Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1918-06-11

rate of dozen cents per day per mar
prevails. can undersell US within sight
of the smoke from the stacks Of oul
own factories, If the American wage
scale is to be maintained We car
compete with the world, but we car
! compete only when wage scales are
equalized, and | am unalterably op
posed to lowering the American wage
scale to the standard of the coolie
the peasant and the peon. am will
ing to join in helping the whole world
but not by taking the bread from the
mouth and the comfort from the home
of the toilers of the United States
who are certainly entitled to the mar
kets of their own country, incompar.
ably the richest markets in the world
/ believe -. Germany would be
willing to cease fighting today, with
draw within her boundaries as they
existed before the war, and pay for all
the damages her armies have done in
Belgium and northern France, if she
should receive in exchange the free
gift of our American markets proposed
by President Wilson to our foreign
competitors
We entered the ger for high and
unselfish purposes We should not,
in order to get ont of it, sacrifice the
interests of the whole American cit
izenship, either as bride for peace
or in pursuance of an impracticable
scheme of internationalism from
which our commercial rivals will de-
rive all the advantages, and we will
make and suffer the sacrifices. This
nation owes protection in time of
peace to those who must protect the
nation in time of wgr, and the govern
ment that will not protect its protec-
tors and defend its defenders is not
worthy of the fealty of any man.
Preserving the Protective Policy.
If yopelect me sena tor and a treaty
of peace is submitted to the United
States Senate during my encumbency,
which contains clause sacrificing the
right of the people of this country to
maintain the protective policy which
has been favored by every great con.
structive American statesman from
Washington to Mckinley, | shall vote
to reject it as a humiliating and de-
structive sacrifice of American rights
and interests.
The Importance of electing a Repub.
lican senator in West Virginia is more
apparent when it is obvious that this
very question may be submitted to the
Senate for its decision. | do not favor
the sacrifice of American blood and
treasure to the end that peace may be
made at the sacrifice of the prosperity
and happiness of the American people.
and in order that the adversaries with
whom we are now graphing on the
battlefield may fatten at our expense
Stand BY the Defenders of the Flaq.
AS good Americans we believe in
standing by the boys who are goine
abroad to fight our battles for us. II
is to them that we owe our chief con.
sideration. 1t is to our country and
not to any office-holder or set of pol
iticians that we should first be LOYAL
Our first and only thought should be
to stand by our boys who are making
the supreme sacrifice on the battle
field; to back them up; to provide the
1000, supplies and arms necessary for
their most effective equipment for the
great task before them. We should
stand by them not only now, but here.
after. We have taken them from the
farms and the mills to fight for our
nag; we have imposed upon many a
them great sacrifices of comfort. sefo
ty and opportunity for profitable EN-.
ployment What do we intend 10 pro
vide for them upon their return?
Something more than pensions and
wooden legs for the disabled will be
required. These young men will ask
first OF all fair opportunity in the
ranks of industry from which they
were withdrawn.
In 1914, before the European war be
gan, under the economic policies of
the party in power and still in power.
there were three million unemployed
workers in the United States. Shall
we muster these heroic boys out of the
army of the Republic into the army
OF the unemployed? Shall we bring
them home to face not only the heavy
burden of debt in which our nation
will necessarily be involved. to Shout
der the burden this war will lay upon
the people under the most favorable
circumstances, and to march I'D ard
down the nations highways and by
Vays in search of work? That will be
ne rate OF our boys now at the front,
on the way TO the front, or who may
yet be called, if the Democratic party
with its prosperity-destroying policies
be kept in power. We do not need to
guess about this. We need only to
recall the industrial conditions in this
country under the present tariff law
existing in 1914, and the conditions
Prevailing in this country under a sim
Democratic tariff law Just twenty
io~rs before that date to be convinced
bat this is true. A vote for a Repub-
ilcan senator in West Virginia this
year is vote to keep the home fires
burning" for the boys who have rallied
to the defense of the flag; the fires on
the hearthstoSes in the homes upon
the hills, and in the factories in the
valleys of West Virginia, where the
light of great ird2xuia. life is re-
hectS9 in the skies.
Our Merchant Marine.
For many years the leading Repub-
lfcans and the Republican party gen
orally have sought TO place upon the
statute books of the nation legislation
for the purpose of fostering and Gre
ating merchant marine. During all
that time the Democratic party, with
the assistance OF few Republicans
has been strong enough to prevent the
enactment of this legislation. Now,
from the necessities of war, we are to
have a great merchant marine. After
the war we shall need legislation guar
anteeing that it shall survive against
foreign competition, which competition
is fortified by cheapness of operation
secured through the sacrifice of human
values. Free trade in ships was the
ieath-knel of once great Americ an
merchant feet. 1t will drive from the
seas the fleets We are now creating. as
1t has driven other fleets in the past,
AID compel them to seek the adyan-
ages of foreign registry with /; pau-
Der wage scale and cheapened cost OF
operation. West Virginia, with her
great resources and her new and grow
ing industrial life, is vitality interested
IN this question of American oceH-
pancy of the ocean trade routes. Both
our state and nation have learned that
great merchant marine is essential