Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1907-08-17
NEED A JEFFERSON
AT THE HEAD OF OUR DEPART
MgNT OF STATE.
His Mode of Dealing with Foreign
Tariff Discrimination Was Not to
Surrender to Threats, But to Strike
Back with a Vigorous Policy Of
Tariff Retaliation.

Tariff Retaliation.
What would have been the policy
Of Thomas Jefferson at the head OF
the American department OF state In
the year OF our Lord 1907, in dealing
with foreign tariff discrimination
against American exports and for
eign attempts to dictate American tar
IFS? This question is answered in a
very instructive manner in timely
and vigorous contribution signed July
Fourth" in the American Economist.
Extracts from his writings Of hun
dred years ago tell what Jefferson
would have done when the German
kaiser fiourished his maximum tariff
war club over our heads.
jefferson would not have struck
his colors before the enemy had fired a
shot.
He would have cleared his decks for
action.
He would have met threat with
threat. hostile tariff discrimination
with hostile tariff retaliation.
He would have made it costly for
any nation to undertake to browbeat
S5,000,000 of American people into a
craven surrender of American tariff
making rights
He would not have shivered and
quaked when the German emperor
gave an extra tariff twist to his fierce
mustache.
He would not have laid down his
cards and said: Take the money;
your hand Is the best He would
have played out the game.
He would not have nullified law
Of congress in order that foreigners
might gain unlawful and unfair ad-
vantages in the American market, to
the injury of American industry and
labor
He would have urged upon congress
the immediate passage of a law i'm
posing tariff penalties upon the goods
of any nation guilty of tariff dis
elimination against the products Of
the United States.
He would have advocated the Nc
Cleary bill.
He would have given us commercial
peace through ample preparation
against commercial welfare.
Where nation imposes high du-
ties on our productions, or prohibits
them altogether precisely as Ger
many threatened and France now
threatens to do it may be proper
for us to do the same by theirs; first
burdening those productions which
they bring here in competition with
our own of the same kind; selecting,
next, such manufactures as We take
from them in greatest quantity and
which at the same time we could the
soonest furnish to ourselves or OBJ
tain from other countries; imposing
on them duties lighter at first, but
heavier and heavier afterward, as
duties, having the effect of indirect
encouragement to domestic manu-
features Of the same kind, may in
duce the manufacturer to come him.
self into the state, where a cheaper
subsistence, equal laws, and a vent
for his wares, free of duty, may in
sure him the highest profits from his
skill and industry. The op-
pressions on our agriculture in for
eign ports would thus be made the
occasion for relieving it from de-
pendence on the counsels and con-
duct of others, and of promoting arts,
manufactures and population"
Thus wrote Thomas Jefferson a hun
dred years ago, when "the states" pos
sessed not the hundredth part of the
power of resistance and the effective
ness of commercial defenses that the
states of to-day possess.
Were Thomas Jefferson at the head
of our state department now, there
would be no German agreement to
place a premium on dishonesty and
promote unfair competition with
American industry and business.
There would be no humiliating lay
down" to foreign buster.
Discriminating tariffs against Amer
lean exports would be unheard of.
We should have commercial peace
with all the world.
We should preserve our national
self-respect, and at the same time do
justice to our own producers and
wage earners.
Which Would Be Preferred7