OCR Text |
Show To the " Progressive Party Belongs the Credit. 4 H According to advice received from Washing- H ton, which appears to be authentic, the Demo- H cratic leaders are determined to take the tariff off H raw wool. H' While this is the decision arrived at by the H. party bosses, it is not yet certain that they will do B' so, for there are .a number of Democratic states- H- men, especially from the west, who are opposed H to the reduction of the tariff on wool and will no H doubt oppose it vigorously when the matter is H brought up for final decision. Then there is the H senate, which is largely Republican, which may H; rebel and refuse to permit the reduction, for it is H almost certain that a number of Democratic H senators will vote with the Republicans firstlast Bjp and all the time, against any reduction in the H" wool tariff. But whether or not the combined Hl forces will be sufficient to prevent the desires of H the leaders from winning the victory, remains to Hl be seen. Hr- If however, the tariff is reduced, or taken off K entirely, as. some of the "bourbons" desire, and r disaster and depression results to the western H state, the blame should not be laid entirely at the M door of the Democratic party. "Tariff for revenue Bk only" has been one of the cardinal principles of M that party since its first inception; it was one of HB& the leading issues in the campaign that preceded Hl' Cleveland's election, and has never ceased to be H uppermost in the minds of the faithful. HI It is not because the people at the last election K wanted Woodrow Wilson for president and the B Democratic party in power, that resulted in the H& Democrats sweeping the country; on the contrary Hft it was a wild desire to prevent Theodore Roosevelt Hjl and his "radical reformers" from gaining control Hff' of the governm'ent, for it was believed by a big HV majority of the American people that no matter Hgl how bad an administration the Democrats might Hlf. give, it could not possibly be as demoralizing to Hs government and free institutions as an adminis- Hl tration based upon the Progressive platform and Bv:' carried out under the direction of "Terrible HL Teddy." BV So; then', no' matter what the results of the BflflflBB ' i ''. present administration may be, so far as the West is concerned, the blame should not be too severe, for every voter knew full well what the Democratic Democrat-ic polices were, and what was naturally to be expected from such an administration, and chose that in preference to Rooseveltism, and no doubt their ohoico was a wise one. |