Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-10-16

longer that an imperfect measure of
relief was finally granted giving to
the commission power to regulate
rates. But even then the railway mag
mates. the tariff barons and other spe-
cial interests in the senate We're strong
enough to defy the president, defy the
people and prevent action and the Re-
publican organization stood powerless.
Finally the mutilated and imperfect
rate amendment became a law. But
this was rendered possible only
through the heroic action of the Dem
ocratic senators.
Ii Is a Democratic Measure
Thus the only true relief that ever
has been granted to the people along
this line has been through the inter-
state commerce commission act, when
was passed by a Democratic house and
senate and signed by a Democratic
president. The recent amendment in
The form Of the rate bill was but an
amendment to a strictly Democratic
measure, made possible only by Demo-
cratic votes.
The railways, by changing classifi-
cations, may, by a single word, raise
the rates on a hundred articles ana
now the commission reports, as 1t re-
ported in 1896, that the mere authority
less the commission shall also be given
the added power to determine a uni
form classification of freightS.
And who, think you, in the light OF
the past, who, in view of the elements
that opposed and controlled the par
ties win give the needed power? There
can be but one answer. In the nation
there has not been, there will not be,
and there cannot be any strong, de-
termined effort for the. control of the
great railways but by and through the
Democratic organizations.
Discusses the Tariff
Woven and interviewer with the
question of the railway and other
transportation regulation and control
is the tariff In the tariff we find lot a
fictitious issue, not an issue made with
hands, but live, burning issue
brought on by the current of events
and demanding solution. 1t is no
longer a question for mere academic
discussion. We have passed the time
when the pros and cons OF thcoI etlc
protective tariff are material 10 the
issue In the words of one Under
whose leadership we won glorious vic
tory, under the banner of tariff reform,
"a condition, not a theory, conf onts
u.s."
The present tariff condition is UNI
Just intolerable and indefensiblel The
people cry out against its burdens and
demand a rational revision in favor of
the consumers, the farmers aud the
great number of our manufacturing in
dustries. The benefciaries and de-
tenders of the tariff make no answer
and offer no explanation nor apology.
Their hands being full, in the language
of the great American game, they cry
stand patti The people cry for bread
and they give them a stone.
We may dispute as to the merits OF
the principle of protection AMI the
measure Of its application, but tl,ere is
no dispute as to what that principle is.
Primarily it is a special privilege
granted to the favored few. 1t shuts
out all outside competition or compels
the outsider through the imposition of
a tariff tax to sell his goods at a
higher price This enables the bene-
ficiaries of the tariff, the. favored
to charge the home consumer a higher
price for the goods the favored few
manufacture higher price than the
consumer could purchase them for
elsewhere. This is the point AMI pur-
pose of the system If it fails In this.
it fails in its very purpose. Essential
ly. then, it is a system of special priv
ileges. 1t is said that eventually the
system results in the establishment of
new industries and theoretically in a
lower level of prices. Neither is this
phase of the question at issue. The
point is that in theory the system is
designed to shut out outside conlpeti-
ton and so far to create a monopoly.
In the early days the foreign sales
man being excluded, no doubt home
competition often reduced prices TO q
level warranted by our situation
foreign competitor being excluded by
a tariff wall. the home manufacturers
in any line of goods had but to unite
TO destroy the home competition That
moment the trust conceived in the high
tariff was born. Like Minerva from
the head Of Jove. it sprung forth full
armed and powerful in every limo and
muscle
Stands Chinese Wall
Year by year our tariffs have grown
higher and higher. The Dinghy tar
if. the highest in our history. stands
ike a Chinese wall forbidding and ex-
GLIDING foreign competition logically
il is the mother of the trusts and the
railways with their secret rates. re-
bates and determinations is the lusty
father of the selfish brood. Like unto
3 great devil fish, they hold the con-
sumner. the small manufacture, the
farmer and tire laboung man in their
Shiny hands and they have grown
powerful on their life blood
Our first tariff drawn bv Hamilton,
the father Of the protective system
in America. was inteHded as a protec-
tsre measure. Il covered some 200
articles at an average rate of ; per
cent L was demanded on the
grounds. ID OF cur - Of skill: ~
orr want OF capital. 81 our deficien-
cies IN natural resources; (4) because
our industries were not strong.
al