Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1912 — LOWER TARIFF IS LEADING PLANK OF DEMOCRATIC GREED [ARTICLE]

LOWER TARIFF IS LEADING PLANK OF DEMOCRATIC GREED

Platform as Adopted Demands Taxation for Revenue / Only. THE HIGH COST OF LIVING Republican Party Held Responsible for Present Serious Condition—AntiTrust Law—Popular Election of Senators by the People Favored Work of Democratic Con--1 gress Praised. Baltimore. —Following is the platform in full as adopted by the Democratic national convention: We, the representatives of the Democratic party of the United States, in national convention assembled, reaffirm our devotion to the principles of Democratic government formulated by Thomas Jefferson and enforced by a long and illustrious line of Democratic presidents. Tariff Reform. We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party that the federal government under the constitution has no right or power to impose or collect tariff duties, <pxcept for the purpose of revenue, and we demand that the collection of such taxes shall be limited to the necessities of government honestly and economically administered. The high Republican tariff is the principal cause of the unequal distribution of wealth: it is a system of taxation which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer; under its operations the American farmer and laboring man are the chief sufferers; it raises the cost of the necessaries of life to them, hut does not protect their product or wages. The farmer sells largely in free markets and buys almost entirely in the protected markets. In the most highly protected Industries, such as cotton and wool, steel and iron, the wages of the laborers are the lowest paid in any of our industries. We denounce the Republican pretense on that subject and assert that American wages are established by competitive conditions and not by the tariff. We favor the Immediate downward revision of the existing high and in many cases prohibitive tariff duties, insisting that material reductions be speedily made upon the necessaries of life. Articles entering into competition with trust controlled products and articles of American manufacture which are sold abroad more cheaply than at home should be put upon the tree list. We recognize that our system of tariff taxation is intimately connected with the business of the country, and we favor the ultimate attainment of the principles we advocate by legislation that will not injure or destroy legitimate industry. We denounce the action of President Taft in vetoing the bills to reduce the tariff in the cotton, woolen, metals and chemicals schedules and the farmers’ free list bill, all of which were designed to give immediate relief to the masses from the exactions of the trusts. The Republican party, while promising tariff revision, has shown by Its tariff legislation that such revision Is not to be in the people’s interest and, having been faithless to its pledges of 1908, it should not longer enjoy the confidence of the nation. We appeal to the American people to support us in our demand for a tariff for revenue only.

High Cost of Living. ! The high cost of living is a se- j lious problem in every American home. The Republican party, in Its platform, attempts to escape from responsibility for present conditions by denying that they are due to protective tariff. We take issue with them on this subject and charge that excessive prices result in a large measure from the high tariff laws enacted and maintained by the Republican party and from trusts and commercial conspiracies fostered and encouraged by Buch laws, and we assert that no substantial relief can be secured for the people until Import duties on the necessaries of life are materially reduced and these criminal conspiracies broken up. •.■*** Anil-Trust Law. A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. We therefore favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal as well as the civil law against trust and trust officials and demand the enactment of such additional legislation as may be necessary to make it impossible for a private monopoly to exißt in the United States. We favor the declaration by law of the conditions upon which corporations shall be permitted to engage in interstate trade, including, among others, the prevention of holding companies, of interlocking directors, of stock watering, of discrimination In price, and the control by any one corporation of so large a proportion of any industry as to make It a menace to competitive conditions. We oondemn the action of the RepabUean administration in compromistag with the Standard Oil Company, mad the Tobacco Trust and Its failure to broke the ovhninal provisions of

