Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-03-12
COL. HEPBURN SAYS REPUBLICAN
PARTY is NO PLACE FOR
FREE.TRADERs.
DEFINES SOUND
REPUBLICANISM
Calls Protection Basic Principle
Shows How Proper Reciprocity
Agreements May Benefit Ameri.
cans.
[BY H, j. MAHIN.]
Washington Bureau of the Courier.
Washinntnn d C March 10

washington, D. c., March TO.
There is no such thing as tariff
reform republican, Protection is the
basic principle of republicanism. He
Who calls himself republican and
Ices not believe in protection is not
] I republican = he is democrat"
This compact and yet comprehensive
statement was made by Col Pete"
Hepburn of Clarinda, the dean of the
Iowa delegation in the house of repre-
sentatives who represents the eighth
Iowa district, to the Courier cor
{, respondent today in discussing the
differences which have appeared in the
question of tariff revision in Iowa.
Protection is the rock on which the
republican party is founded" he con-
tinued "In the democratic party you
will find men who favor certain repub-
lican principles. You will find men
who favor the republican system of a
national banking or the gold standard
Tor money, or territorial expansion, or
: The pension system, but you never find
democrat in favor of protection
Republican Tariff Revision.
do you mean that the republican
party does not favor tariff revision in
any form? ?. .~.s
-r.-.asBy no means. To revise the tariff
along the lines of progress and adj
vancement is one of the principles of
protection. There have been seven
complete revisions of the tariff since
Abraham Lincoln was president. We
had four since came into congress
one in 1885, one in 1890 and one in
1897 and one by the democrats in 1894.
The Mckinley bill was one complete
revision of the tariff. It is found nee
essary to reduce certain schedules in,
the tariff as capacity and products in
crease. New methods of manufactur-
ing and of handling productions and of
doing business generally are constant
ly. being introduced. One of the very
best examples of this is the present
duty on steel rails. The duty on steel
rails used to be $2S ton; today it
is about 81 a ton. The tariff was vol
UNFAIRLY reduced because we have
learned how to make steel rails as the
years go by better than any other
nation in the world
Speaking of steel, it has been said
that the tariff shelters MONOPOLY. Is
that true?"
Coupled with an unqualified denial
the very best answer l. can give to
that is to give you the figures. In spite
OF our duty of 81 ton on steel rails,
We imported, in 1902, $51 900, 900 worth
of steel and iron"
q Must Be Bargain Counter.
What about the statement that GER
tain American manufacturers some
times sell their products for less in
foreign countries than they do in tho
Unitad States?"
II have Investigated several in
stances of this sort reported and 1
have always found that this was done
exactly on the principle of the bargain
counter in the department store For
instance one year not long ago one
OF the big plow manufacturers in Mo-
line sold large shipment of plows in
a South American country at lower
y price than he was selling them in the
United States. The reason was sim
pie one. For some cause or other this
manufacturer had not been able to
get rid of all the stock he had manu-
factured the year before. He had in.
the meantime improved his product
IS anu uo Coulu uOL Sell d lSuU ptOW TO an
up to date United States farmer in
1903. He had to get rid of that sur
plus product and he did so by selling
it at a reduction to the South Ameri-
cans. 1t was So far ahead of anything
that they had that the small improve
ments of year or two did not matter.
There must be bargain counter in
s the market of the world as well as in
any local dry goods store. In any
event how does this hurt the American
( people if they are supplied at fair
price? 1t is one Of the best things
that can happen to them. The manu-
facturer is the only one who suffers
If any factory has a surplus product
it means that they have kept their
/ workmen employed steadily and have
been paying wages right along with
/, out break. No person in the United
States, ought to object to conditions of
that sort"
True Reciprocity.
''What do you think of reciprocity"
Z Reciprocity is a good thing and is
a republican doctrine in its true sense.
But it must be remembered that repub-
lican reciprocity is the kind that is a
real reciprocal Arrangement For in