Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-15
THE MIDDLE GROUND.
Seeking Boundaries Between High
and Low Tariff.
There Is Net krch Prospect Ct Selling Tia!
vsxed Question.

the house 1t IS GcuDtIui II any one KNOWS
any more about the question than be did
before. The discussion has for the most
part been rather prefunctory and uninter-
estiBg The ainrac truth is, and every one
recognizes it, that the tariff rs public
question Is becoming more than eyer before
local matter. In Washington there Is
distinct though perhaps tardy WEAKNESS
Of the whole question az national issue.
The men wbo have spent their lives IN max
ing tariff bills In discussions Of them and
in debate thereon upon the political stump
are free 70 confess that the further they go
the less they kgow--the less clearly do they
see their way.
The frannest Of these men on both sides
are ready To admit that the more familiar
they become with the details and effect OF
the various laws imposing customs duties
and their effects upon trade and national
prosperity the less they are inclined to think
themselves wholly in the right and the
other fellow altogether in the wrong. In
other words, the practical politicians and
legislators Of this day, when brought face
to face with this great business question,
are able to see but little more than that
there is a middle ground between high and
low tariffs, between stone wall protect
aud ont and ont free trade, which promises
the best for the country.
Tryin. to Find the Borders.
The great difficulty which every one feels
Is that this middle ground cannot be staked
out. No one knows what its borders are,
where one part Of the territory begins and
another ends. Struggle as hard as they
may, after years Of effort the brightest and
most honest men in congress find them
selves as much in the dark as they were at
the outset. Not one of them would know
inst what to do il he were given sole charge
of the making of n new tariff law. AS to
coal or iron or lead or something else, he
might fix the rate just to suit one part of
the country, while another would suffer
grieyously on account thereof. What is
one mans food is another man S poison IN
the tariff business.
These facts, which every one has run
plumb up against in his pursuit Of this
question, have greatly discouraged great
many public men. They see the country
in a continual turmoil over the tariff, first
one party and then the other taking power
on account Of popular dissatisfaction with
a scheme of taxation, and they can discover
no daylight ahead. The absolute impossible
itv of making u tariff bill that is just TO all
sections of the country and 10 all business
or consumers interests in it has led more
than one man to adopt the extreme view
that there should be no tariff at all. There
are men in congress today preaching pro-
lection and profting by it politically who
privately say that IL scheme of taxation in
which justice is impossible and injustice
inevitable should be abandoned and some
thing else put in its place.
These men believe the day ia coming
when we shall have free trade in the sense
that Great Britain has it, or, in effect, the
tariff shall cease to be disturbing infiu
cnce in the realms Of commerce and in-
lustry, and therefore shall be taken out OF
politics On the other hand, a very large
number of lawmakers who stand nominally
for free trade. or at least lower tariffs, a.
tually believe in high protection and lots
of it, They believe il would be ruinous to
the country to drop the tariffs to Il point
that would stimulate foreign competition
in our own markets.
An IncesSant Juggling.
Thus we appear to be ut standstlll.
There is shifting about as to men and rs to
sections Of the country, but the net result
is Il counterbalance. II any one could see
a prospect of settlement of the question, it
would be more encouraging, but they can't.
1t is FIRST one party and then the other.
When tue country votes to change parties
and presumably policies, it rarely knows
Erat it wants except that it is disconnected
with what is. Amid the general gloom in
which this shuttlecocking of the tariff
question is shrouded one fact stands out
clear and strong, one tendency III the pub
lie mind Is wildly reflected in congress and
among he public men Of the capital.
Some method must be devised by which
legislation shall be made something be
sides Il menace to the prosperity of the
country Frank men Of both parties adj |
nit that any read iustment of the tariff is
had for the country. II is the uncertainty,
the disturbance of values and unsettling Of
confidence that ca,ise the trouble. One party
is as much at fault as the other The men
who think of country first and party after
ward land there are II few such in Wash |
ingtonl say it is time to call halt.
a tariff commission, a nonpartisan body
TO take entire charge of the details of tariff
revision. has been suggested. 1t would be
hoped in this way to take the question out
of politics But it is considered doubtful
by the men who have studied this phase OF
the problem if that would do it. y tariff
commission of absolute nonpartisauism
and perfect impartiality would be impossi-
bic. There would be jockeying for control
of the commission, Just rs there was smart
work for mastery of the famous electoral
commission of nearly 20 years ago. Be
sides, no commission that ever was organ
lied or that ever will be created could con-
struct Il scientific and just tariff measure.
A Remedy Suggested,
The wisest men we have in congress, who
have studied this matter as the greatest
problem before the American people today
mot the problem whether tariffs shall ue
lower or higher. whether Democracy or Re
publicanism is best, but how to secure a
rest from the tariff at least for known pc
riods-unite IN saying that the only prac.
iieAble method appears to lie in a consti
tsi,ional amendment which will forbid re-
vision of the tariff by mere majority vote in
either branch OF congress excepting during
the life of the congress which sits immedi-
ately after each federal census. At all other
times the customs schedules could be
changed only by a twothirds vote i'll each
branch of congress
This sort of an amendment to the consti-
tuition would surely prevent tariff changes
on a scale large enough to be menaeing to
the prosperity of the country oftener than
once in 10 wears. LII the country could not