Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-04-06
THE PRESIDENT
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violent ground against the. practical
steps to accomplish either purpose
Moreover, a law was enacted putting
anthracite on the free list and completely
removing the duties on all other kinds OF
coal for one year.
We are now in a condition of pros
perity unparalleled not merely in our own
history but in the history of any other
natlcn. This prosperity is deep rooted
due to the fact that the average American
has i'll him the stuff out of which lictors
are made in the great industrial contests
military contest OF the past, and because
he is now able to use and develop his
qualities to best advantage under our
well-establiShed economic system. We
are winning headship among the nations
of the world because our people are able
to keep their high average of individual
citizenship and to show their mastery i'll
the hard. complex pushing life of the age.
There will be fluctuations from time to
time in our prosperity, but it will con-
tinue to grow just SO long as we keep up
the high average of individual citizenship
and permit it to work out its own saliva
ton under proper economic legislation,
The present phenomenal prosperity
made in accordance with certain fixed
and definite principles, the most important
of which is an avowed determination to
protect the interests of American pro.
farmer alike. The general tariff policy,
to WHICH. without regad to changes in
uCt1ii, DelicNe Ills COullITy Is lTTCNOcdpiE
committed, is fundamentally based upon
ample recognition of the difference be-
tween the cost OF production-that is, the
cost of labor-here and abroad and OF the
need to see to it that our laws shall in no
event afford advantage in our own NAT
ket to foreign industries. over American
industries, to foreign capital over Ameri-
can capital, to foreign labor over our own
labor. This country has and this country
needs better-paid. better-educated, better
fed and better-clothed workingmen, of a
OH than found
foreign country. 1t has and it needs a
higher, more vigorous. and more prosper
oas type of tillcrs OF the soil than Is pos
sessed by any other country. The bust
ness men. the merchants and manufacture
erS, and the managers of the transporta-
ton interests show the same superiority
when compared with men of their type
abroad. The events of the last few years
have shown how skillfully 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 ana
the administrative capacity OF our people
1t is, of course, a mere truism to. say
that we want to use everything m our
power to foster the welfare of our entire
body polite. In other words. we need to
treat the tariff as a business proposition,
from the standpoint of the interests OF the
country as a whole and not with refer
ence to the temporary needs OF any ~, p4 th
cal party 1t is almost as necessary that
our policy should be stable as that IT
should be wise. A nation like ours could
not long stand the ruinous policy OF read a.
the tariff at short intervals. especially
when, as now, owing to the immense eX-
ten. and variety of our pro4uddts, ,, t me
thousands of different articles. sweeping
and violent changes in such tariff tout
ing so vitality the interests OF all OF US
e,nhra cling agriculture, labor, manu1ac-
lures and commerce, would be disastrous
in any event and they would be fatai 10
our present wel-beinE. il approached on
the theory that the principle OF the pro
tectiye tariff was to be abandoned. Inc
business world, that is: the entire AMER
can world. can not afford, II II mas any
regard for its own welfare, even to con-
slider the ACCESSIBILITY of abandoning the
present system. A., :.
Yet. on the other hand, where the IN
dustrial conditions so frequently cnahSe'
as with us must of necessity he the case,
it is a matter of prime Importance that
we should be able from time TO tlme To
adapt our economic policy to the changed
conditions. Our aim should be TO pre-
serve the policy of a protective tarlil, IN
which the Nation as whole mas aceiulr
csced, and yet wherever and Whenever
necessary to change the duties IN pafuc-
ular paragraphs or schedules as matters
of legislative detail, if such change Is
demanded by the interests OIL lHe NAHUM
In making any readjustment there are
certain important considerations Wnlcn
can not be disregarded. If tarlf law
has on the whole worked well, ana II
hmsiness has prospered under it and is |
prospering it may be better to endure
some Inconvenience and Inequalities !or
a time than by making changes to risk
causing disturbance and perhaps patai!SIls
in the industries and business OF the
country The fact that the change IN a
given rate of duty may be thought deslr-
ablC does not settle the question whether
IT is advisable to make the change lnlme-
diatelv. Every tariff deals with dutieS on
thousands of articles arranged IN nun
dredS of paragraphs and i'll many Scheu-
,llcS These duties affect vast NUMBER
Of interests which are often conflicting
If Necessary for our welfare then of
course Congress must consider inc qaes
ton of changing the law as a whoie or
changing any given rates ,,, oL uu,S even
n single schedule is considered SOM
interests will appear to demand a cnanse
in almost every schedule IN tne la ~
schedules generally the effect upon ths
business interests of the country Wouio
be ruinous. ,;, ,o.,,, in
mind. The question of tariff revision,
speaking broadly, stands wholly aPale
from the question Of dealing win ene
have any substantial effect in solving the
so-callcd trust problem CERTAIN great
trusts or great corporations are WholiH
unaffected by the tariff. PNctlcaily an
the others that are of any Importance
have as a matter Of fact NUMBERS OF
smaller American competitors; ana OF
course a change in the tariff which womb
WorL injury to the large corporation
would work not merely injury. but de,
strGcion to its smaller eompettors xa ana
mean disaster to all the Wage-WorkerS
connected with either the large or the
small corporations. From the standpoint
of these interested in the solution OF inc
trust problem such a change would there
fore merely mean that the trust was re
ieved of the connection OF its weaRG 1i,
American competitors and thrown onlv
;,tn oprnnntitipn with foreign COLI
petitors. and that the first effort to meet
| this new competition would he made by
cutting down wages and would therefore
| he primarily at the cost of labor In the
case OF some of our greatest trusts such
| a change might confer upon them a
positive benefit. Speaking broadly. 1t Is