Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1907 — Political Comment. [ARTICLE]

Political Comment.

TrnmtH in Great Britain. Intelligence of a most terrifying and astbiindlng 'character eonies from lCng- ~ land. John Bull is not given to sensation. but in this respect he seems to (have outdone some of his much-derided trade competitors. The news is that there is about to be organized in Great Britain a mammoth steel trust, composed of nine large firms and boasting a capitalization of $130,000,000. The avowed intention of the merger, it is declared. Is to fight German and American competition, which is increasing year by year. The largest company in the merger has already absorbed thir-ty-six independent concerns, and the dqal, when put through, will control, it is estimated, fully 90 per cent of the steel produced in Great Britain. While the details of the combination are not yet completed, it Js lively that it will be based upon the principle of the German trust, involving the regulation of prices, adjustment of the output to the demand and equal distribution of orders. Now, all this would be alarming in protection America, where the people are chained to the chariot wheels of the trusts and are rapidly being reduced to serfdom, but in free trade Great Britain, where competition is supposed" to be as unrestrained as theair, it becomes positively horrifying. Certain amiable gentlemen, in campaigns past, have taught us to believe that sojong as our industries and labor are protected by tariff duties on foreign imports, just so .long wifi we remain under the domination of the trustK=jtnd=xnonopolies. “Remove or reduce the tariff,” they have cried, “and competition.- will take the place of inojiopoly.” Now comes -word of the formation of a monstrous trust in steel by capitalists of a country which is not cursed by a tariff, # but where every man must, by nature of that country's economic system, be able to buy and. sell in the open market. What does this mean? Aha, we have it! It is another diabolical conspiracy on the part of the American Protective Tariff League, headed by Wilbur F. Wakeman, arch conspirator, the dark and bloody purpose of which is to mislead and conifuse a trusting public and draw attention away from the midnight deeds of the League and its emissaries. This is the only rational explanation of an outrage so iniquitous as this. — Des Moines Capital.

Have Pursued a Practical Course. The fact remains that the Republican party is the only one which has shown any ability to solve the problem of tariff legislation In harmony with the Industrial of the country. The Democrats have tried upon sevetnl occasions to reach a solution, but their failure is easily accounted for by the fact that, as President Harriman said, they are “students of maxims rather than of markets.” Tariff reform cannot be successfully achieved in a student’s closet. It is not the doctrinaire teacher of political economy In colleges or essay writer who is to blaze the way of revision along lines that will benefit instead of harm our Industries. Before a solution of the right kind can be obtained fbe business men must be consulted, and whenever they are brought Into the discussion the Democrats are compelled to retire. The success of the Republicans in dealing with these matters is due to the fact that-they have pursued a practical course. They have consulted the great commercial and manufacturing Interests, and thereby they have promoted the welfare of the whole country.—Denver Republican. What Canard the Hard Tlmea. The Lewiston Sun solemnly declares that It was not the tariff but currency tihat "caused the hard times of 1893.” The year 1893 was a period of apprehension and consequent depression among business men who were not disposed to take chances In the face of the declared Intentions of a new Democratic administration controlling both branches of Congress, and outspoken In Its hostility to the long established policy of protection. Panic conditions, however, and universal hard times did not come until the latter part of -1894, following the passage of tlie infamous free trade Wilson bill, which closed our mills and factories all over the land by putttlng them Into competition with the mills of Europe operated by cheap labor. These hard times continued, getting worse and worse, until after the passage of the Dlngley law July 24, 1900, since when the country has enjoyed an era of uninterrupted and unexampled prosperity.—Augusta Journal. Where r If the German agreement does not promote undervaluation and fraud, then the German negotiators belong In an institution for the feeble-minded. If the agreement does promote undervaluation and fraud, where do tbe American negotiators belong?