Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1903 — POLITICAL COMMENT. [ARTICLE]

POLITICAL COMMENT.

Good Time to Stand Pat. While there has never been any serious fear that the tariff tinkering movement started in the Republican camp, by certain lowa politicians would ever be strong enough to change the historic course of the party, or turn it away from genuine protection, it is none the less gratifying to have the time-honored principles and policies of Republicanism reaffirmed with the emphasis given by Hanna's speech and the Ohio platform. The mere discussion of the lowa idea In Republican ranks gave encouragement to the free traders and the tariff tinkers of all kinds and tended to confuse the public •mind. It is just as well to have it known that the party will maintain the protective system unimpaired. As Senator Hanna said. “The party intends to write the inscription upon its base in letters that all who run may read—Hands off.” Events now occurring in Great Britain make it important that the present protective tariff should not be changed in any notable degree. We may at any time in the near future be called upon to meet an emergency that will handicap our export trade, and under such circumstances we cannot afford to lower our protective walls or lay down a single one-of our industrial and commercial weapons. .'"The issue of protection in Great Britain has, in fact, become the dominant factor in the politics of the country. It occupies pubtic attention to the exclusion of everything else. Reports

from London show that the struggle between the protectionists and the free traders has already begun in earnest. The supporters ,of the old cause have raised the familiar cry of “bread tax,’’ have started bands of men marching through the streets denouncing what they mil the “starvation policy” of the ministry, and, in short, all the machinery of political agitation has been put Into operation. The followers of Chamberlain have been equally active and are organizing protection clubs even among the ranks of the workingmen, so that the campaign is actually under way, although a general election is supposed to be fully two years off. Free trade is, in fact, dying in the land of its birth, and in the very place where it achieved its greatest, if not its only success. It will not die easily, for the British people have long been taught to look upon it with something of the faith accorded to the dogmas of HpJy Writ. Moreover, a thousand important interests nre bound up with it, and they will fight hard for the continuance of their ancient privileges. Still tho system is evidently doomed, for the record of its failure is written large all over the world and quite plainly in Britain Itself. It would, then, be folly for th 3 American people to enter iq>on any free trade experiments at this time. It is now more imperative than ever to stand pat.—San Francisco Call.

Successful Government. It begins to look very much as If ♦he futture student of colonial government will find In Porto Rico a model to which he can point as one of the most successful efforts of one people to govern another shown in history. That was a remarkably pleasing story told by Governor Hunt lu an Interview printed in the Journal of Monday. The exports of Coffee, fruits, sugar and tobacco have grown with marvelous rapidity, and the development of the Island has made more progress in the four years of American territorial government than It did during the centuries of Spanish rule. All reports agree that the people are more prosperous, more ambitions and happier than before the American flag was raised. We did not go Into Porto Rico as conquerors of the people, and the Island was not devastated by war, but It was devastated a few months later by a cyclone that did more damage than war could ever have done. By a remarkably happy solution of the revenue problem fee the Island, the United States government was enabled to at once put in a very considerable system of internal Improvements, which gave employment to a portion of the people. Time and relief from the great burdens of taxation bprne by tho Porto Ricans under Spanish

rule have dene the rest. We now find close trade relations with the United States, an influx of American capital and energy engaged in building up transportation facilities, and a wise administration, all contributing their full quota toward the prosperity aud contentment of the people. It has been and is a much more difficult situation to handle in the Philippines, where the distance from home Is greater and the people are of a diverse origin and in various stagfes of civilization, but there is reason to believe that the government of the Philippines by the American people will in time-prove as beneficent as that of Porto Rico.—lndianapolis Journal. ‘ - r ~~

Antiquated Notion'. The protectionism of the United States conclusively proves to workers that the way to get mere pay is ta get better on to the job. The increased product is absorbed by the increased purchase-power. An American worker cams much more thah a British worker because he has more nerve and needs less muscle, for our system turns brains to exploit nature, and tools, instead of man In muscle. Thus leisure advances and better use of leisure completes the cycle. The free-traders have said correctly that whges in the United States are higher because, the people produce more, man for man. But why do they produce moi'e? Allow much for climate and the novelty of the environment

and you have not fully answered the inquiry. Protection has diversified industry, stimulated ambition in all ranks, and thus made the total product of tools and of nerves fabulous, while U has marvelously promoted the equities of distribution The old economists saw no h~pe save In luxurious wastefulness of the aristocracy. The great revelation came when the people arrived as consumers. Until 18C0 we were taught by freetrade Democracy that it was the American function to send raw material to the Old World and bring back English silks and cassimeres, and French knick-knacks and bric-a-brac. Protection came and Hamilton and Webster, Lincoln and Seward were vindicated. And yet the mugwump continues to see-saw with the unscie.n?ific and antiquated notion of raw material. Was the handicap period between 1893-7 In spite of the Wilson-Gormah law? Is the amazing prosperity of the country under the Dingley tariff in spite of that tariff? A little knowledge afield Is better than a cargo in a box.—Boston Journal. , . Protection Wine by 300 Per Cent. The product of pig iron in this country the present year will exceed twenty million tons. That of Great Britain and Germany combined will be considerably below this; and the preeminence of the United States in iron and steel Is growing more pronounced year by year, under the Influence of the benign policy of protection, which the Republican party Las couferrr.d upon the country. Our present rate of production is a remarkable contrast to the production In this country nine years ago, the “boss” Cleveland year, when the pig Iron produced in the United States was but 6,757,248 tons, or about one-third of the present rate. In that year Great Britain's production considerably exceeded ours, while Germany's didn’t lag far behind. The showing is n remarkable object lesson in the comparative advantages to the country of free trade vs. protection, and protection wins by 300 per cent. —Salt Lake Tribune.

No Assault on the Tariff. The convention of 1904 will mnke no demand for any tariff revision. It will suit the Republicans to make a fight on the tariff if the Democrats can be inveigled into assailing the protective policy next year. The chances are, however, that Gorman and the rest of the shrewd leaders of the Democracy will prevent their party from making any assault on the tariff that can arouse Republican opposition. st. Louis Globe-Democrat. * \ Our principal export* to Corea arc electrical appliances and idol*