The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1903-01-23

more e1rectualiyl As that same stock
sold at 55 there was time when there
| was only as per cent OF water. Is II pro-
posed In the new constitutional amend
| ment to specify how often the test for
water IN to be applied? Are the stock
holders TO be assessed daily for the varia-
lions OF each day or are the directors to
| be indicted daily? Shall officers of the
government determine the value or the
public In open market?
There II a piece Of wisdom as old as the
| world which Is worthy Of all considera-
ton. Let us not be In haste about great
matters. When you don't know what to
| do, don't do It, II the proposition Is to
press an oak back into an acorn. 1t had
better be carefully considered.
The proposed treatment of corporations,
! even IL something ought to be done. is q
| fine example Of how easily men mistake
their wishes for their reasons. 1t is pro-
| posed to repeal such portions of the tariff
act as have made these corporations pros
| porous OF course this is not intended to
attack the tariff. All we are trying to do
| Is to sap the prosperity. of institutions
which have grown so large as to frighten
us. Why do they frighten us? Because
they are great and strong and wealthy.
OF course. then, their greatness and
strength and wealth are fundamental
| facts beyond dispute. No tariff law, of
| course, can be made which does not apply
| to all; hence, IL the tariff is so reformed
that the big strong and wealthy corpora
| tons go to destruction, how are the small
ones to be saved? Really to the calm and
| judicious mind this seems like free trade
| for its own sweet sake.
Protection in some lands may be the
| subject of discussion and debate. How 1t
! can be that in this country and at this
| time passes all understanding. In the
| United States the policy Of protection has
had a century and quarter of alternate
| triumph and defeat. The triumph has al
| ways been followed by prosperity, the de-
| feat by hard times.
The idea that protection is in the nature
| of medicine, to be dropped as soon as pos
| sible, is an idea we had better examine.
| What If 1t Is food? The medicine notion
| comes from the early arguments for the
| selection of infant industries to be fos-
| tered and cherished Time and experience
have enlarged that notion of protection.
They have shown that protection Is not a
| privilege, but system. A privilege might
| be robbery. A system must Justify itself
| by results The principle which underlies
protection Is the securing at all times to
the American people the markets OF Amer
lea. 1t means that the work of this nation
| shall be done by the people of this nation.
| All wealth comes from the marrying of
| labor to the raw material. In a country
like ours, extending over such vast re-
gions, there can be no lack of materials
Any system which enables our people to
do our own work is the system which can
give and has given the best results. The
enemy have all along sneered at the idea
that taxes can make us rich, but this Is
simply to beguile by words. Would Ii be
any less absurd to say that taxes gave us
good currency? And yet they did, We
tax state currency. We do not raise 1
cent by the tax; 1t simply bars out the
state currency. We used the tax as a
way of accomplishing a result, as means
to an end. In like manner we used the
taxing power to create a barrier behind
which we could do our own work. All
the theorists, the men who thought there
was nothing in the world they could not
think Of declared that we would be
ruined. We have not been ruined, but we
are today a very lively example OF peo-
pie who do their own work. What would
you say was the ideal Industrial condition
of nation? Everybody at work. Just
now we have everybody at work. And
yet we think we want something else. If
we keep on fussing, we shall get 1t. With
all the world, except England, including
her own colonies, of our opinion, with
success embroidered on all our banners.
we are invited to surrender our views
and give place to a beaten world.
Why? Simply because of that human
unrest which Is part of the history of the
race. We, being also of limited knowl-
edge, are much given to be beguiled by
generalities. Here Is one line of generali-
Ties. Is the DlnBley tdTlH Dill the END OF
wisdom? If not, then ii can be improved.
A tariff bill could be framed we think,
which would be free from all the errors of
that celebrated bill and retain it's virtues.
Where would you enact such a bill? Why,
In your own mind, of course. Unfortu-
nately a bill enacted in the mind has no
extraterritorial force A bill enacted by
congress. like the progress Of the world,
is the result of a fierce conflict OF opposing
human interests and must be so. When
men talk carelessly of tariff revision they
talk of tariff never yet established and
one that never can be. They dream of a
tariff which exactly suits them individual
ly while a real tariff bill is one which
measurably satisfies the country as a
whole.
But can we not have. sitting In perpet-
ual session, body of men nonpartisan,
judicious, wise and incorruptible? Yes in
your mind You can have anything in
your mind Imagination is unlimited, and
it is very delightful to wander round
among possible impossibilities. Just think
of a nonpartisan free trader sitting on
tariff tax! or course he would be above
any prejudice except his own. / saw one
tariff commission sit in 1882, and its re-
port was not enacted into law. All Its
mistakes were, and the result was salts
factory to nobody.
What we had better do Is to remember
where we are and what our dangers are
Enterprises OF business are not entered
upon by heller SHELTER. They are the re-
suit Of calculation. One of the first in
quiries of the promoter or maker is, How
many of our present conditions are to re-
main? If there are to be uncertainties in
the future, he will not dare to act. What
can you imagine that would dampen a
business mans ardor more than to be
called on to guess what new tariff bill
would be? The prophetic instinct in the
human creature Is there beyond its limit
We ought to let the tariff alone We
ought to defend 1t against all corners for
the good of the nation. We are doing
more than well and need not hunt for dis
asterl That will come in due time
Meanwhile let us see what people are
trying to do. Nobody dares to attack the
tariff directly. Every effort against It is
flank attack. The tariff is to be
changed, not because II has not produced
prosperity, but because II has produced
large corporations. We so hate and fear
large corporations that we will destroy
prosperity rather than not destroy them.
To argue such a proposition would be a
discredit to the American people. The
most plausible attack has come from the
demand for reciprocity. In my judgment.
1t will be found that when the glittering
generalities of reciprocity are refined
down to actual statement of what is pro-
posed the American people will never
have 1t. The history of reciprocity the
world over has been that any treaty thus
far devised has been one sided and the