The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-12
Letter of Theodore Roosevelt Accepting the
 Republican Nomination for the Presidency
from Page Five.)

(Coutinued from Page Five.) of the tariff we are at once confronted by the doubt as to whether our oppon- 1nts do or do not mean what they say. They say that protection Is robbery" and promise to carry themselves ac- cordingly if they are given power.
 Divided sn the TafiH.
 Yet prominent persons among them assert that they do not really mean this md that If they come into power they will adopt our policy as regards the tariff; while others seem anxious to prove that 1t Is safe to give them par tial power. because the power would De only partial, and therefore they would not be able to. do mischief. The last Is certainly curious plea to advance pn behalf of a party seeking to obtain control of the Government
 At the outset 1t Is worth while to say word as to the attempt to Identify the question of tariff revision or tarin reduction with a solution of the trust question. This Is always 6 sign of de- sire to avoid any real effort to deal ad- equately with the trust question. In <peaking on tfis, point at Minneapolis. on April 4. 1903. I said:
 What He Said Before.
 The question of tarin revision: speaking broadly. stands wholly apart from the question of dealing with the trusts. No change in tarin duttes caD have any substantial effect In soivine the >so-called trust problem. Certain great trusts or great corporations are wholly unaffected by the tarin. AL most all the others that are Of any importance have as matter or Sacs numbers of smaller American compett- tors; and of course a 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 a change would mean dis aster to all the wageworkers con- nected with either the large or the small corporations. From the stand point of those interested in the solu- ton of the trust problem such a change would therefore merely mean that the trust was relieved of the competition of it's weaker American competitors. and thrown only into competition with foreign competitors: and that the first effort to meet this new competition would be made by cutting down wages. and would therefore be primarily at the cost of labor. In the case of some of our greatest trusts such Q change might confer upon them a pos itive benefit. Speaking broadly, 1t Is evident that the changes in the tariff will affect the trusts for veal or for woe simply as they affect the whole country. The tariff affects trusts only ns 1t affects all other interests. It makes all these interests, large or small. profitable; and its benefits can be taken from the large only under penalty of taking them from the small also."
 Fully Covered the Case.
 There Is little for me to add to this. It is but ten years since the last at- tempt was made, by means of lowering the tariff, to prevent some people from prospering too much. The attempt was entirely successful The tariff law of that year was among the causes which in that year and for some time Afterwards effectually prevented any body from prospering too mach, and labor from prospering at all. IT, noubtedly 1t would be possible at the present time to prevent any of the trusts from remaining prosperous by the simple expedient of making such a sweeping change in the tariff as to paralyize the industries of the coun- try. The trusts would cease to pros per; but their smaller competitors would be ruined. and the wage-work- FITS would starve, while 1t would not pay the farmer to haul his produce to market.
 The evils connected with the trusts ran De reached only by rational enort, step by step. along the lines taken by Congress and the executive during the past three years. If tariff law Is passed under which the country pros pers, as the country has prospered un- der the present tariff law, then all classes will share in the prosperity. If B tariff law is passed aimed at pre- venting the prosperity of some of our people, it is as certain as anything can kI1t by cutting down the prosperity of all of our people.
 Argument Unnecessary.
 Of course, if our opponents are not sincere in their proposal to abolish the system of a protective tariff, there is no use in arguing the matter at all. save by pointing out again that if on one great issue they do not mean what they say, it is hardly safe to trust them on any other issue. But if they are sincere in this matter, then their advent to power would mean domestic misfortune and misery as widespread and far-reaching as that which we saw ten years ago. When they epeak of protection as robbery" they of course must mean that it Is immoral to en- act a tariff designed Gas 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