The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-07-04
HEDGING INSTEAD OF STAND
ING PAT

4 l%so -
The long platform adopted by thu
Republican national convention a
Chicago il made up largely Of a slor
| iiioation Of the record of the part,
ana d glowing eulogy of President
| Roosevelt. Ii is hardly worth whilt
even to consider these sweeping ant
indk criminate utterances, which are
so apt to garnish all party platforms
They do not. however. imply q very
high estimate Of the intelligence OF
those TO whom they are addressed
Such perversions as attributing. the
panic Of 1893. either to the Democrat.
lc administration or to "a Democratic
tariff law based on. free. trade prin-
ciples,' are unworthy Of attention.
and crediAing the development 81
such a country as ours. not To its re-
sources am advantages or 10 the en-.
eerprisa and industry Of its people,
but wholly to a policy of blocking the
competition of less favored lands, is
a faulty that has become too thread
bare to be Impressive.
The only part of the Chicago plat
form thar really challenges attention
il the declarations relating to the
tariff and reciprocity, for in these
there is evidence of a recognition OF
change in the drift of pnbllc opinion
In spite of the protestations Of a year
past that the party will stand pat
and that well enough must be let
alone, there Is an attitude of wayer-
ing and hesitation forced by grow
ing differences of opinion among the
party leaders. Protection, the plat
form SAYS. is "a cardinal policy of
the Republican party" This nobody
will be disposed to deny. The mea-
sure of protection should always at
least equal the difference in the cost
OF production AT home and abroad.
This needs definition. What mea-
sures cost of production? Not the
nominal rate of wages, but the abun.
dance OF material and the efficiency
OF labor. the quantity of product in re-
lation to the effort required 10 pro
duce. There are few protected in
dustries in which the real cost OF pro
duction is not lower in this. country,
than in any that completes with IT,
There IL nothing new or especially
significant in these statcments&'s. :. =,
But, we insist upon The. 'maintg.
nance of the principles OF protection.
and therefore ratessof duty, shnpId' be
only, when conditi0ns:ha
so changed that the public. interests
demands their alteration This. sis
cautious and guarded. but. : IT,: rs:
fraught with sign'ificaht.' adAlssigns.
such as are. not::to :be .f3pnd in.ife
yioua protectionist. .piatforms.', u! lS:a
virtual abandonment. of: .fhe' doctTinc.
that protection. howeyer.: high and: Iifi::
cansonlNi dg':Eoo and,
not harm Onesmay.. insists. nponeJ H.
principle and Admit, that: lis !T6.g!liisgs
Gents are transcendeds-. ap;ll:E slic b: an.
admission is implied: 'h6gee,..'aN.he Z,
protection is not. :iaededGthi,e .pT.gE mt.
does not apply :and;:unffe q asary.
ties should be ftniatedssslvis admit
ted that conditions =. may SO change
that public interest will .demaHd."an
alteration Of the.dutics afd thtn.tBey
should be rcadjusied. Such decla
ration could only come from con
seriousness that the time 2 Ss:fs:1r
was at hand when a rei'sif ..insnt
Of the tariff should be made ig ere
Spouse to a demand Of the public in
terest"
This looks distinctly like hedging
upon the Republican tari0 policy OF
the past and the declaration tnai
"this work cannot safely be commit
ted to any other hands than those a.
the Republican party" IS an implie
promise that that party viii under
take IL. This Is clearly inspired by
an apprehension of what the Demo
cratic party may promise. and OF o.
turning Of all tariff reform sentiment
in that direction. II the Republican
party holds on no hope
The platform makers were even
TO put In a plank in a
vor Of extending Our foreign market
by "all practicable methods" "includ
ing commercial reciprocity wherever
reciprocal arrangements can be 81
fected consistent with The principles
Of protection and without injury fo
American agriculture. American "a
Dor or any American industry" This
g. pretty indefinite and does nos mean
much. bat it carries the same kind ~
implication Of a change nf front that
appears in the ariH plank
METHODS OF HIGH FINANCE.