Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-15
10 w A NEW S.
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THE INEVITABLE CONFLICT.
fDubuque Times

The impression gained by reading
the press comments is that the recent
republican state convention succeeded
in arranging merely temporary
truce between the revisionists and the
standpatters. The inevitable conflict
has been postponed for time. 1t Will
have to be fought out in the convention
next year to select delegates to the ma
tional convention. The state of feeling
by that time will compel a specific dec
laration for or against revision of the
tariff by the congress to be chosen next
year. Those desiring revision will wish
to say so in unmistagabe terms and
they VIII encounter the determined OPP
position of men. who believe that the
true policy is to stand pat" on the
Dingley tariff law and to attribute all
the prosperity we have experienced the
past six years to it's operation. They
know what opposition to the Dingley
enactment is the one point on which the
democracy is agreed and that stand
pat policy by the republicans will
make tariff reform the rallying cry of
the opposition, but those who believe
we owe our present prosperity to the
Dingley law will welcome the issue.
The platform recently adopted is
reasonably satisfactory to everybody
and fully satisfactory to nobody.
Every man sincerely in favor of revis-
ion believes the tariff shelters monop-
oily, believes it enables domestic COM
binations to maintain prices which are
excessive and would have to be lowered
II the tariff were lowered and could be
lowered without depriving any domes-
tic combination of fair profit or any
American mechanic of a days work, at
the prevailing high rate of wages. The
platform says that duties which are too
high should be reduced. The revisionist
can not see that any duty which is not
abused or liable to abuse is too high.
He can not understand why any pro-
tectionist should wish to revise a tar
if that shelters or could shelter no
monopoly, enabling it to eXtort ex-
cesslve prices and profits. And the
gentlemen for whose pleasure the
shelter plank was omitted do not en-
tighten him. They specify no duty that
should be reduced, because they believe
none should be reduced.
The anti-reyisionistS consist of two
classes. one of these asserts with the
American Economist that the duty does
not affect the price, but merely limits
domestic competition to domestic pro-
ducers, thus guaranteeing Ameri-
can labor the home market. The other
class admits that domestic combination
in prosperous times may take advan-
tage of the legal restriction upon sup
plies from abroad by advancing prices
above fair basis, but insist that the
remedy for such abuses will be found in
the growth of domestic competition.
The revisionist rejoins that this rem
edy cannot be relied upon because GER
tain domestic combinations control the
domestic supply of raw materials.
The bitterness of the discussion is
shown by the frequency with which the
term democratic free trade is used to
characterize the implication in the
platforms of 1901 and 1902 that tar
iff may be used to shelter monopoly.
OF course nobody unable to distinguish
between this theory and the democrat
ic free trade can have the slightest
sympathy with any movement tn dis
turb existing tariff schedules at any
time except for the purpose of raising
them. The revisionists believe in pro-
lection and are confident the country
believes in it, and can be relied upon to
sustain 1t in 1904, provided the repub-
lican party shows Its independence Of