the anti-trust law against tfce officers of those Corporations after the court had declared that from the undisputed facts in the record they had violated the criminal provisions of the law. We regret that the Sherman antitrust law has received a judicial construction depriving it of much of its efficacy and favor the enactment of i legislation which will restore to the statute the strength of which it has been deprived by such interpretation. Rights of the States. We believe ip the preservation and maintenance in their full strength and integrity of the three co-ordinate branches of the federal government the executive, the i legislative and judicial—each keeping within its own bounds and not encroaching upon the just powers of either of the others. Believing that the most efficient results under our system of government are to be attained by the full exercise by the states of their reserved sovereign powers, we denounce as usurpation the efforts of our opponents to deprive the states of any of the rights reserved to them, and to enlarge and magnify by indirection the powers of the federal government We insist upon the full exercises of all the powers of the government both state and national, to protect the people from injustice at the hands of those who seek to make the government a private asset in business. There is no twilight, none between the nation and the state, in which exploiting interest can take refuge from both. It is necessary that the federal government shall exercise the powers reserved to them, but we insist that federal remedies for the regulation of interstate commerce and for the prevention of private monopoly shall he added to and not substituted for, state remedies. Income Tax and Popular Election of Senators.' , We congratulate the country upon the triumph of two important reforms demanded in the last national platform, namely, the amendment of the Federal Constitution authorizing an income tax and the amendment providing for the popular election of senators, and we call upon the people of all the states to rally to the support of the pending propositions and, secure their ratification. We note with gratification the unanimous sentiment ip favor of publicity before the election, bf campaign contributions—a measure demanded in our national platform of 1908, and at that time oposed by the Republican party—and we commend the Democratic House of Representatives for extending the doctrine of publicity to recommendations, verbal and written, upon which presidential appointments are made, to the ownership and control of newspapers and to the expenditures made by and in behalf of those who aspire to presidential nominations, and we point for additional justification for this legislation to the enormous expenditures of money in behalf of the president and his predecessor in the recent contest for the Republican nomination for president. Presidential Primaries. The movement toward more popular government should be promoted through legislation in each state which will permit the expression of the preference of the electors for national candidates at presidential primaries.

We direct that the National Com-, mittee incorporate in the call for the next nominating convention a requirement that all expressions of preference for presidential candidates shall be given and the selection of delegates and alternates made through a primary election conducted by the party organization in each state where such expression and election are not provided for by state law. Committeemen who are hereafter to constitute the membership of the Democratic National Committee and whose election is not provided for by law shall be chosen in each state at such primary elections, and the service and authority of committeemen, however chosen, shall begin immediately upon the receipt of their credentials respectively.

Campaign Contributions. We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law prohibiting any corporation from contributing to a campaign fund and any individual from contributing any amount above a reasonable maximum. Term of President. We favor a single presidential term, and to that end urge the adoption of an amendment to the constitution making the president of the United States ineligible for re-election, and we pledge the candidate of this convention to this principle. Democratic Congress. At this time, when the Republican party after a generation of unlimited power In its control of the federal government, is rent Into factions, it is opportune to point to the record of accomplishment of the Democratic House of Representatives of the sixtysecond Congress. We indorse its aotion and we challenge comparison of its record with that of that other Congress which has been controlled by our opponents. We call the ' attention of the patriotic citizens of our country to its record of efficiency, economy and constructive legislation. It has, among other achievements, revised the rules of the House of Representatives so as to give the representatives of the American people freedom of speech and of action In advocating, proposing and perfecting remedial legislation. .. v. ' It haß passed bills for the relief of the people and the development of our country; It has endeavored to revise the tariff taxes downward, In the Interest of the consuming masses, and thus to reduce the high cost of living, it has proposed an amendment to

