Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-31
ROOT ON THE TARIFF
SECRETARY OF WAR SPEAKS IN
NEW YORK.
Favors Revision by the Republicans,
but Opposes Free Trade Most
Vigorously.

pttpie VII ldO COIifc 70 dlktHu d TepuDtlCdll
| meeting, the principal speakers being Mayor
| Low, Gov. Oden and Secretary of War Root.
| Mr.. Low eulogixed Gov. Odell and his adj
ministration of state affairs. Gov. Odeil
| followed in an address in which he cast
aside as absurd the prediction that his ma
| jority would be as small as some had proph-
esied.
| Secretary of War Root spoke after the
governor had finished. He said, in part:
THE national issue of this political cam
paign, in its most important and practical
aspect, is whether President Roosevelt
| shall be sustained in his administra ton of
| the national government.
'Wtll the people Of the United States elect
House of Representatives, with a repub-
| lican majority to work in harmony with
| the President and with the republican ma
| jority in the Senate, so that he may go on,
as he has begun, with an effective govern
ment, working out practically the plans for
| improving administration and for remedy
| of evils along the lines upon which the
| legislative and executive branches agree,
| or will the people elect a House with DEM
ocratic majority which will be hostile to
the President, will not agree with him upon
any course Of conduct, and will hinder and
embarrass him in all his efforts for the
present term Of Officer"
Then turning to the subject of the tariff
he continued:
Unfair and oppressive, trusts. so-called.
are weeds in the garden of prosperity. 1t
Is easy to kill them If you kill the flowers
and the fruit also, but II you would keep
the weeds down and have the garden grow.
you must devote yourself not to destructive
remedies. but to patient, discriminating
and unceasing process, pulling out the
weeds and leaving the useful plants. So, in
curbing and regulating those combinations
Of capital which are injurious to the public,
either because they monopolize the market
or the sources of supply or the avenues of
employmnt. or prevent competition unfairly
and oppressively, care must be taken not to
stop great enterprises which have legti-
mately reduced the cost Of production, not
to take America out of the race of competi-
ton for the markets of the world, not to
close the mills and mines, not to throw
millions of workmen out Of employment
and deprive the farmer of his market for
the raw material of manufacture.
1.-The evils complained of are an outgrowth
Of the process of industrial development Of
the age Their regulation is also a neces-
sary part of that process. Our industrial
history shows that the steady course of The
process has always been and is now toward
better and not toward worse conditions;
that the diffusion of wealth is about strip
ping its concentration; that the great body
of the people in the United States are
climbing up above the hard conditions of
poverty which have been the rule in the
worlds life in general comfort and indie
peHueHce 10 d ueSree never De1OTe KNOWN,
that our prosperity Is sound and whole
some, and that courage and hope justi-
fed rather than dependency.
The wonderful discoveries and inventions
of the last half century have enormously
and progressively increased the productive
power Of mankind. The creation of wealth
has proceeded at rate beyond all precedent
In human history. The dry stacks of manu-
features read like fairy tales. There has
been greater progress in productive power
during the last cntury than in any thousand
years before % i"-7
Addressing himself, to the Continually
recurring contests between capital and
labor" Mr.. Root spoke of the continual ap-
proach toward a good understanding of the
terms and relations which are dictated by
a recognition Of mutual and reciprocal in
tereStS. IT. said the speaker, you will
look back at the condition Of the railroad
business at the time of the Debs riots, then
consider the relations since established be-
tween the railroad owners and the asso-
ciated engineers, firemen, tralnmen and
conductors under the leadership of Mr. Ar
thur, Mr.. Sargent, Mr.. Clarke and Mr. Mo-
rissey, you will see a striking illustration
Of the progress to which 1 refer. Another
good illustration is to be found in the agree
ment made the other day between the tin
plate manufacturers and their workmen, in
which the workmen voluntarily agreed to
reduction of wages in order to enable the
manufacturers to underbid foreign COM
petitors for the contract to supply tin cans
for the Standard Oil product.
1T Is easy to say that the tariff needs
revising. In the nature of things time
must call for changes in every tariff law,
because 1t is a fixed statute applied from
day to day to constantly changing condi-
lions. The purpose of the law itself is to
change conditions by improving them, and
1t Is impossible that such statute should
continue any considerable period without
our finding rates Of duties which may well
be changed
In considering the making of such
oh Mr. a
important things should be kept in mind,
the first being that eff tariff law has on
the whole worked well. and if business has
prospered under it and is prosperous, it is
better to endure some slight inconvenience
and Inequalities for time than to incur
the uncertainty and disturbance of business
which necessarily results from the process
Of making changes and the second that,
eff the consideration of all the questions
thus reopened is at the hands of party in
power which is avowedly hostile to the
principle of protection the uncertainty Incl
dent to the discussion will be accomplished
by loss of confidence and fear of the re-
suits"
These considera lions. Mr.. Root analyzed
and then added that when the tariff is to
be revised it should be revised by it's friends,
so that the people whose interests are to be
affected may go on with their business with
a just and confident assurance that, while
outgrown or erroneous provisions are to be
corrected. they are not to be deprived of
reasonable and fair protection"
The speaker then paid his respects to the
democrats. by saying: When the demo-
Gratis did obtain power, full and uncon-
trolled. in the second administration Of
Mr. Cleveland. they were unable to use
it, and although. when they nominated
Mr.. Cleveland they loved him for the
enemies he had made. a large part
of them have since hated him for the good
qualities he displayed. The reason for the
democratic party's failure under that ad-
ministration was that it was ingrained with
the destructive habit and had no constructs
i've capacity. For half century the demo-
cratic party has constructed nothing but
the southern confederacy and the Wilson
tariff bill. The Wilson tariff was so bad
that the democratic President would not
sign it. and denounced it as a fraud It's
enforcement was accomplished by disaster
and poverty. and its repeal under republic
can rule has been followed by Astounding
prosperity, while the very men whose SPLEEN
did courage wreathed the standard of the
lost cause with imperishable renown de-
clare that the failure of the confederacy
was blessing to mankind, to our common
country and to the people Of the south
themselves.
Long ago. before the war for the Union,
there was democratic party with capacity
to govern 1t exists no longer. A motley
crew Of touters for votes by hook and by
crook has usurped Its name: and the appro-
pirate EXPRESSION of their politfcal ha