BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1901-12-26
SAN JUAN, DECEMBER 26
The Crime of Touching
the Tariff.

The representatives at Washington are
rapidly working themselves into q frame OF
mind about the tariff comparable only to
that state of nervous dread which afflicted
Congress and, indeed, nearly the whole
country, in connection with the agitation
against slavery from 1888 to 1860. Now
as then we have, or are told that we have,
q sacrosanct law against which it is crime
to breathe, and which it is almost treason
to attemp to modify or repeal. AS the old
man eloquent, John Quincy Adams, toand
that even the right of petition mast be
denied, on the ground that it would ''Open"
the slavery question, about which it was the
duty Of every patriot to keep for ever mum,
so now the most glaring iDjustices OF the
tariff, even lis provisions that prevent US
from honorably and humanely keeping our
promises to the Cubans, must not be touch
ed, because too touch them would be to
"open tie tariff QUESTION. At the sound
OF these words there rise up before the
affrighted vision of public men as Mill said
in reference to talk Of disestablishment of
the English Church, "images of rapine,
violence, plunder, aud every sentiment of
adherence which would be excited by
proposal to take away from an individual
the earnings OF his toll or the inheritance
Of his fathers.v
This spirit of fear has been impressed
even on courageous President. His mes
sage regards tariff revision as a kind OF
calamity from which all Christian fork will
pray the good Lord to deliver them. How
about MIR. BabcocA's bill to remove tariff
protection from Trusts that sell their goods
cheaper to the foreigner than to the favored
consumer in the blessed ss home marketD I
Is not that simple measure Of social jus.
"opsn " the tariff; and the opening OF Pan
d0ra's box did not let loose more evils than
Ne should see follOSing so reckless proceed
ing. SO Of doing something tor the Cubans,
80 Of reducing taxes. We are told that it
is all very sad, that we really ought to pro
vide q market for Cuban products, that we
cugh to cut down the surplus by cutting
down taxes, but there is TIE sacred tariff in
the way, and who SO impious as to propose
10 take away ole tie of thati
1t has its comic aspects, this treating the
tariff as q Kind of Mumbo Jumbo, which
will bring nameless woes upon you if you
touch it irrevertntly, but the obsession is
rsal enough and serious enough in many
,nest minds. No one can doubt that Pre-.
Sident Roosevelt is perfectly sincere in
Ihlnking ''genersl revision Of the tariff q
thing to shrink from as from the plague.
He recalls the Mckinley tariff and the pol
itical disasters that followed it, and the Viii
son tariff With the troubles that came after,
;aHd agrees with the timid men who
f1ck to the White House to say. ssNe more
If that, and thou lowest mtw Yet little
reflection will show that tariff law 10 No
more removed from the frailties of human
legislation than any other measure. Tariffs
always have needed revision, and always
will. Their trainers are neither omniscient
nor intalllble. They cannot legislate for the
unknown future. Conditions change, trade
shifts, the inc dence of taxation alters, new
devices to tbwart the tariffs or to profit by it
Are discovered, the needs of revenue charge,
international relations and foreign CONNER.
co take on new aspects Of dependence upou
tarif ffeyisiop, and il is absurd to suppose
that We cannot modify law made to fit
other times and other circumstances. No
such old man Of the sea, in the shape of a
tariff law that aliereth not, can be allowed
to impede the free play Of q nations expand
Ing energies.
The case 10 different. Of course, if the ta-
riff 10 not an honest law, honestly in the
public interest. lift is bundle Of fav0rit~
isms, . combination Of bargains, result
ant OF log rolling and selfish interest strik-
ing bands with selfish interest, then, indeed,
we can understand why it must not be touch.
cd. One part Of AN edifice propped up by
nWindlin0 a0r4 Amonfa rann0t hp fakan n wav
without bringing the whole to the ground.
And the familiar old threat we already
hear once more about making the grass
grow in the streets Of man ufacturing cities
II the Mckinley treaties Of reciprocity are
ratified, or If the duties on hides or wool or
sugar are touched, unpleasantly remind us
that there is only too much truth in the
theory Of the tariff as convenaut between
its benedciaries, not one clause Of which can
be repealed without loss OF honor among
protectionists.
Now it Is exactly this suspicious view oil
the tariff which the Trusts COLL do their |
best to foster If they continue in their |
present attitude Of hsre-like timidity IN |
respect to any tariff changes. People will
not be put of by the Official signs Of regret
that the confessed bIemishes Of the tariff |
cannet be removed. Would the duties on /
steel and iron have been placed at the
Dingley figure If 1t had been foreseen that /
great Steel Trust would arise to cell goods
cheaper to Englishman and Germany than
to the American3 Surely not. Then why
cannot The blunder be now retracodl West
ern Republicans, sonsi5lo citisens every i
where, Gre not to be told, 60 il they were