The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-12-14
CUMMINS ON TARIFF
Gov. Cummins DepIores Policy which
Closes Markets to the Ameri-
can Farmers.

~ deplore the policy which mas closed
the markets of France and Germany to
the American farmer and which if pur-
sued presently will leave us to sell all
our surplus to England only. Congress,
which is blindly Indifferent to the needs
of the tillers of the earth. must ulti-
mately reckon with an indignant and
outraged people,
Albert B. Cummins, governor of Iowa,
put the pith of his creed in regard to
tariff revision into these words, speak
ing on the question. "Shall Congress at
the coming session revise the Dingley
tariF?" at the annual banquet of the
Economic club of Boston. He denounced
tariff for eNtortion," while defending
the imposition of duties necessary for
the protection of American Industries.
In speaking of Thea iron and steel in
dustry Governor Cummins declared the
necessity for the protection OF this
trade by tariff had long ceased to exist.
'sTime was when the force of competi-
tion, strong and effective throughout
the whole business of the country, re-
duced everything offered for sale to a
fair American price, and during that
time it made little difference how high
the protective duties were. That time
has gone by, and you will, | am sure,
confirm me when ] say that in many Of
the most important fields of manufac-
ture, and among them the iron and
steel industry, there is no substantial
competition. and the producers in these
fields recognize just two limitations
first, the ability Of the buyer to pay, and
second, the point at which foreign COM
petition may enter.
."The man who still holds that our
manufacturers need any considerable
protection in order to enable them to
compete successfully in their own mar
kets with foreign producers, when they
can sell their products at fair profit
in other countries in open competition
with all the manufacturers of the earth,
has surrendered his good sense in his
idolatry at the shrine Of that miserable
maxim filched from the language of the
great American game"
After announcing his adherence to
the principle of a protective tariff in
the fullest sense, Governor Cummins
said that when he spoke "for reduc-
tion Of duties, an extension of the free
list, and for more effective reciprocity"
he was mot speaking for free trade,
but for d more faithful, more equitable,
more righteous application Of the
doctrine of protection"
~ am willing that the buyer shall
pay enough more than a fair price to
make the profit Of the seller sure" said
he, "but am not willing to make the
uncertainty Of application the guiss for
certainty Of extortion." ~ !.
Governor Cummins took up the steel
schedules.
'At the present moment our pro-
ducers can pay the highest wages known
to the American school Of compensation
and deliver steel and iron products to
our buyers at no greater cost than will
attend their delivery to our buyers by
by the producers Of any other nation in
the world. further assert that what
is true now of those commodities has
been true for more than five years.
ut seems to me that we have gone
mad in our zeal for the seller and have
abandoned the buyer to the tender
mercy of monopoly, combination and
greed. The maxim of the standpatter
that the higher the price the more
exalted the statesmanship-is repug-
nant to my idea of a square DEAL"
Letter From Aunt Jane Miller.
Walla Walla, WASH, Dec. 4, 1905.
] EDITOR REpoRTER: Dear old friends |
will Just drop YOU line and let Won