The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-11-17
His Reasons for Reduction in
the Schedules.
Uses Iron and Steel Industry
as Illustration.
He Urges Reciprocity; Conf
dence in Result.
From Tuesdays Daily.

Following is synopsis of the speech
Boston last Thursday evening, by Cover
nor Cummins of Iowa, in which he gives
his grounds for urging revision of the
tariff:
Il recognize that it is not enough for
me to say that our tariff schedules
should be so adjusted as to accomplish
the general affair or the common good
and that some of the duties of the law
of 1897 fail to answer the test; nor is it
enough for the 'standpatter' to declare
that the law of 1897 is better, as tested
by its results, than free trade. l must
60 further in my attack, and he must
adopt an intelligent defense. There
must be, at least in the abstract, some
definition of a protective duty, and
those who desire to find it cannot 90
astray. From the days of the report of
Alexander Hamilton upon manufactures,
down through hundred and fifteen
years of debate, there has been no sub
stantial difference of opinion respecting
the definition of protective duty. 1t
can be phrased in wonderful variety
of language, but the real thought is uni
form, steady, persistent. 1t is duty
which will enlist capital for enterprise.
1t is duty which will compensate the
labor that must be employed to carry it
forward. 1t is duty which will in
vite production, and enable the producer
to sell his commodity in domestic mar
kets at a fair profit. 1t is duty which
will equalize the conditions of produc-
tion so that when the foreigner producer
and the domestic producer meet in the
struggle for business, the domestic pro-
ducer can sell his commodity at as low
price as his foreign competitor, and still
receive a fair reward. 1t is a duty
which will give our own people work at
good wages, and diversity our industries
by utilizing and developing our natural
resources. 1t is a duty that will en-
able the American workingman to fairly
demand the wages that will support the
dignity of American citizenship. Final
ly, it is duty that measures the diff
ference between the cost of producing
the article at home and abroad.
Theoretically, these are some of the
definitions of a protective duty. There
is complete harmony between them. To
use the words of distinguished writ
er, they express in variety of phrases
uniformity of idea You will find,
upon moments reflection, that they
erect the same standard for your judg-
ments. Practically speaking, the party
of which | am member has always be-
ieved that, inasmuch as it is impossible
to reach with exact precision the duty
that should be imposed upon given ar
ticle, it is better to make the duty too
high rather than too low, so that our
own producers may not only have an
equal chance in our own market, but
little better chance than their foreign
competitors. 1 am heartily in sympathy
with this view, and for small excuses
above the theoretic criterion, demand
for revision ought not to be Needed |
am willing that the buyer shall pay
enough more than fair price to make
the profit of the seller sure; but I am
not willing to make the uncertainty of
tortion.
"The next step in the process of rea-
soning am attempting to pursue, is
to test some of the duties of the pres
ent law by the historical standard of
protection which the founders and fol-
lowers of the policy have established
and defended. The time which l am
permitted to consume limits the ex-
animation to very few schedules, but
I shall take the most important ones
Nor is it necessary in order to maintain
the justice of our position to show that
all the duties are too high. If it be
satisfactorily proven that any consid-
cradle industry is unduly protected, the
duty of congress to enter upon the
work of revision is at once made plain.
''Let us look for moment at the iron
and steel schedule. 1t covers the most
vital productions, and embraces the larg-
est field of industry and labor in manu-
features / take from this schedule the
commonest and cheapest forms; those
in most general use, and most familiar
to every observer.
"The duty on iron ore is 40 cents per
ton; the duty on pig iron is $500 per
ton; bar and round iron of the larger
sizes, $l3.44 per ton; round iron of the
smaller sizes, 1892 per ton; beams,
Orders, joists and general structural