Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1902 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

Tariff Reformer*. A majority of the voters In a large number of Congressional districts in the Western States have been buncoed Into believing that the members of Congress they have elected will vote to amend the tariff law and control the trusts. The candidates promised thut if a Republican majority was elected the tariff and trust issue would be settled by those who are the friends of protection, and there would be no disturbance of business. Some of these Republicans who have been elected to Congress on the faith in their promises were no doubt sincere and will strive to carry them out, but that they will accomplish any such results is out of the question. Those candidates who have been re-elected to Congress and have had experience In the workings of the ruthless machine must have known that any such promises were worthless and were only given to once more'fool their constituents into re-electing them. That this is a fair statement of facts is certain when it is considered that Congress is run by a majority of the dominant party, and that individual Cdngressmen have no opportunity given them to even have their Ideas considered unless the party managers think such are desirable. When the next Congress meets in December, IJMI3, the caucus of the Republican members will decide who is to be speaker. He will appoint the committees, and if the majority shall decide that the tariff is not to l>e reformed. the speaker will carry out their wishes. He will appoint a Committee on Ways and Means, to whom any tariff Dill must be referred, who will all be reliable protectionists and who believe that nearly all the trusts are good trusts, and should be aided rather than hindered in their career of piling up profits at the expense of the people. The Republican Congress man who believes in tariff reform, to any extent, will be helpless. He mny Introduce a bill, like Mr. Babcock did in the la-ginning of the present Congress. to reform the iron and steel schedule, but it will lie buried, like that notable production, in the grave of tariff reform hopes—the Ways and Means Committee. If our new Congressman is insistent to have his bill considered, which, like Mr. Babcock, lie will probably not be, ail will be serene; lie will be favored in other matters, so that Ids const’ll urffits may lie partially satisfied. If be demands that liis. or some similar bill, be considered and reported so that lie may have an opportunity to record his vote and thus show his sincerity to ills constituents. he will lie cut off from participation in all the inside advantages of belonging to the majority party and be treated much more discourteously than the memliers of the Democratic minority. Only in the almost impossible event of enougli Republican memliers joining with the Democrats to make a majority and then voting to order the Committee on Ways and Means to report a bill to amend the tariff law. will it lie possible to have a yea and nay vote recorded on such a proposition. It will be interesting to watch the actions of those Republican Congressmen from lowa, Minnesota anil other States that have succeeded In deluding their farmer constituents Into lielleving thut the tariff will be revised by its friends. If the jieople of any Congressional district want the tariff revised, they must bring pressure to bear on the Congressman they have elected to compel him to carry out their wishes. It will require a good deal of backbone for n Republican Congressman to stand tip and fight for even trust productions to be placed upon the free list. Women and the Tariff. The object of the tariff is to tax everybody's poeketbook for the ' enrichment of the favored gentlemen who own the trusts. The trusts are enabled to charge two prices for things because the tariff shuts out competition. In a word, the detestable tariff makes a dollar go a very short way In n woman’s poeketbook. And since ■he Is the domestic treasurer there is every reason at the present time why she should know something about “politics." It affects her first; the man who must replenish her purse is affected only secondarily.—Bt. Louis Republic. t’rices of Food Products. Popular uneasiness caused by the enormous price of coal Is not lessened by h consideration of the prevailing high prices asked for other necessaries of life. Meat Is still dear; butter, eggs and poultry are higher than usual. and retail dealers have decided to Increase the price of milk. In a period of high prices it Is the wage-earner who Is the greatest sufferer. The fanner gets more'for hts products, the manufacturer and business man for theirs, hut wages are the last thing to go up.—Baltimore News. Pennsylvania a Shameless State. It Is undeniable that In Philadelphia fraud In elections is condoned by cltlr.ens who In other matters pride themselves upon their Integrity, They regard ballot-box stuffing In the light of an amusing and perhaps justifiable expedient. Instead of denouncing It as a degrading and dlsbonest practice.

