Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-10-13
4trrs- 9eo1h1raI ahrslaImut1 anpua 0rnhrr H. 1905

not be applied with mathematical pre-
cision, and l agree that where doubt
exists it is better THAT the duties shall
be too high, rather than too low; and
1 applaud rather than condemn duty
which gives the benefit of uncertainty
to the American producer. Notwith-
standing the malicious misrepresenta-
lions which crowd the standpat news
papers, and flow in an unceasing
stream from the tongues of standpat
orators l want you to know that the
revisionists are as anxious to maintain
duties that will give our own produc-
ers the opportunity to take our own
markets at a fair profit as are the adj
vocates of inflexible schedules. What
we want is fairness to the buyer, as
we'll as to the seller. 1t is highly de-
sirable that when an American IS
about to buy anything he shall buy
home made goods, but when, in our
effort to bring this about, we make
him pay more than a fair price, we are
robbing him just as viciously as
though we bound him hand and foot
and turned him over to the tender
Protection Is intended to insure to
the seller fair American price. To
use the doctrine for the purpose Of
lifting prices high above a fair level
is an outrage upon the rights of the
buyer, converts an economic policy Of
great merit into an instrument of spo-
liation. and will turn splendid sue
cesslon Of victories into utter and final
defeat
There was time when free com
petition among producers brought
American products to an American
level, no matter what the duty might
be. That time has passed, and that
beneficent industrial force has in many
fields of industry been expelled by
modern concentration and combina-
tion. Any law which does not allow
foreign competition to enter our mar
kets whenever the price of com
modify is raised above the American
cost Of production with fair profit
added, is so obvious an injustice that
1 marvel that it can find a defender.
1 shall come presently to consider
whether our schedules are guilty of
this thing but If they are let us make
haste to change them, and If they
should be changed, the best time to
do it will be the first hour that con-
greSS can take a vote upon 1t.
1t has become common habit with
many persons to roll as a sweet NOR
sci under their tongues the phrase, Il
am opposed to tariff tinkering." 1t is
poor, quay garment for cowardice.
Nobody favorse tariff tinkering. The
thought suggested is a constant effort
to change the schedules. This has
never been proposed and never will be
by sane and patriotic men.
We all cOncede that there should be
stability in our tariff laws; that they
should not be changed for light or
trivial reasons. They should stand un-
til it is apparent that they constitute
a substantial burden upon business and
tice to the people.
The Steel Schedules.
The time at my command forbids the
consideration of more than one of the
prominent schedules of the tariff. I
pass all others by, affirming, however,
that what I tonight show with respect
to the iron and steel schedules can be
shown with equal conclusiveness with
respect to many others. take iron and
steel because they are the most vital
products of American industry. They
enter into substantially every enter
prise, and without them the business OF
this or any country must instantly
cease. 1t is evident that cam mention
but few of the items Of this schedule
but commend to you all a careful
study of it's provisions.
I have selected the cheapest forms Of
iron or steel for my illustrations. as
sert without any fear of successful
contradiction that substantially every
article that | have named can be pro-
duced in this country as cheaply as
in any country in the world, and this
after the payment of all the compen-
sation to labor that can be wrested by
the associated workingmen from their
employers. The proof is already in the
archives of congress- taken by COM
mission authorized by that body, but
am not content to rest my case upon
the testimony Of expert witnesses.
confront the producers of these COM
modities with their own confession,
made in the ordinary course of bust
ness, and which cannot be gainsaid.
we exported last year, iron and wire
nails, upon which our duty is $3.50
per ton, to the value Of $1,793,230; OF
pig iron upon which our duty is $500
per ton, $s2S, 123; of bar iron, upon
which our duty is 1914 per ton.
$1,1S0,9O1; of rods, upon which our
duty is 1912 per ton, $2,062,591; Of
billets, ingots, and blooms upon which
our lowest duty is s6.72 per ton, $4,-
$751; 86; of iron and steel sheets, upon
which our lowest duty is $15.68 per ton,
So, 105,02O; Of tin plates and terne
plates, upon which our duty is 1880
per ton, $Ss0,S6O; Of structural iron and
steel, upon which our duty is $11.20
per ton, $3,622, 800; OF wire and barbed
or manufactured wire, upon which our
duty is from $44.S0 to $3.50 per ton,
Sc, 264, 418; and lastly, steel railway
rails. upon which our duty is 1884 per
ton, s10,2ss,346.
1 will not enumerate more of the items
which make up the total of $134,727,-
921. I have named the commonest
forms of iron and steel-those in most
universal USE It is idle for any manstO
suggest that our iron and steel pro-
ducers and manufacturers simply I'M
loaded this vast aggregate as an ac-
cumulated surplus that could not be
disposed Of in this country. Every In
telligent person knows that these
things are made to be sold abroad, and
that they are usually under contract
that precedes their manufacture. Let