The Elk Mountain pilot., 1902-12-09
Should Have a Stable Tariff.

| ways Dc thS pi iiiut tCOuOllllC HtSu VI
this country. This stability should not
be fossilzation. The country has ac-
| quiesced in the wisdom of the protec-
| tive tariff principle. 1t is exceedingly
| undesirable that this system should be
destroyed or that there should be vio-
lent and radical changes therein. Our
past experience shows that great pros
perity in this country has always vSme
under protective tariff, and that the
country cannot prosper under fitful
tariff changes at short intervals.
Moreover if the tariff laws as a whole
work well, and if business has pros
pered under them and is prospering,
it is better to endure for time slight
inconveniencesa and inequalities insome
schedules than to upset business by
too quick and too radical changes.
Unquestionably these business inter
ests will be served if together with fix
ity of principle as regards the tariff we
combine system which will permit us
from time to time to make necessary
reapplication of the principle to the
shifting national needs. We must take
scrupulous care that the reapplicaton
shall be made in such a way that il
will not amount to a dislocation of our
system. the mere threat of which mot
to speak of the performance) would
produce paralysis in the business ener-
gies of the community. The first con-
sideration 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 business interests at
least on a full equality with interests
abroad, and of always allowing a suf-
ficient rate of duty to more than cover
the difference between the labor cost
l. ..s.
the wage-workers, like the well being
of the tiller of the SOIL should be treat
ed as an essential in shaping our
whole economic policy There must
never be any change which will jeo-
pafdiZe the standard of comfort, the
standard of wages of the American
wage-worker.
One way in which the readjustment |
sought can be deached is by reciprocity |
treaties. 1t is greatly to be desired |
that such treaties may be adopted and |
to give a greater field for the activi |
ties of our producers on the one hand, |
and on the other hand to secure in |
practical shape the lowering duties |
when they are no longer needed for
protection among our own people, or
when the minimum of damage done |
may be disregarded for the sake of the |
maximum of good accomplished. If it |
prove impossible to ratify the pending |
treaties, and If there seem to be no |
warrant for the endeavor to execute |
others, or to amend the pending treat !
les SO that they can be ratified, then |
the same end-to secure reciprocity
should be met by direct legislation.
The executive department has al |
ready at its disposal methods of col
lecting facts and figures; and II the |
1acirac additional cnnEi6erq- |
ton to that which win be given the |
subject by its own committees, then a |
commission of business experts can be |
appointed whose duty it should be to |
recommend action by the Congress |
after n deliberate and scientific exam
ination of the various schedules as
they are affected by the changed and
changing conditions.
Currency and Gold Standard.
Interest rates are potent factor
in business activity, and in order that
these rates may be equalized to meet
the varying needs of the seasons and
of widely separated communities, and
to prevent the recurrence of financial
stringencies which injuriously affect
legitimate business, it is necessary that
there should be an element of elasticity
in our monetary system.
The mere outline of any plan suf1-
GENTLY comprehensive to meet these
requirements would transgress the ap-
propriate limits of this communica-
ton. 1t is suggested however that
all future legislation on this subject
should be with the view of encouraging
the use OF such instrumentalities as
will automatically supply every legiti-
mate demand Of productive industries
and of commerce, not only in the
amount, but in the character of circu-
lation; and of making all kinds of
money interchangeable, and, at the
will of the holder, convertible into the
established gold standard.
immigration Law Needed.
l again call your attention to the
need of passing a proper immigration
law, covering the points outlined in my
message to you at the first session of
the present Congress; substantially
such bill has already passed the
house.
Labor and Capital.
How to secure fair treatment alike
for labor and for capital, how to hold
in check the INSCRIPTIONS man,
whether employer or employe. with
out weakening individual initiative,
without hampering and cramping the
industrial development of the country,
is a problem fraught with great diff
culties and one which it is of the high
est importance to solve on lines OF
sanity and far-sighted common sense
as well as of devotion to the right.
This is an era of federation and COM
bination. Exactly as business men
find they must often work through cor
porations, and as it is a constant ten
dency of these corporations to grow
larger, so it is often necessary for
laboring men to work in federations
and thnse have bacoppa foa