The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1913-06-06
LET US SUPPOSE
A LITTLE

Suppose you were doing business
among a very stmple-minded but indus
drious people inhabiting a rich country
Suppose you took advantage OF theiI
simple minds by stufing them with sto'
ries about the benefit of dealing eXclu'
sively with you.
Suppose you succeed so well in bam-
boozling them that they would actually
levy high protective duties to prevent
anv one else from selling to them.
wouldn't that make you feel good'
Suppose they were so extremely sim
ple-minded that they would take fright
at the most absurd stories you would tell
them of awful consequences to follow re-
moval of the tariff or even from thinking
about removing it.
Suppose you we're able to keep them
in this terrorstricken condition for years,
so that they meekly permitted you to
pick their pockets, believing some dread
full harm was being kept away thereby
Suppose as result you found your
self growing richer and richer, while
most of your dupes could only live from
hand to mouth. Wouldn't you laugh
in your sleeve at the poor fools?
But suppose that when everything
seemed lovely from your point OF view,
some pestiferous busybodies came along,
caught on to your game and started to
put the simple-minded people wise.
Wouldn't YOU howl? Wouldn't you start
to weave new fairy tales in which you
would represent the busybodies as ter
ribly wicked persons planning to mali
ciouslv destroy the simpleminded ones'
Wouldn't YOU try to feign Indifference
regarding yourself but pretend to be
much concerned over possible conse-
auences to the simple-minded ones?
Wouldn't you loudly warn your dupes
against listening to the busybodies?
Suppose the busybodies finally sue
ceeded in instilling enough wisdom into
some of the simple minds to let them rea-
lie how you had fooled them.
Suppose you noticed that the number
of those getting wise increased from day
to day. Wouldn't you get scared?
Wouldn't you tremble lest your graft be
stopped? Wouldn't the prospect of get
ting nothing more that you did earn be
terrible to contemplate? Wouldn't you
get desperate and shrek out your blood
curdling fairy tale predictions more loud
ly than ever?
Suppose enough of the simple-mind-
ed ones became impressed by what the
said to be able to make some
cuts in the high tariff.
Suppose they actually started to do
this. Wouldn't that make you frantic?
Wouldn't you long for something to hap
pen like the eclipse that enabled Colun-
bus to scare the Indians? Wouldn't you
try to frame up some bogus evidence of
the fulf1lment of your doleful prophecies?
Just put yourself in the place of any
monopolist and see if you would
not do this very thing. Even if the
pending tariff bill did deal tenderly with
your particular graft or even if your
privilege was one not founded on the tar
if you would be scared just the same.
You would be afraid lest the reform
would not stop with wiping out the graft
of few; you would dread the education
al effect of the slightest step in the di-
rection of free trade and the single tax.
Unless, like Tom L. Johnson, you are
one of those who will not uphold evils
from which you profit, you would resort
to all the mendacious, deceptive and