Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-01-28
An Old Republican Idea.
Hartford Courant.


ed for a pretty good republican and
protectionist. He was active in party
affairs, a member of congress-, q repub-
lican caucus nominee for the speaker
ship, conspicuous and influential in de-
bate and legislation, before the guns
went off in Charleston harhor. His Ia
ter career as senator n secretary or
the treasury is familiar. Once, at least,
he was very near the presidency.
He helped at the making of the Nor
rill tariff in 1861, and of the subsequent
tariffs down to 1890. He e pros
trated himself in alteration before any
of them. He saw mistakes and flaws in
the best OF them. Il nave sue
ceeded," he said in old age, "in securing
one that / entirely approved"
In 1895 John Sherman published his
"Recollections of Forty Years in House,
Senate and Cabinet'-an autobiography
that will grow in value for every seri-
Gus student of our political history, as
time goes en-. We quote here a few
sentences of present interest:
Another principle must be engrafted
into our tariff laws, growing gu of new
modes Of production by corporations
and combinations. Until recently each
miner, each artisan and each manufac-
turer had to compete in the open MAR
ket with every n engaged in the same
industry. The general public had the
benefit of free competition. This tend
ed to lower prices or many cor1modi-
ties. etc. > Instead of small or mod
crate workshops, with a few hands, we
now ave great establishments with
hundreds of employees and all the CAPT
tai of scores OF stockholders under the
of one man. This power in
the hands OF a few is at this moment
the disturbing element in man, of u
great industries. 1t is especially dan
gerous when it is promoted by rates Of
duty on imported goods higher than
are necessary to W the difference in
the cost of labor here and abroad. $50
Whenever the tendency OF a monopoly
is to prevent mutual competition, and
to advance prices for any article en-
braced in our tariff laws, the duty on
the article should be at once reduced or
repealed"
Governor Cummins and his republic
can associates may be sprprised-they
will not be displeased-fo learn that
the Iowa idea was thus championed
years before its formulation 1t Cedar
Rapids by John Sherman.
We quote from the AR~ecollections"
another passage President Roosevelt
may possibly have overlooked or for
gotten. In any case he will not be sorry
to have it brought anew to the notice
of the honorable senators and repre-
sentatives. Here is the passage:
"As members Of congress-. divided by
party lines and crude platforms, must
in the main care for and protect local
interests. I ca not believe any fair. im-
partial and business tariff can be
framed by them. 1t would be better for
congress, tie lawmaking power, after
determining the rnoun to be raised, to
sanction and adopt a careful tariff bill
framed by an impartial commission,
large enough to represent all employers
and emplayes. Let us try the ex-
pertinent OF a tariff framed not by a
party upon a party platform but by the
selected representatives of the CONNER
cial, Industrial, farming and laboring
classes. Let congress place upon the
statute book such a law, and the tariff
question will cease to be the football OF
partisan legislation"
The man who gave this counsel
echoed in 1902 by President Roosevelt
was regarded by political friends and
foes alike, as a high tariff man. But he
had not broken away from the protec-
tionism of his fathers. In the carefully
chosen language of the republican a
tional convention of 1860-the Abraham
Lincoln conventfon-he was for that
policy of national exchanges which se-
cures to w~orkingmen liberal wages, to
agriculture r-emunerative prices, to me-
chanics and manufacturers an adequate
reward for their skill, labor and enter
prise, and to the nation commercial
prosperity and independence" In the
no less measured and felicitOus lam
guage of the republican national con-
vention Of 1872, he was for having the
details of the tariffs 80 adjusted as to
aid in securing remunerative wages to
labor, and promote the industries, pros
perity inc growth of the whole coun-
try" He held, with the republican ma
tional convention of 1892, that the du-
ties levied upon imports coming into
competition with our home products
SllOulO Oc cQud1 " LIE uAAlSISlCc OCS
tween wages abroad and at home, and
he shared that conventions satisfac-
ton in contemplating the vast increase
of our export trade. the opening of new
and enlarged markets for the surplus of
our farms and workshops, under 'the
policy Of reciprocity"
This was the same protectionism of
John Sherman, as Of the fathers before
him-all the way down from Henry
Clay and Daniel Webster. 1t was Lin
coins protectionism, and Garfield's, and
Blaine's and William McKinley's. The
party can not cleave to this
reasonable protectfonism too intelli-
gently and closely. There is only less
danger in going beyond it than there
would be in going squarely back on it.