the federal constitution providing fer the election of United States senators by the direct vote of the people It has secured the admission of Arizona, and New Mexico as two sovereign states. It has required the publicity of campaign expenses both before and after election, and fixed a limit upon the election expenses of United States senators and representatives. It has also passed a bill to prevent the abuse of the writ of injunction. It has passed a law establishing an eight hour day for workmen on all national public work. It has passed a resolution which forced the president to take immediate steps" to abrogate the Russian treaty. i And it has passed the great supply bills, which lessen waste and extravagance, and which reduce the annual expenses of the government by many millions of dollars. An Adequate Navy. We approve the measure reported by the Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives for the creation of a council of national defense, which will determine a definite naval programme with a view to increase efficiency and economy. The party that proclaimed and has always enforced the Monroe doctrine and was sponsor for the new navy, will continue faithfully to observe the constitutional requirements to provide and maintain an adequate' J and well proportioned navy sufficient to defend American politics, protect our citizens and uphold the honor and dignity of the nation. tr» Republican Extravagance. We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from *the people by oppressive taxation through the lavish appropriations of eccentric Republican congresses, which have kept taxes high and reduced the purchasing power of the people’s toil. We demand a return to that simplicity and economy which befits a Democratic government and a reduction in the number of useless offices, the salaries of which drain the substance of the people. Railroads, Express Companies, Telegraph and Telephone Lines. \\ e favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of railroads, express companies, telegraph and tele I hone lines engaged in interstate commerce. To this end we recommend the valuation of railroads, express com panic?, telegraph and tele, phone lines by the Interstate Commerce commission, such valuation to take into consideration the physical value of the property, .the original cost, the cost of reproduction, and any element of value that will render the valuation fair and just. We favor such legislation as will effectually prohibit the railroads, express, telegraph and telephone companies from engaging in business which brings them rnto competition with their shippers or patrons; of legislation preventing the overissue of stocks and bonds by interstate railroads. express companies, telegraph and telephone lines, and legislation which will assure such reduction in transportation rates as conditions will permit, care being taken to avoid reduction that would compel a reduction of wages, prevent adequate service. or do injustice to legitimate investments. Banking Legislation. We oppose the so-called Aldrich bill of the establishment of a central bank, and we believe the people of the country will be largely freed from panics arid consequent unemployment and business depression by such a systematic revision of our. banking lawq as will render temporary relief in localities where such relief is needed, with protection from control or dominion by what is known as the money trust. Banks exist for the accommodation of the public and not for the control of business. All legislation on the subject of banking and currency should have for its purpose the securing of these accommodations on terms jjj absolute security to the public an<P of complete protection from the misuse of the power that wealth gives to those who possess it. We condemn the present method of depositing government funds in a few favored banks, largely situated or controlled by Wall street in return for political favors, and we pledge our party to provide by-laws for their deposit by competitive bidding, the banking institutions of the country, national and state, without discrimination as to locality, upon approved securities and subject to call by the government. Rural Credits.

Of equal importance with the question of currency reform is the question of rural credits or agricultural finance. Therefore we recommend that an investigation of agricultural credit societies in foreign countries be made so that it may be ascertained whether a system of rural credits may be devised suitable to conditions in the United States, and we also favor legislation permitting national banks to loan a reasonable proportion of their funds on real estate security. We recognize the value of vocational education and urge federal appropriations for such training and extension teaching In agricultural co-opera-tion with the several states. Waterways. We renew the declaration in ou* last platform relating to the conservation of our national resources and the development of our waterways. The present devastation of the lower Mississippi valley accentuates the movement for the regulation of river flow by additional bank and levee protection below, and the diversion, storage and control of the flood waters above and their utilization for beneficial purposes In the reclamation of arid and swamp lands and the development of water power, Instead of pep-'

