The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-10-18
DEMOCRATIC HIGH PRICES.

"The high price of gasoline, which
affects the owner Of every automobile
in the country as well as all business
houses which use gasoline trucks; the
high price of print paper, which has
affected every newspaper and publ
cation in the United States, particu-
larly the owners of the smaller news
papers; the high price of binder twine
which is costing the farmers millions
Of dollars.all these increased ex-
penses affecting million of our citizens
and costing them billions of unneces-
sary expense, is due to the Wilson ad-
ministration and the Democratic par
ty," declared Representative Halvor
Stevenson, Of Minnesota, in a state
ment at Washington.
THE Democratic party promised
economy and gave us extravaganza.
1t promised lower cost of living but
it has gone up and is still going up.
It promised to curb monopoly but the
Democrats have pulled the teeth out
of the antitrust law by the Clayton
act to such an extent that we are now
in the grip of some of the most rapa-
cious trusts in the world.
when / sought to get the govern
ment TO prosecute them for violating
the antitrust law the department of
Justice could not find sufficient evil
dence, although the secretary of the
interior, the bureau of mines, and the
federal trade commission investigated
the subject and reported there was no
natural or economic cause for the in
crease in prices and it must be due to
monopoliZation.
THE paper trust has gradually
raised the price Of paper so that many
of the smaller newspapers may have
to go out of business. The settlers
who furnish the pulp wood have been
paid the same old price but the man
ufacturer has doubled the selling
price.
''The latest product of Democratic
legislation and policy, the binder
Irvine trust-the Commission del Mer-
cado de Henequin Reguladora of Yu-
catan-controls absolutely the worlds
sisal supply out of which binder Irvine
is made. This trust was organized by
the military governor of Yucatan and
was approved by Carranza. 1t was
financed in the United States with ap-
prevail of the state department Nor
man Lind, whose father, John Lind
was sent as President Wilson's per
sOnal representative to Mexico is its
American representative This trust
has already doubled the price of bin
der Irvine. In the state of Minnesota
alone it has raised the price from 315
cents to Z cents and refuses to quote
prices for next season lower than 10
cents. Minnesota farmers use approx
imately 25,000,000 pounds of Irvine an
nually, and this means an extra tax
of at least 10 cents an acre or more
than a million dollars on the farmers
of this one state. This money, wrung
from American farmers, will not go
to the poems of Yucatan on increased
wages but to Carranza 1t will help
him buy more arms and ammunition
with which to murder Americans.
THE Democratic party has imposed
extravaganza on the people amounting
to 600,000,000 per annum They have
created more than $4,000 new offices,
involving permanent burden on the
tax payers of $4O,O0O,OOO per annum.
They are great for economy when
out of office, but in power they are
more than extravagant-the are pro-
figate."