippi and Its tribu'
taries, from it's source to It's mouth,
with system designed to secure it's
highest usefulness for navigation, irri'
cation, domestic supply and the pre-
vention of floods. We pledge our
party to the immediate preparation OF
such a plan which should be made and
carried out in close and friendly CO.
operation between the nation, the
states and the cities affected. Under
such plan the destructive floods of
the Mississippi and other streams
which represent a great and needless
AoS0
by forest conservation and water stor-
age at the headwaters and by levees
below, land sufficient to support mil
lions of people would be reclaimed
from the deserts and the swamps,
water power enough to transform the
industrial standings of whole states
would be developed, adequate water
terminals would be provided, transpor.
tation by river would revive and the
railroads would be compelled to CO.
operate as freely with the boat lines
as with each other"
The Tariff.
The tariff plank says: 1--WE believe
in protective tariff which shall equal
ize conditions Of competition between
the United States and the foreign coun-
tries, both for the farmer and the man
ufacturer and which shall maintain for
labor an adequate standard Of living.
Primary the benefit Of any tariff
should be disclosed in the pay envel-
ope of the laborer. We declare that
no industry deserves protection which
is unfair to labor or whic his operating
in violation Of federal law We be-