nlttlng the Hoods to continue as heretofore, agents of destruction. We hold that the control of the Mississippi River is a national prob-'j lem. The preservation of the depths of its waters for the purpose of navigation; the building of levees to main, jtain the integrity of its channel, and : the prevention of the overflow of the land and its consequent devastation, resulting In the interruption of Interstate commerce, the disorganization of the mail service and the enermoua loss of life and property impose an obligation which alone can be discharged by the general government. To maintain an adequate depth of water the entire'year and thereby encourage water transportation is a consummation worthy of legislative attention and presents an Issue national j in its character. It calls for prompt • action on the . part of congress, and the Democratic party pledges itself to the enactment of legislation leading to that end. We favor the co-operation of the United States and the respective states in plans for the comprehensive treatment of all waterways with a | view of co-ordinating plans for channel improvement with plans for drainage of swamp and overflowed lands, and to this end we favor the appropriation by the federal government of sufficient funds to make surveys of such lands, to develop plans for drain- \ ing the same and to supervise the | work of construction. Wei favor the adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for the development and improvement of our inland waterways, with economy and efficiency, so as to permit their navigation by vessels of standard draft. Post Roads. We favor national aid to state and local authorities In the construction j and maintenance of post roads. The Rights of Labor. We repeat our declarations of the platform of 1908, as follows: “The courts of justice are the bulwarks of our liberties, and we yield to none in our purpose to maintain their dig- ; nity. Our party has given to the * bench a long line of distinguished j justices who haVe added to the respect and confidence in which this department must fee jealously main-tain-d. We resent the attempt of the Republican party to raise a false issue respecting the judiciary. It. is an unjust reflection upon a great body j of bur citizens to, assume that they lack respect for the courts. | “It is the function of the courts ! to interpret the law's which the people enact, and if the laws appear to work economic, social, or political injus* ! tices. it is our duty to change them, j The only basis upon which the integ- i rity of our courts can stand is that of : unswerving Justice and protection of life. If judicial processes may be abused, we should guard them against abuse. “Experience has proved the necessity of a modification of the present law relating to injunction, and we reiterate the pledges of our platforms of 1896 and 1904 in favor of a measure which passed the United States Senate in 1596 relating to contempt in federal courts and providing for trial by jury in cases of indirect contempt “Questions of judicial practice have arisen, especially in connection with industrial disputes. We believe that the parties to all judicial proceedings should be treated with rigid impartiality, and that injunctions should not be issued in any case in which an injunction would not issue if no j individual dispute were involved.” > The expanding organization of industry makes it essential that there should be no abridgment to the right of the wage earners and producers to organize for the protection of wages and the improvement of labor conditions, to the end that such labor organizations and their members should not be regarded as illegal combination in restraint of trade. We pledge the Democratic party to the enactThent of a law creating a department of labor represented separately in the president’s cabinet, in which department shall be included the subject of mines and mining. We pledge the Democratic party, so far as the federal jurisdiction extends, to an employes' compensation law providing adequate Indemnity for injury to body or loss of life. Conservation. We believe in conservation and the development for the use of all the people, of the natural resources of the country. Our forests, our sources of water supply, our arable and our mineral lands, our navigable streams and all the other material resources with which ouy country has been so lavishly endowed, constitute the foundation of our national wealth. Such additional legislation as' may be necessary to prevent their being wasted or absorbed by special or privileged interests should be enacted and the policy of their conservation should he rightly adhered to. The public domain should be administered and disposed of with due i-e----gard to the general welfare. Reservations should be limited to the purposes which they purport to serve and not extend to include land wholly unsuited therefor. The unnecessary withdrawal from sale and settlement of enormous tracts of public land, upon which tree growth never existed and cannot be promoted, tends only to retard development, create discontent and bring reproach upon the policy of conservation. The public land laws should be administered In a spirit of the broadest liberality towards the settler exhibiting a bona fide purpose to comply therewith, to the end that the invitation of this government to the landless should be as attractive as possible; and the plain provisions of the forest reserve act permitting homestead entries to be made within the ' national forests should not be nulli-

fied by administrative regulations which amount to a withdrawal of great areas of the senate from mentImmediate action should be taken by congress to make available the vast and valuable coal deposits of Alaska under conditions that will be a perfect guaranty against their falling into the hands of monopolizing corporations, associations or interests. We rejoice in the inheritance of mineral resources unequaled in extent, variety or value, and in the development of a mining industry unequaled In Its magnitude and importance. We honor the men who, in their hazardous toll underground, daily risk their lives in extracting and preparing for our use the products of the mine, so essential to the industries, the commerce and the comfort of the people of this country. And we pledge ourselves to the extension of the work of the bureau of mines in every way appropriate for national legislation with a view of safeguarding the lives of the miners, lessening the waste of essential resources, and protecting the economical development of mining, which, along with agriculture, must in the future, even more than in the past, serve as the very foundation of our national prosperity and welfare and our International commerce. Agriculture.

