Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-10-27

tuc ~WdRGWOIkeT WHO WoTkeu WIFI ulHl
bands and for the farmer. l will do every-
thing that in me lies for their permanent
good, except anything that is wrong, and
that | will do for no man. | speak out of
ny deepest convictions and as eonscien-
tiously as it is in my power to speak when
| say to you that I believe that Mr.. VIII
IONS action in connection with the Adam
son bill is deeply prejudicial to the real
and permanent interests of the laboring1
man. | say to you with deepest con-
giction that if you yourself will look backi
sou will find that on the average, the wage-l
worker has p~rospered more when thisf
country has been under a protective tariff
than when the protective tariff has beenl
so low as not to give protection to our
immense and varied industries; and abovel
all, to the men working in those indus-l
tries. As you know, l have always STOOD
for the tariff only to the degree in which,
the benefit was reasonably shared betweenI
the men in the front Office and the men,
who receive the pay envelopes. | standi
for that division now. But there must bel
something to divide, or nobody will get
anything.
l ask you to look back only two shorsl
years. Mr.. Wilson was inaugurated All
President three years ago last spring. Hsl
and his party Immediately passed a low
tariff law. Under it Government receiptsl
fell off SO alarmingly that there was a great
deficit which had to be met by a special
tax. This was later called a ear tax; butt
it was not due to the war at all; the de-
crease in receipts was prior to the war,j
it was a deficiency tax pure and simple.
As some one pointed out at the timej
Canada had a war with no tax; whereas
we had a tax with no war. It was purely
q deficiency tax.
During the first eighteen months of this
Administration the national business went
to pieces, the sidings on the railroads were
jammed with empty cars, and the NUMBER
of employees in every great industry grew
to appalling dimensions. I speak here oil
what I personally know; for less than two
years ago l had to take an active part inl
New York in measures to relieve the un-
employed. / then saw municipal lodging
houses crowded to overlooking with people
DESTROYS of working, who could not get any
work, and who did not have enough money
to pay for the poorest lodging or the cheap
est meals. The unemployed were NUMB
bered not by the thousands, but the scores
of thousands; and I was in active corre1
spondence with men and women in other,
cities, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia
where the conditions were just as bad al
in New York. Every kind of provisionl
had to be made, by private charities and
by the public authorities, in order to
care for the multitude of people who wish-
ed to work but who were in dire want be-
cause there was no work. The misery was
widespread. For instance, the Board OF
Health of New York, had to pass a spe-
cial resolution allowing the eating of horss
meat II think the exact phraseology gave
permission to fatten old horses for slaughtl
er and food), because every effort had to
be made to give to those out of work the
cheapest food that would sustain life. Re-
member that those times were normal.
There was then no war. We were at
peace. We were simply experiencing ths
normal results of legislative action under
Mr.. Wilson and the Democratic admins
tration.
Thu suffering was widespread through
out this country. Suddenly the war came
At one stroke this country was granted
a ReasHEe Of nr9tectiop gSeater thar, AZ
hd ever received under any tariff ID
history. Moreover, the demand for
munitions of war was stimulated to such
an enormous degree as to completely re4
verse trade conditions. For example, CONF
pairing the fiscal years ending June 80,
1914, and June 80, 1916, that is the year
before the war and the year that has Just
elapsed, the losses in ordinary exports DUR
ing the last year, compared to the former,
were over two hundred million dollars:
whereas there was a gain in exports of war
material of nearly two billion dollars. Ii
it were not for these artificial conditions,
the suffering from unemployment in this
country at this time would in all proba-
bility be as great as it was in 1914, and
we would have seen two or three years
of an industrial crisis at least as bad as
any we have ever known in our history.
The present stimulus is artificial. 1t will
cease with the war conditions coming to
an end. 1t will then be difficult to avoid
some suffering anyhow. If Mr.. Wilson is
kept in office, this suffering will doubtless
be prolonged and acute.
In short, you miners of Pennsylvania, I
appeal to you, and l appeal to all wage
workers of the United States, both in the
name of sound American citizenship, and
also in the name of your real and perma-
nent self-interest. No American citizen
can afford to put the stamp of his APP
proval on any law supposed to be passed
for the benefit of anybody without inves-
t~igation, under duress of threats or for
fear of the loss of political power. I ask
any men who are tempted to approve of
the politician, big or little, whom they
think has helped them by doing wrong in
their interest, to remember that the man
who for his profit does wrong in your in-
terest will just as unhesitatingly do wrong
against your interest, if ever he thinks ID
to his profit to do so.
In the old days, thirty years ago, when
I lived on a cow ranch in the short-grass
country, the branding iron and the cow-
boy took the place of fences, and our
herds were managed by branding each
calf with the brand of the cow it followed
If the calf was not branded the first
year, then the next year when it was an
unbranded y~earling, it was called a nav