Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-05-31
The Indiana Tariff Plank

! Inc naIlOnaI significance of the Indt-
ana Republican convention lies in the
tariff plank of its platform, upon which
issue, unless unforeseen events precipi-
! tate a new one, the congressional cam
paign this fall will be fought. This
clause of the Indiana plank reads as
| follows:
/ We adhere to the time-honored Re
! publican doctrine of protection. Our
commercial and Industrial experiences
have fully vindicated the wisdom Of
! this great economic policy.
The true policy of protection is that
schedules are to be changed when ex-
periences shall suggest their changes.
The Republican party, the friends
of the protective policy through good
and evil report. can be trusted to make
changes in tariff schedules whenever
more good than evil will result.
We recognize reciprocity as the
handnaiden of projection and favor
such reciprocal arrangements with 9TH
er nations as will increase our foreign
trade without injury to American in
| dustry'
This plank admirably expresses the
Republican view of the tariff through
out the Central West-a middle ground
between the extreme stand-patter and
the extreme revisionist. 1t recognizes
the sacredness of the protective prin.
ciple, and the fact tlIlt tariff schedules
| may Outliye their usefulness. and
pledges the Republican party, when
the time shall come that revision of
the existing schedules will work more
good than harm. to readjust these
schedules to the newer conditions
1t is a ground upon which all be-
levers in the Republican principle Of
protection can stand, and leaves with
the representatives of the party in con-
gresS the question of determining when
the conditions are such that a revision
of the Dingley schedules will be wise
and Observation-Disclosures Star.
How to Check an Evil.
Did it ever strike President Roose-
velt,'' asks the Richmond News Leader,
that the enormous fortune evil might
be somewhat checked by so revising the
Republican robber tariff as to break
up the trust iniquity?" Doubtless some
thought of this kind has at some time
occurred to the President. That it
was present in his mind when he pre-
pared his recent address on the sub
ject of wealth distribution may, how
ever, be doubted. There are many
ways of checking the requirement Of
great fortunes. Revising protection
out of the tariff Is only one of them
Earthquakes and CONGREGATIONS are
recognized as quite effective in the i'm
pairment Of accumulated wealth. Free
trade might do for an occasional de-
strOyer 1t has in times past operated
in this way with pronounced success
In some respects it is to be preferred
to earthquakes and CONGREGATIONS.
Free trade can be absolutely relied
upon to greatly diminish and occasion
ally to altogether destroy current val
ues. But it will do more than that.
Striking at the root of gainful occupa-
tons, it kills the germ Of prosperity by
decreasing alike the sum total of en-
ployment and the sum total and rate
of wages paid and distributed. In this
way it is a great preventive Of money
getting; probably the greatest ever de-
vised AS an all-round checker of for
tunemaking we don't suppose that the
equal of free trade could be named.
If we cannot have complete free trade,
revision of the tariff downward would
accomplish much along this line
American Economist.