Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-09-12


| anxious to prove that it is safe to give
them partial power because the power
would be only partial, and therefore
| they would not be able to do mischief.
The last is certainly a curious plea to
| advance on behalf OF a party seeking
| to obtain control of the government.
At the outset It is worth while to
say a word as to the attempt to iden-
| tify the question of tariff revision or
tariff reduction with a solution Of the
trust question. This is always a sign
of desire to avoid any real effort to
deal adequately with the trust ques-
ton. In speaking on this point at
Minneapolis on April 4, 1908, l said:
1.-The question of tariff revision,
speaking broadly, stands wholly apart
from the question of dealing with the
| trusts. No change in tariff duties can
have any substantial effect in solving
| the so called trust problem. Certain
great trusts or great corporations are
wholly unaffected by the tariff. AL
most all the others that are Of any i'm
portance have as a matter of fact num-
bers Of smaller American competitors,
and of course n change in the tariff
which would work injury to the large
corporation would work not merely
| injury but destruction to its smaller
competitors, and equally of course such
Il change would mean disaster TO all
the wageworkers connected with either
the large or the small corporations"
The Wilson Tariff Law.
There is little for me to add to this.
| 1t is but ten years since the last at
tempt was made by means of lower
ing the tariff to prevent some people
from prospecting too much. The at
tempt was entirely successful. The
tariff law of that year was among the
causes which in that year and for some
time afterward effectually prevented
anybody from prospecting too much and
| labor from prospecting at all.
| The question OF what tariff is best
for our people is primarily one of ex-
| pediency, to be determined not on alb
| stract academic grounds, but in the
| light of experience. 1t is n matter OF
business. From time to time schedules
must undoubtedly be rearranged and
readiusted to meet the shifting needs
of the country, but this can with safe
ty be done only by those who are com
! United to the cause of the protective
| system. To upToot and destroy that
system would be to insure the proStra-
| ton of business. the closing of facto-
ries, the impoverishment of the farmer,
the ruin OF the capitalist and the star
walton of the wageworker. Yet if pro-
lection is indeed robbery" and if our
| opponents really believe what they
say, then it is precisely to the destruc-
ton and uprOoting of the tariff, and
therefore of our business and industry,
that they are pledged.
Reciprocity.
Our opponents assert that they be-
| lieve in reciprocity. Their action on
the most important reciprocity treaty
recently negotiated. that with Cuba,
does not bear out this assertion. More
over, there can be no reciprocity unless
there is a substantial tariff. Free trade
and reciprocity are not compatible. We
are on record as favoring arrange
ments for reciprocal trade relations
with other countries, these arrange
ments to be on an equitable basis of
benefit to both the contracting parties.
The Republican party stands pledged
to every wise and consistent method Of
increasing the foreign commerce of the
country. That 1t has kept its pledge is
proved by the fact that. while the do
nestle trade of this country exceeds in
volume the entire export and import
| trade OF all the nations of the world,
| the United States has in addition Sc
cured more than an eighth of the ex
port trade of the world, standing first
among the nations in this respect.
! It is matter of regret that the pro-
/ tective tariff policy. which during the
last forty odd years has become part
of the very fiber of the country, is not
now accepted as definitely established.
These forty odd years have been the
most prosperous years this nation has
ever seen; more prosperous years than
any other nation has ever seen. Be
yond question this prosperity could
not have come if the American people
had not possessed the necessary thrift.
energy and business intelligence to
turn their vast material resources to
account. But it is no less true that it
IS our economic policy as regards the
tariff and finance which has enabled
US as Il nation to make such good use
of the individual capacities of our citl-
IPllS anu TIE IesOuTteS Oh our
country. Every class of our people is
| benefited by the protective tariff.
The farmer has benefited quite as
much as the manufacturer, the mer-
chant and the wageworker.
The Farmer and the Tariff
The future of American agriculture
IS bound up in the future of American
manufactures. The two industries have
/ become under the economic policy of
our government so closely interviewer,
so mutually interdependent, that nei-
Their can hope to maintain itself at the
high water mark of progress without
the other. Whatever makes to the adj
vantage OF one is equally to the advan-
tage OF the other.
So it is as between the capitalist
and the waGeworker. Here and there
there may be an unequal sharing as be-
tween the two in the benefits that
I,