The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-22
Is HE BErNe RuNCoEp,

The New York Evening Post has the following comments on Republican tar. fir plans:
 Speaker Cannon quietly revealed last night the game of delay. by playing which the Presidents Republican oppo- nents hope to defeat his plans for tariff ington Board of Trade. the Speaker said that business must not be dis turbed" by any talk of tarif changes at present. Next December. urged your time enough to take up the whole ques- ton with deliberation. Thus we see that, having induced MT. Roosevelt to abandon his valiant intention of sum- moning Congress in March or April. the next move is to make him give up calling 1t in September or October. But the Resident can scarcely fail to see the snare. Once pushed over to the guments will be worked hard in favor of doing nothing whatever about the tarin. The Congressional elections will be impending; plans for nominating a President in 1908 will be afoot; and 1t would never do to say "tariff" above a whisper. We know that dreary old round. So must President Roosevelt. And unless he wishes to see himself tricked. betrayed, and thwarted, he will press with all his authority for an early consideration. And his position would be stronger if he would leave off talking about tariff revision as a mere question of political expediency." On that line, the great masters of po- litical expedients will beat him every time. What really gives edge to the demand that the tariff be revised, is the general and growing sense that gross favoritism and rank injustice go with the existing law. It Is a feeling of in- dignation and outrage which moves so many Republicans to call for the. re- l 4 4. .a-I- are used to oppress Americans while benef1ting foreigners. Unless MT RoOse- welt wakes to the perception that there Is powerful moral argument against tarih abuses. and also Is alert to the fact that delay means defeat. all his hopes will be dashed to the ground. If the President Is being buncoed by the members of his party is 1t not his own fault? If he was sincere he was but lately determined on tarift re- vision, but he seems to have allowed himself to be convinced that the sent iment of the country is overwhelming ly opposed to such action. If he be- lieves revision Is right he should not allow himself persuaded or driven from that belief by shrewd political manip- ulators like Cannon. They are con
 
 trolled entirely by partisan politics and oppose interfering with the tarifr because they think that course would be bad politics.
 Ii. the President really believes that there should be re-arrangement of our tariff schedules; if he was con vinced. as he appeared to have been that gross favoritism and rank injsu- tice go with the existing law" as The Post puts 1t, he should have stuck to his position, for 1t was right and risk ed offending the leaders of his party. Tn other words, he should have taken the part of the people against the pol iticians. That he has been over matched in the game which Cannon and his associates are playing is not an evidence of the frmness and hon. esty of which his friends boast so free ly. Either he has fallen a victim to the wiles of the politicians or he has suffered himself driven from his for mer position by fear of consequences.