The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-02
CONGRESSMAN REILLY IN RINGING KEYNOTE
 SPEECH OPENS DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

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 the Payne-Aldrich woolen schedule in- defensible. Other schedules were re- vised only to be killed by Senate non-
 action or Presidential veto.
 All this legislation of the Democratic
 House was in keeping with what the people had been promised and was
 what they expected. It would have
 relieved the country of a great bur- den of taxation in the shape of high
 prices, that had been maintained for
 the benefit of the tariff barons and | as a reward for great campaign con- | tributions that had kept the Republi-
 can party in power.
 Realizing the futility of further leg fslatlon So long as hostile Senate and tchief executive remained in power, the special session ended That ses-
 sion convinced the American people of
 two things. First that the Republi- cans as party were still the abject
 slaves Of the great controlling inter- ests that had shaped legislation for
 years to their own ends. Second, that ] the Democrats had proven, in the l highest degree, their capacity for pro-
 gressive and constructive legislation
 and their sincerity and honesty in
 dealing with the people, It was a
 magnificent record made under splen-
 did leadership and 1t won the admir- | atiOn of the American people, It
 showed what might be accomplished | were the other branches in accord with
 the House. and I honestly believe it
 was the cause of the great electorate
 of this country making up it's mind to
 place the Democrats in full control at
 the first opportunity and that oppor- | tun1ty is now but six months dis tant.
 Then came on the present regular | session and the Democrats resumed | their duties with the same determin- ation and spirit of harmony that have marked all their work. The tariff bills were re-enacted hut as yet not one of them has been taken up in the Senate. Tn that body, the same high | handed disregard of the needs of the people is shown by controlling stand patters of the committees, but the margin of control is smaller than it was last summer and there is some hope of relief in sight, if it is not dis pelled by the veto power.
 That in brief is the story of the Democratic House, the popular branch | short year. It is record the Demo- cratic party may we'll be proud of and one that the American people are waiting to approve of at the polls. The same spirit of harmony that marked the beginning of Democratic it today, while the Republicans are ripped apart in the despair of inn pending defeat It is the party of progress, the party of fulfilled pledges, the party of the people.
 It comes before the country with clean hands in this campaign about to open in earnest. It holds it's head high, because 1t has done it's duty to the extent of it's power. It can point, with truth, to every promise kept. It has been careful of the peoples 1 money and showed it's keen business sense by looping off nearly quarter of million dollars a year in useless expenditures. of the House.
 The mask of hypocrisy that the Re- publicans have been wearing for years in the matter of tariff legislation has been torn from their faces. They have always pleaded to have the tar vision. by tits friends" Those friends have been shown up. They have been preaching and prating for protection of the American workingman in mak- ing their high tariff bills. These Re- publican tariff makers have been proven to be men financially interest ed in the concerns for which they were making tariff duties. What is true of that recent exposure of a dis tinguished woolen tariff maker, is true of the makers of other schedules. For years this high protective tariff that the Republicans were claiming to be only in the interest of the Am erican workmen was being made to line the pockets of the tariff makers themselves.
 The Democrats have been criticised by these Republican tariff tinkers for not having given hearings on these 70 hVnnOrifpS held hearings when they had control of the Ways and Means committee. Yes they did. and they but added to the infamy. Not only were the judges before whom the hearings were held. prejudiced by financial interest in the industries, but the witnesses called were their fellow-owners and stock holders.
 The Republican cry that the Demo- cratic party is the enemy of the Am erican factory and American work men is a lie. as is the cry that it is have lost their power to frighten in view of the conviction of Republican tariff makers of ownership in the protected properties.
 There is no longer rallying power in the full dinner pail slogan, in view of 10000 Lawrence woolen mill em- ployees striking against an average weekly wage of $595 in the highest protected industry in the whole list. The industry that paid enormous div idends to it's tariff protected owners, while it's employees toiled and almost starved. The industry that turned protected millions into the cOffers of it's owners while the pauper paid children in it's employ went without a stitch of underclothes.
 When the Democrats reduced the tariff on woolen and cotton goods, the Republican howl went up that the Southern Democrats were ready to re- duce the duty on those things because they were made mostly in New Eng land and not In the South The fair ness of the Southern Democrats was shown when they placed sugar, that great southern product on the free list and the lie was given to their Re- publican accusers.
 In that vote on the Free Sugar bill, which directly relieved every consum- CT, three of the four Republican mem bers from this state voted against free sugar, and the other, MT. Hill. was absent To make up for the rev. enue lost bv taking the duty off sug- ar. the Democrats brought in an Ex- else Tax bill that placed a tax of one per cent on all incomes over s5.000. So popular was this tax proposition that it was passed by vote of 252 to 40. The Republican minority of the Ways and Means committee, number ing seven brought in a report against the mea sure, yet they could only mus