Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-06
FAv0RS THE TARIFF
President Roosevelt Shows
Dangers Of Revision.
AN ENDLESS TASK
PRESENT PROSPERITY DUE TO
SYSTEM
He Reviews the Tariff Schedules With
Cuba and the Philip
pines.
AN ENDLESS TASK

| dience at the armory in Minneapolis Sat
urday night on the subject Of the tariff.
| The President said: Ny Fellow Citizens:
| At the special session of the Senate held in
| March the Cuban reciprocity treaty was
ratified. When this treaty goes into eff
| feet, it will confer substantial economic
benefits alike upon Cuba, because of the
| widening Of her market in the United
| States, and upon the United States, be-
| cause Of the equal widening and the pro-
gressive control 1t will give to our people
| in the Cuban market. This treaty is BEN
eficial to both parties and tustifies itself
| on several grounds. In the first place we
offer to Cuba her natural market. We can
confer upon her a benefit which no other
nation can confer; and for the very reason
that we have started her as an independent
republic and that we rich, prosperous.
and powerful, it behOoves US to stretch out
a helping hand to our feebler. younger
sister. In the next place 1t w1dens the
market for our products, both the pro-
ducts of the farm and certain of our man
ufactures: and it Is therefore In the inter-
ests of our farmers, manufacturers mer-
chants and wageworkers Finally. the
treaty was not merely warranted but de-
manded apart from all other consider
atoms, by the enlightened consideration OF
our foreign policy. More and more in the
future we must occupy preponderant po-
sition in the waters and along the coasts
in the region south of us; not position
Of control over the republics of the south,
but Of control of the military situation so
to avoid any possible complications In
the future. Under the Platt amend ment
Cuba agreed to give us certain naval sta
tons on her coast. The Navy Depart
we have specified where these two are to
be. President Palma has concluded an
agreement giving them to us-an agreement
which the Cuban legislative body Will
l@,,IN ~af In
republic of Cuba has assumed a special re.
lation to our international political
system, under which she gives US
outposts of Defense and we are morally
bound to extend to her in a degree the
benefit of our own economic system. From
every standpoint of wise and enlightened
home and foreign policy the ratihcation OF
the Cuban treaty marked a step OF SUD-
stantial progress in the growth Of our ma
ton toward greatness at home and abroad
Case Of the Philippines.
Equally important was the action on the
tariff upon products of the Philippines We
gave them a reduction of Is per cent, and
would have given them a reduction of %
per cent more had it not been for the OPP
position, in the hurried closing days of the
last session. of certain gentlemen who, by
the way, have been representing them
selves as peculiarly solicitOus for the In
terests of the Philippine people and as
special champions of the lowering of tariff
duties. There is distinctly humorous SIDE
to the fact that the reduction of duties
which would benefit Cuba and the Philip
pines as we'll as ourselves was antagoniZed
chiefly by those who in theory have been
fond of proclaiming themselves the ad-
vanced guardians of the oppressed nation
alties in the islands affected and the ar
dent advocates of the reduction or dutles
generally but who instantly took violent
ground against the practical steps TO &C
complish either purpose.
Moreover, law was enacted putting an
thracite on the free list and completely re- p
moving the duties on all other kinds OF
coal for one year.
We are now in condition of prosperity
unparalleled not merely in our own history
but in the history of any other nation. Th1S
prosperity is deep rooted and stands on
firm basis because 1T Is due to the fact that
the average American has in him the stuff
out of which victors are made In the great
industrial contests of the present day,
Just as in the great military contests OF
the past: and because he Is now able to
use and develop his qualities to best ad-
nomic system. We winning headship
among the nations of the world because
our people are able to keep their high aver
age of individual citizenship and to show
their mastery In the hard complex, push
ing life of the age. There will be fluctua-
lions from time to time in our prosperity,
but it will continue to grow just so long as
we keep up this high average of individual
own salvation under proper economic legis-
lation
Prosperity Due to Tariff.
The present phenomenal prosperity has
been won under tariff which was made in
accordance with certain fixed and definite
principles, the most important Of which is
an avowed determination to protect the in
terests of the American producer, business
man. wage worker and farmer alike. The
general tariff policy, to which, without re-
gard to changes in detail, I believe this
country is irrevocably committed, is funda-
mentally based upon ample recognition or
the difference between the cost Of produce
tion-that is. the cost Of labor-here and
abroad, and of the need to see to 1t that
our laws shall In no event afford advantage
in our own market to foreign industries
over American industries. to foreign capital
over American capital, to foreign labor over
our own labor This country has and this
country needs better-paid. Differentiated,
better-fed and better-clothed workingmen,
Of higher type, than are to be found in
any foreign country. 1t has and 1t needs
higher, more vigorous and more prosperous
type Of tillers Of the soil than Is possessed
by any other country. The business men,
the merchants and. manufacturers and the
managers of the transportation interests
show the same superiority when compared
with men Of their type abroad. The events
of the last few years have shown how skill
fully the leaders Of American industry use
{, in international business competition the
mighty industrial weapons forged for them
| by the resources of our country, the wisdom
| Of our laws, and the skill, the inventive
genius and the administrative capacity OF
| our people.
| 1t is, of course, a mere truism to say that
| we want to use everything in our power to
| foster the welfare of our entire body polite.
| In other words, we need to treat the tariff
| as business proposition, from the stand
| point Of the interests of the country as a
whole. and not with reference to the tenn
| porary needs of any political party. 1t is
almost as necessary that our policy should
| be stable as that it should be wise. ma
| ton like ours could not long stand the ruin
| GUS policy Of readtusting it's business to
| radical changes in the tariff at short inter-
| walls, especially when. now, owing to the.
| immense extent and variety of our products,
| the tariff schedules carry rates of duty on
| thousands Of different articles. Sweeping
| and violent changes in such tarif,
| touching SO vitality the interests Of all OF
u.s. embracing agriculture. labor, manu-.
| features and commerce, would be disastrous
| in any event. and they would be fatal to
| our present well being II approached on the
| theory that the principle of the protective
| tariff was to be abandoned. The business
world. that is, the entire American world,
| cannot afford. II 1t has any regard for its