The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-09-15

berry" they Of course must mean that II IA
immoral to enact tariff designed (as Is the
present protective tariff to secure to the
American wage worker the benefit of the
high standard of living which we desire TO
see kept up In this country. Now. to speak
OF the tariff In this sense as robbery"
thereby giving 1t moral relation Is not
merely rhetorical, It is on its face false
The question Of what tariff is best for our
people Is primarily one of expediencey. to
be determined not on abstract academic
grounds but In the light of experience II
Is matter Of business; for fundamentalIy
ours Is q business people-manufacturer
merchants, farmers, wage workers. profes
sional men, all alike.
Our experience as a people in the mast
has certainly not shown us that we could
afford In this matter to follow those pro
fessional councillors who have confined
themselves to study In the closet: for the
actual working Of the tariff has emphat
ically contradicted their theories. From
time to time schedules must undoubtedly
be rearranged and readjusted to meet the
shifting needs OF the country, but this can
with safety be done only by those who
are committed to the cause of the pro
tective system.
be to insure the prostration Of business, the
closing Of factories, the impoverishment Of
the farmer, the ruin Of the capitalist and
the starvation Of the wage worker.
and II our opponents really believe what
they say, then 1t is precisely to the de-
struction and uprooting Of the tariff, and
therefore Of our business and industry, that
they are pledged. When our opponents
last obtained power 1t was on a platform
declaring a protective tariff ''unconstitu-
tional;" and the effect to put this declara-
Of the general national pro prostratien lasting
from 1893 to 1897. II a protective tarf Is
either Unconstitutional" or robbery"
then 1t Is just as unconstitutional, just as
much robbery, to revise 1t down, still leav-
ing it protective, as it would be to enact 1t.
In other words, our opponents have COM
mitted themselves to the destruction Of the
protective principle In the. tariff: using
from permitting this principle to obtain In
even the smallest degree
Our opponents assert that they believe
IN reciprocity; Their action on the most
tiated-that with Cuba-does not bear out
this assertion. Moreover, there can be no
reciprocity unless there is substantial
compatible. We are on record as favoring
arrangements for reciprocal trade relations
with other countries. these arrangements to
be an equal basis Of benefit to beth
the contracting parties.
Pledges to Aid Commerce.
The Republican party stands pledged to
every wise and consistent method Of in
creasing the foreign commerce of the coun-
try. That 1t has kept its pledge 10 proven
by the fact that while the domestic trade
tire export and import trade Of all the ma
lions Of the world, the United States have
In addition secured more than an eighth OF
the export trade OF the world, standing
first among the nations In this respect.
1t Is matter Of regret that the protect
i've tariff policy, which during the last
forty-odd years has become part Of the
very fiber of the country, Is not now &C
cepted as definitely established. Surely we
have right to say that 1t has passed be-
yond the domain Of theory and a right to