The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-05-30
The Taria that Makes Good.


Ten years of the Dingley tariff forms
a record that speaks for itself. The
fiscal year that ends with next month
will show surplus Of about ST0,OOO,-
COO This comes ut time when the
government is engaged in more large
enterprises than ever before. 1t Is
building the Panama canal. is devoting
the proceeds Of land sales in the arid
region TO irrigation, and at the last
session of Congress appropriated $751;
100000 for river and harbor improve
ment. Yet, for the last ten months the
treasury surplus has averaged $780,
GOO a month. Importations are unusu-
ally heavy, but the increase is largely
in foreign materials that enter into
American manufactures, the exports OF
which far exceed the former amount.
For several years the foreign trade Of
the United States has been at the high
est mark. The demand for labor out
strips the supply. Immigrants have
been coming in at the rate of 100000
Il year, and this average will be much
increased in 1907. Railroads are crowd
ed with business and are in their most
profitable era. Farm productions have
been bringing good prices, and their
value last year approached SI,O00,OOO,-
600.
X is needless TO go into the details
of the contrast of the business situa-
ton ten years ago, when Congress met
in special session and passed the Ding
ley tariff, a measure based on the pro-
tective policy, which was thus restored
as a leading economic feature in con-
Quoting the business Of the people and
Of the government shaped by their bal
lots. The tariff Law then matured, and
still in force, had the benefit of the
knowledge and wise judgment of Will
liam Mckinley and Nelson Dingley,
both of whom have passed away, but
their works live after them Neither
they nor any who deal unserstandingly
with such matters put forward the
claim that any particular sched-
ule is sacred and immutable, but they
held, as the Republican party has held
in the past and holds now, that the
protection of American industries is
necessary to the welfare of the people,
with their high standards of living and
enterprise. A ten years demonstration
is before the country. All that was
promised by the Republican party in
1896 has been realized, and much more.
Prosperity has far surpassed any of
the estimates.
Yet it is certain that the Democratic
platform of next year will denounce
protection, as usual, and offer prom
Use to substitute something better. In
the light OF experience and common
sense it would seem that the Republic
cans could elect any sound ticket on
business interests OF every American
citizen. Since the Dingley law was
passed the government revenue has
exceeded the expenditures by hun
OF foreign war. Employment for all
has been abundant. at good wages. The
interest-bearing public debt has been
reduced, and so has the rate of interest
upon it. War upon the Dingley tariff
is not reasonable proposition as mat
ters stand. The affairs of the people
and the government are in the ascend
ing scale A year Of extremely bad
crops might slow up the present pros
perity pace, but there Is nothing in
dicating that the highly favorable con-
litions of recent years will not con-
tinue or that protection will ever be
less vital. Nagging at the Dingley law
is merely a proof of Democratic folly
and recklessness.-St. Louis Globe
Democrat.