Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-17
MI. Williams on Tariff Reform.

In his speech in the House yesterday on
the Cuban reciprocity bill Mr.. Williams
the leader of the minority, said:
1--WE shall fight for revision of the
tariff-for reductions as far as possible
consistent with economical and effective
governmental administration and consist
ent, also. with the desire not destructively
to revolutionize existing conditions nor to
q stroy honest, legitimate and non-monopo-
listic enterprise.
Is this the Language of the tribe?' VIII
this be accepted by the men who beginning
twenty years ago with the election of John
G. Carlisle and Samuel j Randall as Speak
er of the House in the Forty eighth Con-
gress, have, in season and out, clamored
for a tariff for revenue only? Is there not
to be detected here the note of the pro-
tectionist? Does not the gentleman from
Mississippi belong to the Randall-Gorman
school rather than to the Carlsle-Watterson
school of tariff reformers? Would 1t be
possible. according to the contention of
the latter even to adequately check, much
less destroy. the "robber barons" by the
Williams process?
Mr. Williams. although from the section
where eloquence and figures of speech grow
on trees. turns from the rhetoriclan to the
mathematician. He would arm the stump
ers of his party with. blackboards and
chalk rather than with sonorous phrases
calculated to tickle the ears of the ground
lings. He would have them appear before
their audiences and do sums showing how
much of the dogs tail may be taken off
without injury to the animal, and insisting
that in no case should the sharp steel be
applied behind the ears. Whack 1t to the
monopolies, of course. But be sure you
know what a monopoly is. Remember the
homely admonition of Davy Crockett.
This is all the more significant for being
in line with the German program. The
ma jority leader in the House and the mi
nOrity leader in the Senate are standing to-
gether in this matter. Mr.. German wants
q sort of reduction of the tariff. but not to
hurt anybody who may be doing business
and getting along. 1t is true he stood with
the free traders in 1892 but only as he did
with the free silverites in 1896 and 1900.
He had as little use for the shibboleth of
the crowd as for that of the other.
The one crowd won al the polls. and he
tripped them up in the Senate. The other
crowd lost at the polls and he was glad
of 1t.
Tariff reform, then. is the cry but not
that old brand of the article which set
every spellbinder to talking who knew
ilpllHIiS Oh the SUBJECT, anu WiHCH Hlltu liiS
land with hullabaloo and apprehension.
VIII the republican standpatters be wise
enough to the significance and impor-
lance of this change on the part of the
democrats? VIII they have the courage to
adjust themselves to it's very evident mean
ing? The democratic leadership is no
longer to be charged with the intention of
bringing our established industries down
about our ears. Mr.. German is on record
as in effect a protectionist and Mr.. Will
Jams talks very much in that strain. They
will shape the record in Congress upon
which their party will go into the campaign
next year. and all of their deliverances and
votes on the subject of the tariff will be
well worthy of note. There is nothing
sacrosanct about the schedules of the Ding
ley law. Some of them, we all know,
We're made with the view of an early
change. and the time is full ripe when such
schedules should be changed. Stand pat is
n snappy, breezy adiuration. But there is
q good deal of peril in it, and the stanchest
friends of protection cannot too speedily
recognize the fact.