Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-15
IA RIFF REVISION
Representative McCleary Has
a New Idea.
70 MOVE IT UPW ARD
REASONS FOR THE STAND HE
TAKES
Protection Should Be Ample to Cover
Every Change Of Condition-Policy
Should Be Definite.


Representative McCleary of Minnesota.
a member Of the appropriations committee,
and recognized as one Of the leading re-
publicans of the House, is to set new
pace for the republican party In the ap-
preaching campaign. He has a startling
proposition for the tariff revisonists of the
west.
Mr.. McCleary is willing to revise the
tariff, but to revise it upward rather than
downward. He would add few more lay
ers to the wall rather than take Off any.
That is his answer to the free traders and
revisionists. The boldness of his stand Is
accumulated by the fact that a rival candi-
date for the nomina ton in his district is in
the field on platform of revision.
Mr.. McCleary is nothing II not bold and
straightforward in politics. In 1886, when
the free silver craze swept many western
states from their moorings. he gave SINH
lar exhibition of holiness That was the
time when John Lind, then sitting in the
House in the district now represented by
Mr.. McCleary, left the republican party,
taking with him thousands Of votes. to join
the s;lveriteS. 80
Mr.. McCleary came out f1atfOOted for the
gold standard. and never yielded an inch
in the campaigns; he won. In 1896, he made
the speech IN tUo I1OuSc III diiS ~
Charles A. Towne's celebrated free silver
argument. That speech of Mr.. McCleary $
was circulated by the republicans to the
extent of 100000 copies-the record IN
campaign literature.
His Tariff Speech.
A belated issue of the Congressional Rec
ord, to be out in a day or two. will con-
tain Mr. McCleary's tariff speech, author
ity for the publication of which was Cd
tanned at the close of the last session. Adj
vance sheets of the publication, which Will
occupy probably forty or fifty pages of the
Record are at hand, and the following eH-
tracts will give an idea of the trend OF MS
contentious. His opening declaration Is as
follows:
I'VE who thoroughly believe in protection
are reluctant to see single days work Tor
us done elsewhere than in this country. we
stand by the proposition that the people OF
the United States can do their own work.
fight their own battles. solve their own
problems.
I'm our Judgment nothing is cheap to the
people of the United States the producuo On
of which leaves our own resources unde-
veloped and our own people unemployed.
Free trade-in every degrees based on
shortsighted individual selfishness: protec-
ton is based on that larger ana wiser
selfshness that we call PATRIOTISM.
His references to revising the taEH
upward are as follows:
As to Revision.
Are tariff schedules sacred? No; but the
welfare of our people should be sacred TO
those whose actions may do much to pro-
mote or to retard it. Should our tariff
laws never be revised? Certainly they
should. When? Whenever it becomes evil
den: that there is more to be gained than
lost by the people of the United States
through such revision.
How shall we know when the time for
,n1 hat W
certainly not be determined by vague talk
about changed conditions since the en-
actment of the existing law. 1t Will be
necessary for those demanding tariff re-
vision on such grounds to specify just how
condition have changed. and just what
it is therefore wise to do We shall GER
tainly not allow ourselves to be 'beguiled
by generalities' Inasmuch as wages have
advanced much more rapidly here than
abroad, it may be that the next revision
will need to be upward, not downward Re
vision upward can always be undertaken
safely. 1t has never yet had any but
good effect on business. Revision down
ward has never yet failed to have a bad
effect. no matter by whom done.
Adequacy of Protection.
ION this matter Of adequacy of protec-
tion-which is, after af1 -one of the two
vital points in this conference.-the his
tory of our own and other countries is in
variable in recording the harmful results of
placing protective tariff rates too low; but
history does not record a single instance
where harm has followed making the rates
high enough to furnish an ample margin of
protection-ample for all emergencies.
This is of the most important facts
in this controversy, fact that must be
understood if one would reach true and
correct conclusion on this subject of the
tariff.
democrats will rely. on the not I'M
natural feeling in the minds of people who
have not had time or opportunity to study
this matter thoroughly that high tariff
rates necessarily mean high prices for
manufactured goods.
LAS matter of fact, the opposite is true.
That is. our whole history shows that the
greatest reductions in prices of manufac-
tured goods have been in those products in
which the tariff rate has been the highest
and the longest continued. For example, in
1870 the price of steel rails in the United
States was 800 a ton in gold. In that year
Congress laid a specific duty of sos ton on
steel rails. Within a few years steel rails
were selling in the United States for about
a third of their price when we had to buy
them from England. So with carpets, tin
plate and scores of things that could be
mentioned.
And Il little sober thought free from all
prejudice and passion. will enable any man
of reasonable intelligence to understand
exactly why this result naturally follows.
IF the rate of alleged protection be in
ready established in business and deter
mined to destroy American competition, can
overwhelm an American who may be
sembling men and materials to make a
start IL the manufacture of like product.
This done. the foreign manufacturer will
naturally raise prices higher than ever in
order TO recoup his losses.
But suppose that definite policy of
amply adequate protection be inaugurated,
based upon the intelligent conviction In the
minds of our people that such a policy
should be definitely adopted as the perma-
nent policy of the country. Then there will
be many men of capital who will enter into
manufacturing-not simply the venture
some, but also the conservative and steady
soing-who from enlightened Self-interest
will prefer fair profits with large and
growing market to large profits on small
sales.
Another Important Element.
There is another and very important ele-
ment in this Under protective tariff
policy the rates are proportional to the
amount and character of the work involved
in production, the further the article is re-