We believe in encouraging the development of a modern system of agriculture and a systematic effort to improve the conditions of trade in farm products so as to benefit both the consumers and producers. And as an efficient means to this end, we avor the enactment by congress of legislation that will suppress the perof gambling in agricultural products by organized exchanges or. others. « Merchant Marine. We believe in fostering, by ccnstitutional regulation of commerce, the g.'owth of a merch&nt marine, which shall develop and strengthen the commercial ties which bind us to our sister republics of the south, but without imposing additional burdens upon the people and without bounties or subsidies froifi the public treasury. We urge upon congress the speedy enaetment of laws for the greater security of life and property at sea, and we favor the repeal of all laws, and the abrogation of so much of our treaties with other nations, as provide for the arrest and imprisonment of seamen charged with desertion, or with violation of their contract of service. Such laws and treaties are unAmerican and violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the Constitution of the United States. We favor the exemption from tolls of American ships engaged in coastwise trade passing through the Panama canal. We also favor legislation forbidding the use of the Panama canal by ships owned or controlled by railroad carriers engaged in transportation competitive with the canal, j Pure Food and Public Health. We reaffirm our previous declarations advocating the union and strengthening of the various governmental agencies relating to pure foods, quarantine, vital statistics and human health. Thus united and administered without partiality to or discrimination against any school of medicine or system of healing, they would constitute a single health service, not subordinated to any commercial or financial interests, but devoted exclusively to ithe conservation of human life and Moreover, this health service should co-operate with the health agencies of our various states and cities, without interference with their prerogatives or with the freedom of individuals tc employ such medical or hygienic aid as they may see fit. Civil Service Law. The law pertaining to the civil service should be honestly, and rigidly enforced to the end that merit and ability should be the standard of appointment and promotion rathe!* than service rendered to a political party, and we favor a reorganization of the civil service with adequate compensation commensurate with the class of work performed for all officers and employes; we also favor the extension to all classes of civil service employes of the benefits of the provisions of the employers’ liability law; we also recognize the right of direct petition to congress by employes for the redress of grievances. Law Reform. We recognize the urgent need of reform In the administration of civil and criminal law In the United States and we recommend the enactment of such legislation and the promotion of such measures as will rid the present legal system of the delays, expense and uncertainties incident to the system as now administered. The Philippines! We reaffirm the position thrice announced by the Democracy in national convention assembled against a policy of imperialism and colonial exploits!tion in the Philippines or elsewhere. We condemn the experiment in Imperialism as an inexcusable blunder which has Involved us in enormous expense, brought us weakness instead 6f strength and laid our nation open to the charge df abandonment of the fundamental doctrine of self-govern-ment We favor an Immediate declaration of the nation’s purpose to recognize the independence of the Philippine Islands as soon as a stable government can 'be established, such independence to be guaranteed by us until the neutralization of the islands cap be secured by treaty with other powers. In recognising the independence of the Philippines, our government should retain such land as may

be necessary for coaling stations and naval bases. Arizona and New Mexico. We welcome Arizona and New Mexico to the sisterhood of states and heartily congratulate, them upon their auspicious beginning of great and glorious careers. Alaska We demand for the people of Alaska the full enjoyment of the rights and privileges of a territorial form of government, and we believe that the officials appointed to administer the government of all our territories and the District of Columbia should be qualified by previous bonafiile residence. The Russian Treaty. We commend the patriotism of the Democratic members of the Senate and House of Representatives which compelled the termination of the Russian treaty of 1832, and we pledge ourselves anew to preserve the sacred rights of American citizenship at home and broad. No treaty should receive the sanction of our government which does not recognize that equality of all of our citizens, irrespective of race or creed, and which does not expressly guarantee the fundamental right of expatriation. The constitutional rights of American citizens should protect them on » our borders and go with them throughout the world and every American citizen residing or having property in any foreign country is entitled to and must be given the full protection of the United States government, both for himself and his property. Parcels Pest and Rural Delivery. We favor the establishment of a parcels post or postal express and also the extension of the rural delivery system as rapidly as practicable. Panama Canal Exposition. We hereby express our deep interest in the great Panama Canal Exposition to be held in San Francisco in 1915, and favor such encouragement as can be properly given. Protection of National Uniform. We commend to the several states the adoption of a law making it, an offense for the proprietors of places of public amusement and entertainment to discriminate against the uniform of the United States similar to the law passed by Congress applicable to the District of Columbia and the territories in 1911. Pensions. We renew the declaration of our last platform relating to a generous pension policy. Rule of the People. We call attention to the fact that the Democratic party’s demand for a return to the rule of the people expressed in the national platform four years ago has now become the accepted doctrine of a large majority of the electors. We again, rejnind the country that only by a larger exercise of the reserved power of the people can they protect themselves from the misuse of delegated power and the usurpation of governmental instrumentalities by special interests. For this reason the national convention insisted on the overthrow of Cannonism and the inauguration of a system by which United States senap tors could be elected by direct yote. The Democratic party offers Itself to the country as an agency through which the complete overthrow and exterpation of corruption, fraud and machine rule in American politics can be effected. Conclusion. Our platform is one of principles which we believe to be essential to our national welfare. Our pledges are made to be kept when in office, as well as relied upon during the campaign, and we invite the co-operation of all citizens, regardless of party, who believe in maintaining unimpaired the institutions and traditions of our country.