No truer word has ever been spoken
in regard to the tendencies of the two
great parties of this country than the
following sentence by Carl Schurz in
his recent letter:
“The more strongly the Repuhlicat
party adheres to its leading principle
and policy, the more corrupt it will be
come and the more baneful in its influ
ence as an agency of political demorali
zation, while the Democratic party, the
more strongly it clings to its leading
principle, the stronger will it become
morally and the healthier its influence
upon our political life.”
The leading principle of the Repub
lican party has come to be the highest
possible tariff taxation that the people
will put up with. As this tariff taxa
tion builds up trusts and monopolies ut
terly opposed to the interests of the peo
ple, the party fostering these combina
tions of greed and oppression must in
evitably drift away from all sympathy
with the people and fall under the dom
ination of a grasping plutocracy. It
cannot escape this tendency if it would,
for it is not in human nature to resist
the pressure of the enormous influences
with which the Republican party sur
rounds itself through its policy of farm
ing out the taxing power to private cor
porations and individuals.
Add to this the fact —which the fa
mous "fat circular” so clearly demon
strated four years ago—that the party
which deals out public wealth to private
parties will naturally look to those pri
vate parties for money to carry elections,
in order to continue its policy of govern
ment favoritism, and one easily sees
why the Republican party must grow
more and more corrupt, must become
more and more the tool of its tariff ben
eficiaries.
