Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-24
readily reproduce the conditions from which
We suffered nine years ago, In 1913.
Not a Political Question.

4
We suffered nine years ago, In 1913.
Not a Political Question.
''It is on every account most earnestly to
be hoped that this problem can be solved
in some manner into which partisanship
shall enter as a purely secondary consid-
Grafton. II at ALL that ls; in some manner
which shall provide for an earnest effort
by non-partisan inquiry and action to Sc
cure any changes. the need of which Is in
dicated by the effect found to proceed from
given rate Of duty on given article; its
effect, If any, regards the creation of a
substantial monopoly; its effect. upon do
nestle prices, upon the revenue Of the gov
eminent, upon importations from abroad.
upon home production, and upon consump
ton.
I'm other words. we need to devise some
ma chinery by which. while perssvering in
the policy of protective tariff, in when I
think the nation as a whole has now gen
orally acauiesced. We would be able to cor
rect the Irregularities and remove the in
congruities produced by the changing con-
ditions without destroying the whole struct-
ure- Such machinery would permit us to
continue our definitely settled tariff policy,
while providing for the changes IN duties
upon particular schedules which must in
eVltably and necessarily take place from
time 10 time as matters of legislative and
administrative detail. This would secure
the needed stability of economic policy
which is prime factor in our industrial
success, while doing away with any ten
oency to fossilzation. 1t would recognize
the fact that a s our needs shift 1t may be
found advisable to altar rates and sched-
ules. adapting them to the changed condi-
tons and necessities of the whole people;
and this would be in nowise incompatible
with preserving the principle of protection,
for belief in the wisdom of protective
tarlff Is in no way inconsistent with frankly
admitting the desirabihty Of changing a set
of schedules when from any cause such a
change is in the interests of the nation as
whole-and our tariff policy is designed
to favor the interests of the nation as a
Wh0ie, and not those of any particular set
or INDIVIDUALS. save as incident to their
pullding up of national well-being. There
are two or three different methods by which
1t Will be possible to provide such readjust-
ment without any shock to the business
world"
His Personal Preferences.
my personal preference would be for ac-
ton which should be taken only after pre-
liminary inquiry by and upon the findings
OF a body Of experts of such high charac-
ter and ability that they could be trusted
to deal with the subject purely from the
standpoint Of our business and industrial
needs; but, OF course. Congress would have
to determine for itself the exact method to
De followed. The executive has at Its COM
mand the means for gathering most of the
needed data and can act whenever 1t Ia the
desire OF Congress that 1t should act That
the machinery exists for turning out the
policy above outlined 1 am very certain, If
only our people will make I'D their minds
that the health Of the community will be
subserved by treating the whole question
primarily from the standpoint of the bust
ness interests Of the entire country rather
than from the standpoint of the fancied in
terests of any group of politicians.
OF course, in making any changes we
should have to proceed in accordance with
certain fixed and definite principles, and the
most important Of these is an avowed de-
termination to protect the interests of the
American producer, be he business man,
wage worker or farmer. The one consid-
Grafton which must never be omitted in
tariff change is the imperative need of pre-
serving the American standard of living
for the American workingman. The tariff
rate must never fall below that which will
protect the American workingman by al
lowing for the difference between the gen.
eral labor cost here and abroad so as at
least to equaliZe the conditions arising from
the difference in the standards of labor here
and abroad-a difference which 1t should be
our aim to foster, in so far as it represents
the needs of better educated. better paid,
better fed and better clothed workingman
of higher class than any to be found in a
foreign country. At all hazards, and no
matter what else is sought for or accom-
plished by changes of the tariff the Ameri-
can workingman must be protected in his
standard of wages-that is In his standard
OF living, and must be secured fullest OPP
portunity Of employment.
As to Foreign Competition.
Our laws, in no event, should afford ad-
vantage to foreign industries over Ameri-
can industries. They, in no event, should
do less than equalize the difference be-
tween the conditions at home and abroad.
The general tariff policy to which, without
regard to changes in detail, I believe this
country to be frrevocably committed, is
based upon ample recognition of the differ
ence of labor cost here and abroad; In other
words, the recognition of the need for full
development of the intelligence. the COM
fort the high standard of civilized living
and of the inventive genius of the American
W yrkingman, compared to the working
man of any other country in the world.
Let me, in closing. illustrate what 1
say by once again appealing to the expe-
rience of the men of the great war. Our
object in this country must be to develop
a high individual type of citizenship. The
reason that our armies from 1861 to 1865
developed into armies such as, firmly be-
lieve, could not have been reached in any
other country was because we had such
high individual average of citizenship to
work When you get down into the
fight and things go little crooked-not
quite you eXpected-then Is when you
find the stuff the man is made Of; then you
will find whether he will rise level to the
needs of the occasion. 1t Is pretty simple
to go just one way and turn and go another
way II somebody tells you how: but If you
have got to think for yourself then you ap-
precate the fact that the man on your
right hand is thinking. too, and that he also
will stay put. daughter and applause.)
We are going to win as a nation in the
great Industrial contest of the present day,
because the average American has in him
the stuff out of which victors are made
victors In the industrial and victors In the
military world. We can preserve the mar
Vicious prosperity which we now enjoy, not
by Sinking facts, not by being afraid
that was not how you won from 1861 to
1865. Now, gentlemen, we can win and we
will win as citizens of this republic by
showing In the complex, hard pushing life
of this century the same qualities that were
shown by the men of the civil war In that
contest and, above ALL by keeping the high
average Of individual citizenship which
made the armies that saw Appomattox the
finest which the world has ever seem" Gap
plause)
SPEECH AT INDIANAPOLIS.
President Greeted by the Veterans Of
Tue Wars