The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-01-30

constitutionallty of the Presidents
lactior. Both found numerous sup.
Iportors among their Republican col
leagues. But when IL came to the
sticking point, they and their coll
leagues backed down. and placing
party harmony above the settlement
of this vital question, eliminated
the only issue in the debate worthy
of statesmanlike consideration. This
rush of Republican Senators to. save
their faces matches we'll the dexter
ity of the colored troops that shot
up Brownsville and got back into
line in time to answer the roll call.
Evsl the President backed down.
He first declared he would veto and
fight to the highest court any Con-
gressional measure giving the dis
charged troops the right to re.enlist
in the government service. but later
admitted this would be All excessive
use of his authority. He said he
would insist upon the complete vim
dlcaiion of his course contained In
| the Blackburn amendment. which
clearly affirmed his constitutional
authority to act as he did, but he
did not insist. He said he would
make the Brownsville issue the test
of strength between himself and
Congress on the whole policy Of his
administration, but he did not do
so.
The whole controversy, in fact,
was cLout to !anguish and die after
the first weeks debate, when. by n
show OF his characteristic combative.
ness the President gave it lease
of life for two weeks longer. Thus
three weeks of short session. last
| ing in all only seven weeks, were
consumed in debate, while many
important measures were camoring
for attention; all of which leads one
ito believe that there was n grea.
deal more in the Brownsville con-
ttroversy than the Brownsville riot.
Besides a clear piece Of playing nol-
itics OF n brand so conspicuous that
II a blind man could see 1t of n dark
night in a back allcyway. there IL
the added suspicion that the Senate
KILLED time SO as not to take up
questions of general public import
ance, and that even the President,
like Barltus, was "willin'," because
he preferred to bear the ills he had
than fly to those he knew not of.
THE TARIFF AND THE SUBSIDY.
The Brownsville controversy was
not the only dying thing in Congress
: the President revived. The ship-sub-
lsidy bill was practically buried in
the House Committee on Merchant
Marine when the President resur-
rectei 1t. And he must assume the
full responsibility for this measure.
1t IS well to consider the signifi-
canoe of this novel extension of the
protective principle at time when
there appears to be widespread be-
lief tlat the tariff has reached the
limit CT Its usefulness. We have i'm
posed a prohibitive tariff upon ma
terials used in ship construction
so that our millionaires may have a
'hish-priced monopoly at home while
with low prices, they undersell their
competitors abroad. Thus we have
prevented the building of ships by
our independent merchants on such
terms as would enable to compete
with the less costly foreign built
vessels. We even have forbidden our
mercnlnt from buying the cheaper
Iarticle abroad, because under our
navigation laws such vessel can.
not claim the protection of our flag
or engage in our coastwise trade.
We have, moreover, restricted our
trade by tariffs intended to prevent
foreigners selling to us. and we have
even barred from our markets the
commodities our own colonial sub
jects have to sell. These are the
real and the admitted reasons why
we have no merchant marine.
But the remedy, unfortunately, Is
not 10 heed the diagnosis. The
trusts want the profits now reaped
by the foreigner who controls our
ocean transportion. They could
do this by lowering the tariff, but
that might menace tieir monopoly at
home.
Consequently, the only way for the
trusts to get wnat they want, with
out giving up what they have al
ready. is to get the government to
grant them subsidies that will make
good the difference in price between
homemade ana foreign vessels,
which our trust-creating tariff has