In 1912, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was aligned with presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson, who called for breaking U.S. business monopolies by reducing protective tariffs and enforcing antitrust laws.
In his speech accepting the Democratic Party nomination, Wilson said tariffs “have been most obviously used to kill competition and to raise prices in the United States, arbitrarily and without regard to the prices pertaining elsewhere in the markets of the world.”
Making the point, the newspaper ran a series of stories dissecting consumer prices, demonstrating how much the Republican tariffs were costing average Americans, with a special focus on apparel:
The newspaper’s position remained consistent over the years. Rather than punish trade “adversaries,” tariffs punish the American worker and consumer while promoting the interests of the monopolies and their political puppets.
Here is an excerpt from an editorial from Oct. 20, 1915:
“The tariff is a tax, despite the ingenious arguments of protectionists to the contrary.”
“No other issue has so confused the public mind and corrupted national politics as the tariff. It has been the link between the great interests favored by protection and the political bosses. The combine of bosses and tariff beneficiaries has enabled the latter to control the Government. It has created the campaign slush fund and the immeasurable corruption flowing therefrom. The country has been torn and business greatly disturbed and damaged by political conflicts between the protected interests and the overtaxed people.”
Roland Klose 