Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1902-12-11
Document Deals with Questions of Vast
Importance to the Nation
TRUSTS AND THE TARIFF DEALT WITH
Fitful Changes of Import Duties Menace to the Business
Interests of the Country Reciprocity Treaties
Desirable Monetary Legislation -Rela-
lions of Labor and Capital.

possible. exactly as. on the other hand.
the stubborn defense alike of what is
good and what is bad in the existing sys
tenn. the resolute effort to obstruct any
attempt at betterment, betrays blind
ness to the historic truth that wise evolu
ton is the sure safeguard against revo-
luton.
Importance of the Subject.
No more important subject can come
before the Congress than this of the
regulation of interstate business. The
country cannot afford to sit supine on
the plea that under our peculiar system
of government we are helpless in the
presence of the new conditions. and I'M
able to grapple with them or to cut out
whatever of evil has arisen in connec-
ton with them. The power of the Con-
gress to regulate interstate commerce is
an absolute and unqualified grant, and
without limitations other than those pre-
scribed by the constitution. The Con-
gress has constitutional authority to
make all laws necessary and proper for
executing this power. and I am satisfied
that this power has not been exhausted
by any legislation now on the statute
books 1t Is evident. therefore. that evils
restrictive of commercial freedom entail
ing restraint upon national commerce fall
within the regulative power Of the Con-
gress, and that a wise and reasonable
law would be necessary and proper ex-
ercise Of congressional authority to the
end that such evils should be eradicated
Evils Can Be Done Away With.
1 believe that monopolies. unjust dis
crimina tions. which prevent or cripple
competition, fraudulent overcapitaliza-
ton, and other evils in trust organiza-
tons and practices which injuriousIy af-
feet interstate trade. can be prevented
under the power of the Congress to "regu-
a NTrffI IT,.
among the several states" through regu-
lations and requirements operating di-
rectly upon such commerce the instru-
mentalities thereof, and those engaged
therein.
1 earnestly recommend this subject to
the consideration of the Congress with a
view to the passage of a law reasonable
in its provisions and effective in its oper-
atoms, upon which the questions can be
finally adjudicated that now raise doubts
as to the necessity of constitutional
amendment. If it prove impossible to ac-
complish the purposes above set forth by
such a law. then, assuredly, we should
not shrink from amending the constitu-
ton as to secure beyond peradventure the
power sought.
The Tariff Question.
One proposition advocated has been the
reduction of the tariff as a means of
reaching the evils of the trusts which
Ian WltIlh the category have deScrib-
ed Not merely would this be wholly
ineffective, but the diversion of our eff
forts in such direction would mean the
abandonment of all intelligent attempt
| to do away with these evils. Many of
| the largest corporations, many of those
| which should certainly be included in
| any proper scheme of regulation would
not be affected in the slightest degree
| by a change in the tariff, save as such
| change interfered with the general pros
| perity OF the country. The only relation
| of the tariff to big corporations as a
whole is that the tariff makes manufac-
| lures profitable, and the tariff remedy
proposed would be in effect simply to
| make manufactures Improbable To re-
move the tariff as a punitive measure di-
| rected against trusts would inevitably re-
| suit in ruin to the weaker competitors
who are struggling against them. Our
| aim should be not by unwise tariff
changes to give foreign products the
| advantage over domestic products but by
proper regulation to give domestic com
| petition fair chance; and this end can
| not be reached by any tariff changes
which would affect unfavorably all do
nestle competitors, good and bad alike.
The question of regulation of the trusts
stands apart from the question of tariff
| revision.
Fitful Tariff Changes DecTed.
Stability of economic policy must al
| ways be the prime economic need of this
| country. This stability should not be
fossilization. The country has acquiesced
| in the wisdom of the protective tariff
| principle. 1t is exceedingly undesirable
that this system should be DESTROYED or
that there should be violent and radical
| changes therein. Our past experience
shows that great prosperity in this coun-
| try has always come under a protective
| tariff; and that the country cannot pros
| per under ftful tariff changes at short
intervals. Moreover. if the tariff laws
as a whole work well, and If business
has prospered under them and is pros
pering, 1t is better to endure for a time
| slight inconvenience and inequalities in
some schedules than to upset business
by too quick and too radical changes. II
is most earnestly to be wished that we
could treat the tariff from the stand
point solely of our business needs. 1t is
perhaps. too much to hope that partisan
| ship may be entirely excluded from con-
sideration of the subject, but at Least
| it can be made secondary to the bust
ness interests of the country-that is, tc
the interests of our people as a whole
Unquestionably these business interests
will best be served if together with
fixity of principle as regards the tariff
| we combine a system which will permit
! US. from time to time to make the neces
| sary reapplication of the principle to the
l
scrupulous care that the reapplicatior
shall be made in such a way that it will
not amount to dislocation of our sys
tenn, the mere threat of which (not t.
speak of the performance would pro
duce paralysis in the business energie:
of the community. The first considera.
ton in making these changes would, Of
course, be to preserve the principle which
underlies our whole tariff system-that is
the principle of putting American bust
ness interests at least on a full equal
ity with interests abroad, and of Away.
allowing a sufficient rate of duty to more
than cover the difference between the la
Dor cost here and abroad. The well-be
ing of the wage-worker, like the well
being of the tiller of the soil. SHOULD
be treated as an essential in shaping ou
whole economic policy. There must nevel
be any change which will jeopardize tn
standard of comfort. the standard o
] wages of the American wage-worker.