John Wanamaker recently characterized Pennsylvania as a "sunken State.” That is a harsh term to apply to a great commonwealth. But would a State with a decent respect for public opinion submit year after year to the rule of an oligarchy perpetuated by the grossest fraud and corruptionT Has Pennsylvania genuine refffibltcan government if its elections are controlled by men who boast of their skill in {mdding the returns?—Baltimore Sun. Watch the Republicans. At last the tariff is going to be reformed "by its friends”—not right away but as soon as it really needs It. Some of the duties which protect "bad" trusts must come off. A beginning may l>e made with the duty on authracite coal which Secretary Moody says was “smuggled into the Diiigley tariff bill in a sneaking and cowardly manner.” Undoubtedly the President, in bis message to Congress, will recommend that this smuggled duty be taken off and, as the duty on soft coal protects the coal trust, or trusts, far more than the dutyon anthracite, he must, to be consistent, recommend that all coal be put on the free list. Then the fun will begin as It always has begun when the Republicans have attempted to revise the tariff downwards and indeed by revising it upwards. ~ \ The trusts will send agents to Washington. These will appear before the Ways and Means Committee, or perhaps before a Tariff Commission, which the President will recommend. They will loudly proclaim tlie direful results that will follow even the slightest lowering of the robber duties. Each trust agent will gravely inform the Commission or their Commission (for heretofore the protected manufacturers have bad their own way In all things) that his particular industry would be ruined, simply wiped off the earth. If the tariff Is touched even by friendly hands. He will produce carefully prepared tables showing that In his Industry day wages are twice as high in this country as In Germany or France and 60 per cent higher than In England. He will put up a pitiful plea for "protection to la - bor" and “American wages for American workingmen.” He will not explain how a tariff on goods—what the trusts have to'sell—will protect labor—what the workingman has to sell. Neither will lie explain why wages are higher In free-trade England than in protected Germany or France, uor why our trust products, made by liigh-prlced labor, are sold In foreign countries in competition with goods made l»y cheap labor. These details will not prevent him from making most positive assertions that the tariff protects the workingman and free trade would ruin him. After a year spent in taking testimony from the protected manufacturers—the only ones who usually appear before such a committee—the Commission will, unless the agitation for revision becomes very acute, calmly decide that the tariff protects labor more than the manufacturer and that It is not at all the mother of trusts, either good or bad. In this way one or two years’ time will be gained by the protected manufacturers aud perhaps by that time another war will be launched and will divert the people from the tariff question. It is hard to beat the protected trusts. Republicans in Full Control. Republicans will have the uext Congress in both branches ns they have the present one. If the Republicans fail to put through whatever legislation they see fit it will not lie on account of insufficient numbers in the party representation. There will Ih\ ns now, a Republican administration, a Republican Senate and a Republican House. Full responsibility will rest with the Republican party, and should the country think It necessary to chauge the responsibility in 1904 It will be solely owing to failure of the party now In power to make satisfactory use or Its opportunities.—Cleveland Plain Denier. Good Place to Benia. Barbed wire being tlie production of the Steel Trust and selling In Europe for two-thirda less than the trust sells It to the American farmer, would seem to fix the status of the Steel Trust as a bad trust. If the Republicans are sincere In tlielr expressed determination to remove protection from lmd trusts, the Steel Trust productions would be a good place to l>ogln by lopping off the 40 |>er cent protection the tariff law now gives them. The Winning Issue* for lIKM. The policy of the Democracy Is plain. The futile aud defeated Issues of the I mat must lie cast out of the camp. The consolidation of tlie party upon the supreme Issue must lie effected and the line of battle must lie solid and enthusiastic from Maine to California. On the straight, succinct platform of home administration, with equal rlghtn to all men and special privileges to none, we will win In 1904.—Atlanta Constitution. The police department of Atheus, Greece, has forwarded n circular to the mnnagefa of all local theaters directing them to announce In their programs whether their playa are auch aa Indies can properly attend.