Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1916-10-20
NO RELIEF GIVEN
Democrats Have Broken Prom
iseS Made to Voters.
Main Plank Of Platform on Which VIII
son Was Elected Was Assurance Of
Reduction Of LiVing-lnstead,
u Has Advanced.

For what purpose did the American
people elect a Democratic administra-
ton in 1922
Everybody whose memory runs back
four years recalls that the really big
issue in the campaign then was the
high cost of living and the tariff.
There is no argument on the fact that
the plank in the Democratic platform
Of 1912 having the widest appeal was
that which declared:
"We charge that excessive
prices result in a large measure from
the high tariff laws enacted and main
tanned by the Republican party and
from trusts and commercial cOnsplra-
cies fostered and encouraged by such
laws, and we assert that no substantial
relief a be secured for the people
unless import duties on the neces-
saries Of life are materially reduced
and those criminal conspiracies broken
up"
The first thing the Democratic ad-
ministration did was to reduce the
tariff and to adopt an entirely new tar
III system, a%bolishing the Republican
protective system, This new tariff law
was approved october 3, 1914. That
was ten months before the war In Eu-
rope began.
You do not have to consult any ad-
wiser or table of statistics to answer
the question: HAS the Democratic
tariff law and other Democratic legls-
latiOn reduced your cost of living2"
Did you note any decrease In your
living expense in any month from the
Inauguration OF Woodrow Wilson,
March 4, 1913, down to the present?
Has the Democratic administration
made good OF its promises? You are
just as competent to answer these
questions as anyone else.
OF course the Democrats seek an ex-
use In the fact Of the wal in Europe.
They blame that war for the fail
ure of the Underwood tariff law, for
the huge increase in the cost of govern
ment, for the fact that the cost Of liv-
ing goes ever higher.
Remember back, however, to the
months before the war when the I'm
derwOod tariff law was In effect, and
recall what you noted.
Have you forgotten the closed fac
tories, the stagnatiOn of industry, the
laying Off of men, the soup kitchens
in the large cities, the poverty and
the woe that was sweeping Over the
land7 Have you forgotten the bread
lines and the ever-lncreasing appeals
for charity? Have you forgotten the
high prices2
True, there Is a measure of prosper
ity now. Out Of your own knowl.
edge In your own community you can
trace 1t back to It's source, increased
European buying incident to the war
principally war orders. "Blood-soaked
prosperity" some statesman has called
1t. The phrase is descriptive.
But your own reason tells you that
1t is a prosperity hat is not going tC
last.
Have you not noted that this tempo
rary and precariOus prosperity is con
fined to industrial centers and to food
supply regions adjacent to those indus
trial centers?
For example, you find none Of It or
the Pacific slope, a region too new tC
maintain great and varied industries
that might fatten on war orders, anC
too remote to act as a reservoir Of
supply. The great industry Of the Pa
clhc Northwest, the lumber and shinglC
Industry, has starved under the fire,
trade Democratic tariff, to the sol,
advantage of Canada, with Canada.
mills and camps manned by Chinese
Hindoos and other cheap-paid Asiat
les. The lemon trade of California, {
huge trade when protected. likewls,
has starved under the same Democrat
lc free trade.
Have you felt any Of the benefits
promised by the Democrats to flow
from this new policy, benefits baset
on the Ill fortune Of your fellow Amer
leans? Ask this question seriously O
yourself.