St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-08-12
DUNNETT A CANDIDATE
Would Go To Congress As A Pro-
tectiOnist and Advocates A Sys-
tenn of Military Schools.


Alexander Dunnett of st. Johns
bury announces his candidacy for
Congress in the following letter:
To the voters of the Second Congress
sional District Of Vermont:
| have resigned my position as
United States attorney for the dis
trict of Vermont to become a candi-
date for Congress on the Republican
ticket in this district. Having been
out of politics for about eight years
l think l should say that | believe
the great question properly dividing
political parties in the United States
is the tariff. / am not s'stand-pat-
ter" | have always believed in
revision of the tariff to meet present
day conditions, but such a revision
should always be upon the lines of
the protection of our industries.
am not of that class of protection
lists who have advocated in the past
a lowering of the tariff. 1t is my
firm conviction that the people of
this country can well afford to pay
for articles that can profitably be
produced here what it costs to pro-
duce them in our own country, and
lAG OuAJ P4OpGI OCOdo4On lOl a SCn-
eral lowering of the tariff is to pro-
vide greater revenue for the govern
ment
AS a practical proposition this gov
ernment has never been able to
grow richer while the labor was per-
formed abroad and the money sent
abroad from this country to pay for
the products of labor. Such a sys-
tenn always involves the sending of
money out of this country and throw
ing our own laborers out of employ
ment. In the opinion of experts
this country is capable of producing
foodstuffs sufficient for five hundred
millions Of people; and while food
stuffs sufficient for our own people
can be produced at home our agri-
cultural interests should have the
benefit of the market.
In its last successful national cam
paign the Republican party stood
upon the strongest protective plank
that was ever written into it's plat
form, but by the vacillating attitude
of our leader upon the tariff ques-
ton, his attempted reciprocity with
Canada and his advocacy of a gen
eral cutting down of the tariff, the
temporary downfall of our party re-
suited.
This country in 1914 is in the
humiliating position of living under
a tariff framed by the people who
declared in their platform that pro-
lection was unconstitutional. They
have directly adopted the principles
originated and most brilliantly ad
vocated by John G. Calhoun more
than eighty years ago when under
a spell of his reasoning South Caro-
lima passed the notification act.
These principles were so rank that
Andrew Jackson threatened to hang
their author, and they have been re-
pudiated by the people of this gov
ernment for more than half a cen
tury.
The principle that this government
has a right to protect itself, it's
people and its industries is so firmly
established that in the last presiden-
tial election more than two million
majority of votes were cast in its
favor-the Taft and Roosevelt vote
combined. All believers in this doc
trine should stand together, and no
community is more vitality interest
ed in it than the people of Vermont.
| believe not only that this country
has the right to protect but that its
duty and interest are to protect its
labor and its industries as much as
it is it's duty to protect its shores
from foreign invasions.
While / am not without views on
pending and prospective measures in
Congress, / prefer in this limited
space to speak of a measure not
pending, to my knowledge, in rela-
ton to our army. / believe that mill
tary schools should be established
for boys who have completed the
common school studies, in which ag-
ricultural and other useful learning
should be impaired. These schools !
should be entirely free, but attend /
ance should be upon condition that
the student should for a certain num-
Der of years after graduation serve /
in the army when called upon.
believe such schools will accomplish /
three purposes:
First, They will do away with the +
for large standing army; /
Second. They will provide a very
large and efficient army in time of
need;
Third, Every part of the body po-
Iitic viii be strengthened by the con-
slant addition of this body of we'll
trained and well-educated young
men.
And finally, I think this can all be
as cheaply as we sup
port our present standing army and
the militia Of the several states.
I do not say that this general
can be formulated and
written into law at once, but / feel
.het there is an opportunity for an
endeavor toward progress along these
ines.
This district is rather off on the
side respecting the great commercial
Ind industrial interest of the coun-
.ry, but it has interests as dear and
important to its. people as any, and
( nominated and elected. to this
nigh Office it will be not only my
iuty but my pleasure to do what
;an for you and my state and my
sountTy.
ALEXANDER DUNNET
Ilie Sfamn Printing Done Here.