US Presidency
1932

Having had the responsibility of this office, my views upon most of them are clearly and often set forth in public record. I may, however, summarize some of them. First: I am squarely for a protective tariff. I am against the proposal of a competitive tariff for revenue as advocated by our opponents. That would place our farmers and our workers in competition with peasant and sweated labor products from abroad. Second: I am against their proposals to destroy the usefulness of the bipartisan Tariff Commission, the establishment of whose effective powers we secured during this administration just 25 years after it was first advocated by President Theodore Roosevelt. That instrumentality enables us to correct any injustice and to readjust the rates of duty to shifting economic change, without constant tinkering and orgies of logrolling by Congress. If our opponents will descend from the vague generalization to any particular schedule, if it be higher than necessary to protect our people or insufficient for their protection, it can be remedied by this bipartisan Commission without a national election.