The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-28
Some other Day.

The letter of the Hon. SERENE e..
PAYNE, chairman of the House Commit
tee on Ways and Means, to the Hon.
SAMUEL w. MCCALL Of Massachusetts Is
the official obituary notice of any hopes,
IL ANYBODY has been sanguine enough
to nurse hopes, Of any revision OF the
tariff in the present session of Congress.
The Massachusetts Republicans want
immediate revision; at least, they wanted
1t for platform purposes last fall. There
are more or less sporadic centres OF
revision scattered here and there, and
especially in the Northwest. 1t is prob
ably not unfair to say that the moving
spirit Of most of the r~evisionists is essen
TALLY protectionist. AS a high protec-
ZIONIST wants duties slapped on to pro-
teot his particular industry and output,
80 must a good many r~evisionists ask
that such and such a duty be cut out or
down for the benefit of their industry
or output. And so, everybody Tor him
seH; and sage vague formulas about
maximum and minimum" for the ears
of the eroundlings. In short, alteration
OF the tariff stirs up just exactly as much
altruistio sentiment as the first making
did.
The strength OF the 'stand-patters'
lies in the notorious fact that when
business is good the country doesn't
want to be bothered with tariff making
and unmaking. At the present time
there Is trouble enough, with statesmen
OF all parties in Congress and in State
Legislatures doing their poor best to
soak" corporations. The protective
tariff, which was the archdevil Of money
devils and the sum Of all villainies not
30 long ago, is for the moment COM
paratively a second or third class GRIM
inal. It's hour will come again.
Many phrases in Mr.. PAYNE's letter
have a sound which, in all politeness.
must be called Pecksnifian:
Congress is not prepared 20 review the tarin
schedules in that calm, judicial frame OF mind 40
necessary to the proper preparation of a tariff act
at a time so near the coming Congressional cleo
lions. The Dlngley bill was the most successful
ever enacted. Its practical results were 30 evil
dent to the country during the eighteen months
that elapsed between It's passage and the next eleo-
ton that the people have continued the policy Of
that bill to the present day. II would be unfortu-
nate should any preclpltato action in the future
result in q temporary reversal Of the policy of
protection In the United States"
Some other Congress will be in "a
calm, judicial frame Of course. Pros
perity is the child of the Dingley tariff.
When the prosperity stops temporarily,
will It not be logical to contend that
adversely is the child of the Dingley
tariff and to knock that respectable
statute out? Mr.. PAYNE's summary of
the opinions of the House Republicans
on revision is probably correct:
While there IL q group OF members OF the House
who believe that q few changes should be made
and sun another group or groups who believe the
changes demanded by the other group injurious.
but that the tariff should be changed In regard 10
other items In the schedules, l think You will
agree with me that a majority Of the Republicans
In the House do not concur in the opinion that there
should be q general revision OF the tariff"
When will the more convenient season
conner Will the Republicans ever revise
the tariff? Who knows? But this is
certain: The Massachusetts and the
other Republican revisionists may talk
as much as they like about revision, but
their attachment to it will be deemed
purely platonic so long as they continue
to vote for the Republican ticket. The
tariff must be revised "by its friends"
It's friends are never ready to revise it.
1t might be thought that Republicans
who really regarded tariff revision az
the one thing needful in legislation would
and should go over to the Democrats.
There again doubt arises. Isn't belief
in protection growing rapidly in the
South? Isn't the Democratic love of
tariff reform--in spite Of long and loud
protestations-isn't 1t essentially pla-
tonic, too?