Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-11-20
ON TARIFFS AND RECIPROCITY
The Venerable ex-senator Dawes of
Massachusetts Describes His Work
in Congress Thirty Years Ago.

In Congress Thirty Years Ago.
In a conversation on ex-senator Henry
Laurcns Dawcs's seth birthday. the ven
| cradle statesman recalled the celebrated
| tariff debates Of 30 years ago when he
| took middle ground. in favor Of moder
ate tariff reform. such as now finds many
| advocates in the protection camp. In re-
| Spouse to a question as to the situation
when he was made chairman of the COM
mittee on ways and means in the House
Of representatives, he said:
after the Civil War q condition OBJ
tanned in the Republican party very sim
| liar to that which we now see. 1t was
| necessary to reduce the war tariffs and
| II was not so certain just how it should
| be done. There were then. as now. three
| parties within the Republican party
those who would have the tariff precisely
| rs it was those who would reform it
Nplcntly, and n middle party, III favor of
moderate reduction along certain lines.
! How this worked out is shown by Senator
| i'oor in his recent "reminiscences in
I magazine. but he does not give some of
the facts. A speaker of the House was
to Re elected and a new chairman Of the
committee on ways and means. There was
| good deal OF controversy about it. The
speaker in Office was threatened with
failure on the ground of the tariff. He
was a New England man, and the chair
rnarship Of the ways and means commit
tee Icing left open, they were afraid he
would put an Eastern man in as chair
man. and they threatened TO run an op-
position candidate for speaker. But he
had a faculty for getting along in diff
flcult conditions. and with much tact he
gave e?ch sil" assurance that thcv would
be safe. and that the tariff would be dealt
with as they wanted 1t.
"Whcr it came to the appointing of the
committee he divided II in three parts
that neither had a majority and none Of
the opposing factions had an opportunity
to report hill. neither the high tariff
mon led by MIR. Kelley of Pennsylvan MIA,
nor the low tariff mon, lod by a gentleman
from New York. He made man chair
man whose views he did not know. 1t
is a queer, long history. Between the two
extremes W no each had q tariff bill ready.
tho miG1le man CNr Dawes succeeded
In getting his enacted. having the low
tariff mon help him against the high tar
if men. and vice versa The way III which
this WAS done has been told by Senator
Hoar. but he did not explain how the
committee came to be- SO constituted. The
result was = tariff bill that was neither
nigh tariff nor low tariff, yet which cut
down the war tariff materially. Two
wears later, owing to changed conditions,
IT was found that the tariff had been cut
down too low. SO that tho revenue failed
to support the government, and it was
necessary TO amend IL once more. There
wcro three tariff bills enacted with which
! was concerned. The one first enacted.
that Of 1872. was written by me at my
desk, and was never considered by the
committee on ways and means 1t was
tho only one that ever went on the stat
ute book in that Way
When the topic Of reciprocity in tariff
relations was broachcd, Senator Dawes
recalled the early discussion of the mat
ter. which was first seriously preached
while hc WAS chairman OF the committee
on ways and means. II was pet hobby
of Mr.. Blaine's. In one shape or another
reciprocity has been before Congress on
| every occasion. and the present discus
| zion involves nothing new in essen, g,
| though the conditions have widely chang
| Cd on account Of the growing compleXity
| of commercial relations.
| When the present tariN situation came
up for discussion, Mr. Dawes preferred
| not TO 20 into details with which he is not
| familiar. though he rraffirmed the same
principles that guided him in his work in
! the House. 1t Is a mistake. he said u
| SUPPOSE thar tariff legislation is fixed
| science. II is. on the contrary, an applied
| science in the broadcast sense, sdi -
| ing duties to imports in such manner as
will meet the burden to the consumer and
| these conditions are constantly changinI.
| SO must n tariff also change There can
| be no tariff formulated that can last
| while all the conditions on which IT is
| based are changing. Neither tariff
| for revenue only" nor one for protoc-
tion only. will entirely meet consumer
only and the other alone will Just 50
much diminish the revenue The just APP
| lI'icat'on Of both these principles will an
Swcr both the needs of the government
| and the best encoura cement Of industry.
on those lines Mr. Dawes continued: Il
fought the tariff question 80 years ago.
| Put when 7 left the charge of tariff lesis-
| latior four years later and was assigned
| 60 other duties, 7 ceased to study these
| changes of conditions. and they have now
become so great that ! would not venture
! n suggestion as to the character of pres
| Cnt needs. The country is in no respect
what it was when was mingling in pub
| lie af'airs-a period beginning with Mr..
| ImchNuan's administration. If we could
| revive Congress OF the first half of the
18th century it would stand amazed and
APPALLED, before the problems that con-
lrouted the last years of that century,
and would have little idea how to deal
| with them. l mean, for instance the g.
oH 40 square miles along the Atlantic
coast had, even before the Spanish war
moved so far westward that the sun does
not cease to shine on the flag floating
over the island of Attn until it has
brought the morning to its folds on the
coast of Maine. The original IS States
have become A.. IA of which I have seer
take on the habiliments Of Statehood and
for the last few years 1t has been my lot
to help in preparing another for its place
in the Union, full of promise that it will
rank with the noblest | live In the faitl
that our children will behold the prin.
cirlcs Of the past so applied to our new
possessions in the Orient that they viii
rival in grandeur all the other institu
tons created by our forefathers."
The public question with which Mr.
Dawes has been most prominently con
nected is that of Indian affairs and h,
still keeps himself informed in regard t.
all phases OF that work The general sit
walton, he said was never more prosper
Gus and favorable than now. and he Wa:
not disposed to criticise any errors in de
tail which might have been made, anC
which the authorities showed disposition
to rectify promptly. An important facto
which contains much promise is the SO
vcralty law, which Mr.. Dawes himsel
wrote. Tho time is fast approaching, HI
thinks. when tn. Indians will be able t,
support themselves. When that tim,
comes they will grow into useful as wei
as sclf-supporting citizens Of the United
States. Every ono who takes an allDt
mcnt Is legally the equal of any other cit
i2en, As an interesting example Of tn
political potentiaites Of the Indians, h
cited recent case in Nebraska. where |
was necessary to get the support of tn
Indian voters, and the stump speaker
were accordingly cautioned as to wha
they should say.
| fyll Of ha