The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-05-06

+ QS0CS are cautioned uOL W AuCAuO<
such notices with their items unles:
they are authorized and paid for, ant
Il possible remittance for same
should accompany the notice.
A FALSE CRY.
Evidence accumulates that the
predatory interests are preparing tc
wage the next national campaign
under false pretenses. Recalling the
success which they have achieved in
past years by deception and misrep.
Tesentation they have evidently de.
termined to repeat their efforts to
obliterate in the public mind the
line between honest business and the
favor-seeking corporation; h e
"plunder bund," seeking to hide be-
hind legitimate enterprises and
claiming for itself the immunity
that, by common consent, is granted
to corporations properly organized
and honestly conducted, and the sub
sidized newspapers, whose support
the privileged interests are always
able to command,-these are clam
Oring for a return to the days when
business will be free from attack;
when enterprise will be encouraged
and thrift appreciated" For a gen.
Grafton the beneficiaries of special
1egislation-the corporations which,
either because of unfair laws or in
the absence of laws that should be
enacted, have collected tribute upon
the public-all are in full cry for a
return of 1.-THE good old days" when
officials were lifted into place and
power by corporation funds, when
the republican party sold legislation
at public auction and gave immun-
ity in return for contributions.
=" What has the democratic party
done to disturb any honest business
man? To say that the cure of recog-
nized sand admitted abuses is an at
tack on business is like calling
physician murderer when, in the
patients interest he lapces boil.
The democratic party has been lane
ing boils-only few to be sure, but
they were boils that had come to a
head and were ready to open.
What business interest has been
injured by democratic legislation?
To what business has injustice been
done? The new tariff law is the
most equitable that we have had in
q generation. Insofar as it has re-
duced the profits of protected inter-
ests, it has simply taken from them
the power that they have heretofore
employed to tax the multitude. 1t is
true that we now collect through an
income tax part of the revenues
that was formerly collected through
import duties-and there's the rub.
Men who would be ashamed to open
ly condemn the income tax are seek
ing to find some excuse for return
ing to power the party that tried to
prevent the adoption of the income
tax. Surely the consumers will be
lacking in appreciation of the SER
vice rendered them if they permit
the election of president, senate,
or house hostile to the income tax
What is there in the new curren-
cy law to which any legitimate en-
terprise can take exception? Ev-
cry business man should raise his
voice in Thanksgiving for the bene-
fits which it confers; every small
banker should appreciate the aid ex-
tended to him, and that, too, large
ly without any effort on his part.
One can hardly find it in his heart
to blame the small bankers for hav-
ing joined in the protest against the
currency bill before it. was passed,
for they acted under coercion-they
were in danger of being crushed in
the folds of the financial serpent and
were not in a position to protect
themselves. Only the big financiers
have reason to complain of the cur
rency law and their only complaint
is that their grip upon the nations
throat has been broken.
What fair dealing corporation has
been injured by the antitrust legis
lation? The Clayton law and the
law providing for trade commits
sion have brought boon to the
ninety-nine worthy corporations by
restraining the hundredth corpora
ton which sought to eliminate COM
petition. No corporation need be
afraid of the antitrust laws, new or
cid, SO long as it respects the law
of competition and endeavors to fur
nish good quality at fair price.
Corporations engaged in legitimate
business-and they constitute the
vast majority-may be compared to
those engaged in the industry of
horse raising-while the compare
lively few predatory corporations
may be likened to those who make
horse stealing their occupation, To
accuse the democratic party of at
lacking business merely because it
has declared war on methods which
violate the moral law, as well as the
statutes, is as senseless as it would
be to condemn the law against horse
stealing on the ground that it was
an interference with the horse in
dustry of the country.
It is a reflection upon the intelli
gence Of the masses to assume that
they can be deceived by the hue and
cry which is now being raised by in
dustrial pirates under the plea of
protecting business The selfish
ness and sordidness of this attempt
to deceive the public ought to have