The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-10
TARIFF WON'T DO.
Gov. Cummings Points Out
Need of Revision.
Protection Mustn't Be Used as
a Sword for Piracy.

Chicago, Oct. 1O.-The speech of Gov
ernOr Cummings of Iowa. at the Mar
quette club banquet last night, is caus-
ing a great deal of comment TODAY be-
cause of his position on the tariff
Among other things Governor Cum
mings said:
I'VE believe that to the doctrine of
protection, more than to any other prin-
ciple of government is due the com
manding position so brilliantly won and
30 firmly held by the United States in
the affairs of the world; that to the pol
icy of protective duties is due, more
than to any other policy of the govern
ment, the unequalled manhood and WO-
manhood of the people. at once the
safety and glory of the republic: that
to this fundamental proposition of the
Republican party is due more than to
any other economic truth, the marvellous
development and unparalleled pros
perity which now distinguish the Amer
lean name and bless the American
home.
That changes would become neces-
sary or advisable no Republican has
ever doubted. The platform was adopt
ed under circumstances that made it
clear that the Republicans of Iowa are
deeply convinced that the time has
come through the progress of our indus
tries and their changing relations to the
commerce of the world, when modihca-
lions Of the tariff are imDeratively de-
manded; and Il 1 do not misinterDret
the SlDnS OF the times, TINS DelleI Is
shared by the Republicans of A other
states. The whole story is told when 1
say that we have passed from the alb
stract into the concrete. We have
known that the hour would strike. Why
should we be startled when the ringing
tones of the bell OF progress fall upon
our ears?
we do not impeach the schedules as
they were written-they We're inspired
by patriotism and formulated with i'll
kn11 h4Tf ha hor Of ID in
stead Of the hand of Dingley had penned
them the mighty transformations of
five years would have untitled them, or
some of them, for conditions that now
exist.
There has never been. and cannot
now be, a controversy with respect to
the purpose and measures Of protective
duties. Their purpose is to give the
American producer a fair chance to
take the American market at fair
American price, so that the American
1aborer can work al American wages
and American capital can be rewarded
with an American profit, and thus orig
mate and develop these American in
dus.ries and enterprises that nature has
fitted us to carry on. Their measure
obviously is the sum that will accom-
plish this purpose. To make them less
will defeat the purpose and to make
them more will admit a result as incon-
Eistent with the doctrine of protection
as it is hostile to the common welfare
Tested by these criterions, both as to
purpose and measure, no intelligent OBJ
server can doubt that upon some of the
most important products of the United
States the duties are too high; and it
Is the mission of the Republican party
to reduce them so that they will again
be in harmony with the principle out of
which they spring. In doing this the
party simply pursues the even tenor of
its way, condemning with equal en-
phasis the proposal on the one hand to
make tariff duties an instrument of I'M
lawful profit and upon the other to
make them the instrument for the mere
collection of revenue
There have been times unquestion-
ably when duties, however high, were
poWerleSS to inflict injury upon the peo-
pie, for, under the generous stimulant of
protection our development has been so
rapid and so general that competition.
abundant and effective, has kept Amer
lean prices at a fair level But those
days have passed, possibly forever and
I speak but the sober truth when l say
that now. with full demand at home,
the producer can and does use excess
sive duties as a weapon to enforce more
than reasonable price for the things
he produces.
Protection will stand as a shield for hon
est labor and a mine for lawful profits
but it shall not be used as a sword for
industrial piracy or as a mint for illegal
gain. We all know that no harm can come
10 any legitimate undertaking through any
readjustment of tariff schedules made b.
Republican congress and approved by O
Republican president. The men of cap
ital. the protected producers of the coun-
try, can have but one thing to fear. and
they know it better than any of their fell
low men. 1t is the supremacy of the Dem
ocratic party. with its foIlies of free silver
and free trade, with its narrow views and
weak execution of the powers of govern
ment Depend upon it that capital will
not imperil it's rightful interests because il
Is asked to surrender its usury.
ut has been said by illustrious leaders
of the Republican party that modifica-
ton of the tariff is not a remedy for this
trust I take this opportunity to say for
the Republicans of Iowa that they wholly
agree with this view. and have not pro
posed to effectually repair the wrongs
that are perpetrated by unlawful combina.
lions by any readiustment or abatement
of the tariff schedules.