Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-06
schedules as matters OF legislative detail, If
such change is demanded by the interests Of
the nation as a whole.

the nation as a whole.
In making any readjustment there are
not be disregarded.s II tariff law has on
the whole worked we'll, and If business has
prospered under ityand is prospecting, 1t may
be better to endure some Inconvenience and
Inequalities for time than by making
changes to risk causing disturbance and
perhaps paralysis in the industries and bust
ness Of the country. The fact that the
change in given rate Of duty. may be
thought desirable does not settle the ques-
ton whether II III advisable TO make the
change immediatefYr Every tariff deals
with duties on thousands of articles ar
ranged In hundreds OF paragraphs and in
many schedules. These duties affect a vast
number Of interests which are often con-
f1icting. If necessary for our welfare, then
of course Congress must Consider the iques-
ton Of changing the law as a whole or
changing any given rates of duty, but we
must remember that whenever even SIN
gle schedule Is considered some interests
will appear to demand change in almost
every schedule in the law; and when 1t
comes to upsetting the schedules generally
the effect upon the business interests Of the
country would be ruinous.
Tariff and the Trusts.
One point we must steadily keep in mind.
The question Of tariff revision, speaking
broadly, stands wholly apart from the
question of dealing with the trusts. No
change In tariff duties can have any sub
stantial effect in solving the so-called trust
problem. Certain great trusts or great
corporations are wholly unaffected by the
tariff. Practically all the others that are
Of any importance have as a matter of fact
numbers of smaller American competitors;
and of course change in the tariff which
would work injury to the large corpora
ton would work not merely injury but de-
struction to its smaller competitors; and
equally of course such a change would
mean disaster to all the wage-workers con-
nected with either the large or the small
corporations. From the standpoint Of
those interested in the solution of the trust
problem such a change would therefore
merely mean that the trust was relieved
of the competition of its weaker American
competitors, and thrown only into compe-
tition with foreign competitors; and that
the first effort to meet this new COMPETE
ton would be made by cutting down wages,
and would therefore be primarily at the
cost of labor. In the case OF some OF our
greatest trusts such a change might con-
fer upon them a positive benefit. Speak
ing broadly, it is evident that the changes
in the tariff will affect the trusts for veal
or for woe simply as they AFFECT the whole
it affects all other interests. 1t makes all
these interests, large and small, profitable;
and its benefits can be taken from the
large only under the penalty OF taking
them from the small also.
To sum up. then, we must as a people
approach matter OF such prime economic
importance as the tariff from the stand
uoint of our business needs. We cannot
afford to become fossilized or to fail to
recognize the fact that as the needs Of the
country change It may be necessary to
meet these new needs by changing certain
features of our tariff laws Still less can
we afford to fail to recognize the further
fact that these changes must not be made
until the need for them outweighs the
disadyantages which may result; and when
it becomes necessary to make them they
should be made with full recognition of
the need Of stability In our economic sys-
tenn and of keeping unchanged the prin-
cipie of that system which has now be-
come settled policy in our national life
We have prospered maryelously at home
AS a nation we stand in the very forefront
In the giant International Industrial COM
petition of the day.taWe cannot afford by
any freak of folly to forfeit the position
to which we have, thus triumphantly at
fuirod