The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-12
TEE TARIFF IN 1905.

the contract for which they will try next
year. They are to bid on the job Of o n
structing and jamming into place the tarin
plank in the Republican national platform.
All the other plsnks will DO built and laid
by the Government. The Presidents views
on all subjects except the tariff are
clear. u~nmistakable. irresistible and nom
debatable. my policies" will be the plat
form. With the tariff the case 10 different.
Nobody knows what the President has
thought. thinks OF will think about the
tariff. This In partly because he has said
so little OF late. and partly because he for
merry said 20 munh. Everybody. on the
contrary, knows what Secretary Taft has
thought and thinks. and since he declines
membership in the Straddlers. Dodgers
and Trimmers, IL has been growing on
those interested that what he has thought
and thinks he will think unless tangible and
artioulste reasons cause him to change his
mind. Mr.. Taft Is for revision and reci-
procity. The Straddlers arc against IL. II
anybody could he certain that the Presi-
dent would act as umpire and that Mr..
Taft would submit to his decisions without
kicking or leaving the game. the programme
would DO simple. As IL 10 tho straddle
squad has been ordered out to practise. II
il theirs to prevent what has bssn coming"
ever since the Tina Of Henry Clay, like to-
morrow. That In Q protectionist pledge to
revise the tariff downward.
When Mr.. Roosevelt was inductsd into
the Presidential Office at Buffalo he volun-
tesrsd the information that it would be his
aim TO oontinue absolutely unbroken tho
policy Of President Mckinley" What was
that policyf The language in which It wal
expressed was still ringing in the ears Of
the nation when that pledge Of unbroken
continuity was made. Mr.. Mckinley in his
last great specch-the opinion of the veteran
maker Of protective tariffs, Of the expert
student Of MANUFACTURES and commerce. Of
the political leader who In saying what he
did knew full well he was estranging fav-
ored interests in order TO promote q policy
which he believed had become necessary for
the general welfare, said:
Our capacity 10 produce has developed 30 enor-
nnousiy and our products have 50 multiplied that
the problem OF more markets requires our urgent
and Immediate attention. . . . A system which
provides a mutual exchange Of commodities is
manifesty essential TO the continued and healthful
growth Of our export trade. The period
OF exclusiveness 10 past. . . . Reciprocity trea
ties are In harmony with the spirit Of the times:
measures of retaliation are not. II perchancs
some Of our tsriffs are no longer needed for revenue
or TO encourage and protect our industries at home.
why should they not be employed TO extend and
promote our markets abroad'
To continue absolutely unbroken the
policy Of President cKinley-that was the
inaugural oath Of Theodore Roosevelt. In
his first annual message to Congress hs re-
membered his promise:
Reciprocity must be treated a. the hsndmsIden
Of protection. : The principle of reciprocity
must command our hearty support. . . . The
natural line OF dsvelopment for q policy OF rect
procity will be In connection with those Of our pro
auctions which no longer require sl Of the support
once needed to establish them upon Q sound basis
and with those Others where. either because of
reach Of successful competition. I ask the stten
tion OF the Senate 20 the reciprocity treaties laid
before Il by my predecessor.
What did he then do for the hand
maiden? There she stood. object Of his
sworn solicitude. ward Of his formal adop-
ton. Did he make her battle his own,
laying siege TO the Senate. as on more than
n occasion he was later to do. and wiring
ing from that body the ratification Of the
reciprocal treaties negotiated by John A.
kasson under b direction OF the late
President2 No smoke Of any such battle
reached the public. The only signal was
the absolutely unbroken continuity Of the
White House welcome TO Henry Cabot Lodge,
most worshipful high national Straddler
and Senate aide to the President. 1t is
Mr.. Lodge who annually or oftener OBJ
serves: Il will never cooperate with Demo-
Gratis TO revise the tariff" Only TO pass
rate bills and pure food acts. Under the
loyal and vigilant leadership Of such a
lieutenant tho unbroken continuationist saw
the handmaiden treated to Q series Of nota-
BILE skirmishes. The French treaty fell
afoul OF the ~pinchbeck jewellers Of Attic
boro. The Newfoundland convention wal
taken out to the Grand Banks and thrown
overheard by the fishermen Of Gloucester.
With the Senate the period Of exclusive
ness" was not past; 1t had only begun.
The. Argentine envoy. after cooling his
heels at the door OF the Senate in a modest
endeavor to ascertain IL possible what action
would be taken on the instrument which
his Government had been at 30 much pains,
upon our invitation. to negotiate and ratify,
was insultsd by ~pigeonhole. Not a single
ratified treaty to lay at the feot Of the hand
maideni
The next year, 1902, there had begun to
be new policies, my policies The wicked
were being pursued. The question was
not whether any goods were manufactured
and any markets obtained for them, but
whether the production and transportation
were properly regulated. II was a critical
moment for the stand patters. The Presi-
dent was likely at any moment to take il
into his head that keeping out competition
by means Of q tariff sheltered domestic
monopoly. Worshipful Straddler Lodge
never took his voice from the White House
ear. Whenever q revisionist or a scholar
not in politics was sighted coming up Penn
s~ylvania VEN carrying an argument to
show that the tariff holds an umbrella over
the trusts, the Dodgers and Trimmers did
a war straddle around the unbroken con-
t%inuationisE until the invader had fed. IL
any advice vas to be offered they could
offer il themselves. The result was seen
when the President assured q Cincinnati
audience on September 20, 1902, that the
products Of many trusts are unprotected and
would be entirely unaffected by any change
In the tariff, or at most very slightly 90.
The Standard Oil Company offers q case in
point"