Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-13

desire to see kept up in this country.
Now TO speak Of the tariff in this sense
as robbery thereby giving it moral
relation Is not merely rhetorical: II ia
on its face false. The question of what
tariff is best for our people is primar-
lily one of expediency, to be determin.
ed not on abstract academic grounds,
but in the light of experience 1t is a
matter of business: for fundamental
ly ours Is business people-manufac
turers, merchants, farmers, wage-work-
ers, professional men, all alike Our
experience as a people in the past has
certainly not shown us that we could
afford in this matter to follow those
professional counsellors who have con-
fined themselves to study in the clos
ct; for the actual working of the tariff
has emphatically contradicted their
theories. From time to time schedules
must undoubtedly be rearranged and
!readjusted to meet the shifting needs
OF the country. but this can with safe
ty be done only by those who are com
mittcd to the cause of the protective
system. To uproot and destroy that
system would be to insure the prostra-
ton of business, the closing OF fac
tories, the impoverishment of the farm
er, the ruin of the capitalist. and the
starvation of the wage-worker Yet, If
protection is indeed robbery and If
our opponents really believe what they
say. then 1t is precisely to the destruc-
/ tion and uprooting of the tariff. and
| therefore of cur business and indus.
| try, that they are pledged When our
opponents last obtained power 1t was
on a platform declaring protective
tariff unconstitutional and the eff
| fort to put this declaration into prac-
| tice was one CT the causes of the gener-
al national prostration lasting from
1893 to 1897 If a protective tariff il
either Unconstitutional or robbery
then 1t is just as unconstitutional, Just
as much robbery, to revise 1t down,
still leaving it protective. as it would
be to enact it. In other words our ep.
ponents have committed themselves to
the destruction of the protective prin-
ciple in the tariff, using words which
if honestly used forbid them from per-
uniting this principle to obtain In
even the smallest degree
Reciprocity.
"Onr opponents assert that they be-
] lieve in reciprocity. Their action on
the most important reciprocity treaty
lrecently negotiated--that with Cuba
does rot bear out this assertion More
over, there can be no reciprocity unless
there is 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 par
ties. The republican party stands
pledged to every wise and consistent
method of increasing the foreign com
merce Of the country That it has
kept its pledge Is proven by the fact
that while the domestic trade of this
country exceeds in volume the entire
export and import trade of all the ma
tons Of the world, the United States
has in addition secured more than ar
eighth of the export trade Of the world
, standing first among the nations II
, this respect. The United States iiaS
/ exported during the last seven year:
, NEARLY ten billions of dollars worth OF
goods-on an average half as much
again annually as during the previous
four years, when many of our people
were consuming nothing but neces-
saries, and some of them a scanty sup
ply even of these.
| TWO years ago, in speaking at Lo-
gansport Indiana, said:
1.-The one consideration which must
| never be omitted in a tariff change lis
, the imperative need OF preserving the
! American standard of living for the
] American workingman The tariff.rate
$ must never fall below that which will
protect the American workingman by
; allowing for the difference between
: the general abor-cost here and abroad,
: so as at least to eaualize the condi-
: tons arising from the difference in
the standard of labor here and abroad
"a difference which ii should be our
: aim TO foster in SO far as it represents
the needs Of better educated, better
paid. better fed, and better clothed
!. workingmen OF higher type than any
J to be found in a foreign country. At
all hazards. and no matter what else
is sought for or ACCOMPLISHED by
changes of the tariff, the American
j. wcrkingman must be protected in his
/. standard Of wages, that is, in his stand
= ard Of living, and must be secured the
2 fullest opportunity Of employment. Oul
! laws should in no event afford advan
e tage to foreign industries over Ameii
c can industries. They should in ne
r event do less than equalize the differ
: ence in conditions at home anc
. abroad
I 'It Is a matter Of regret that the pro
l. tectiye tariff policy. which, during the
y last forty odd years. has become par'
: OF the very fiber of the country. is moi
Z now accepted as definitely established
Surely we have right to say that II
9 has passed beyond the domain Of the
9 DRY, and right to expect that moi
. only it original advocates, but those
:. who at one time distrusted 1t or
y theoretic grounds. should now &C
= qniesce in the results that have beer
: proved over and over again by actua
:, experience. These forty odd years
= have been the most prosperous years
: this nation has ever seen; more pros
porous years than any other nation has
:. ever seen. Beyond question this pros
!, perity could not have come IL thu
L