Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1902-08-14

gress, on being renominated Saturday,
said that when the proper time
comes" the tariff schedules will be
overhauled and such changes will be
made as are deemed necessary. The
Republican party could be trusted to
attend to the business Mt the right time
and 1t was work that the people
should never permit the Democracy to
undertake.
We have to go further west than
Ohio to find any marked symptoms of
Republican dissatisfaction with the
tariff, and they are sporadic. The
Iowa convention stands pretty much
alone. Here and there Republican can
didates for Congress will talk in favor
Of revision as against the trusts, but
the party as a whole will evade the
question. So much is now evident.
Its recognized lenders will talk of rtvis-
ion as something to be undertaken at
the proper time" but when that time
is no one will be informed. Obviously.
as the question is to be excluded from
this campaign as far as possible, the
"propcr time will not come in the life
of the Congress TO be elected this fall.
That puts revision over for at least two
years. and until after the presidential
election of 1904. Meantime the trusts
can make the most of their protec-
ton.
But can the Republican party be
trusted to revise tho tariff when the
proper time" comes, or to consider any
time as proper within the lifetime of
this generationi And if so, revision
which way? Down or up? The an
swer of experience is not promising.
Years ago the party used to admit the
necessity of reform and modification
of the war tariff. 1t made
some reduction in 1872, and
dnmade 1t in 1875. BY 1882
1t had got around to the concession of
revision through tariff commission,
but the resulting modification of 1888.
as every one knows, amounted to moth,
Ing. Then came the accentlation of
the issue by President Cleveland's
tariff reform message OF 1887 and
what Republican tariff 'revfsioti" then
meant was shown in the enactment of
the Mckinley law of 1890, making the
protective rates higher than ever. We
md another sample of Republican
revision" in 1897, when the Dingley
law was passed, imposing rates even
more extreme than the Mckinley rates.
Is revision ut the proper time" now
to be understood as meaning further
advance In rates instead of modifica-
ton?
Thus by trusting the party to revise
at the proper time, the whole question
Is left In the dark, and will be kept
there by the Republican lenders. tt ere
is doubt of what is meant by revision
There Is greater doubt as to the time
And the conclusion must be thai no
intention exists on the part of those
now In power to permit any revision
except possibly one in an upward dI.
rection-one that will give even greater
shelter to the trusts than they have
under the Dingley law.
If, then, the country needs and wants
reform of the tariff schedules, how is
1t to be obtained, except through the
opposition party? The people appear
to be talking of this reform as some
thing that needs to be done especially
in view of the rise or the trusts The
Republican leaders appear to admit as
much, and warn the people not to trust
the Democracy to undertake the job.
But they decline 10 say that they will
undertake it In the near future--and
there we are. 1t Is evident that revls-
ion and reform of modifying char.
acter are not TO be expected from the
party In power Long experience goes
TO prove this. The party's entangle.
ment with the protected interests is
evidently so deep as to make reform
impossible from that source, now as in
the past, If reform Of the tariff Is tc
come, 1t must come through an oppo
sition party. And thus 1t will CONT
when the country Is ready for it
Whether that is the case today remain,
to he determined
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