Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-04-21

Republican convention of Ohio was APP
proved by President Roosevelt and Sec
rotary Taft. the tariff plank of that
platform, therefore. may be regarded
as the prototype of the tariff plank OF
the coming national convention, II the
same Republican faction control 1t as
controlled the Ohio convention.
AS many people, and even some Dem
ocrats. believe that what Mr. Roose-
velt declares must be gospel truth, and
that similar avowals from Secretary
Taft are of the me too" variety, it
becomes of Importance TO investigate
just what was promised on the tariff
issue In that Ohio platform, which
said:
"A revision of the tariff by special
session Of the next Congress, insuring
the maintenance Of the true principle
of protection by imposing such customs
duties as will equal the difference be-
tween the cost Of production at home
and abroad. together with a reasonable
profit, to the end that, without exces-
SANC 0ubfSS, <1luSliCe1n
farmers, producers and wage earners
may have adequate protection"
The only promise in that plank that
cen be understood is that the next Con-
gress shall be called in special session
for tariff revision What kind of re-
vision, whether to revise the tariff
higher or revise 1t lower, Is not stated.
1t promises the trusts they will still
be protected by duties that viii equal
the difference between 1.-The cost Of pro
duction' at home and abroad, and on
the top of that protection "a reason
able profit"
Fancy the Republican standpatter Of
the next Congress, II they have ma
jority, considering "the cost of produc-
tion." How will they find out and
from whom will they inquire what is
the difference of the cost of production
of trust products here and similar prod
ucts abroad? Judging from the past,
the trusts alone will furnish them such
inside information. The managers of
those corporations that control the
steel, the cotton, the wooden, the pot
terry, the glass and the other products
of the trusts protected by the tariff
will thus again fix the tariff schedules
Under such revision of the tariff
there would be the same disgraceful
spectacle as occurred at the Arlington
Hotel in Washington in 1897 when the
D0n,,bIfDo., nf ho xuo md
means committee were receiving the
trust managers and attorneys with
their prepared schedules that were
adopted by the committee, in many
cases almost without change from the
way the monopolists demanded.
There is good evidence that the Re
publican leaders, whatever their prom
ises may be, intend to revise the tariff
higher by adding schedules of maxi
mum rates some 20 or 80 per cent more
to be called the minimum tariff rates.
The leading members of the present
ways and means committee of the
House of Representatives have so stat
ed and no Republican leader has gain
said them.
The Republican plan of confusing
and deceiying the voters of the country
by an ambiguous tariff plank is an old
trick; it has been worked In Iowa to
defeat the Iowa idea: 1t was used in
Massachusetts to blind the eyes of Re
publican partisans. Hon. William Z.
Douglas, who was elected governor of
Massachusetts on the tariff issue, de-
scribed it when he said:
The Republican party of Massachu-
sets has retreated under the shelter of
an ambiguous phrase from the high
ground which it occupied last year.
Either the leaders Of the party We're
insincere last year, or they are insin-
cere this year. What does present ac-
ton" mean? Does it mean free hides.
free coal, free iron, free wood pulp,
free lumber? Does 1t mean reciprocity
with Canada? Does It mean anything
that the people of Massachusetts, ire
spective of party affiliations. are so
generally demanding? Those leaders
who talk so vaguely of present action
are In reality opposing tariff reform
Their action consists In adopting am
biguous phrases to deceive the people
In standing pat on the Dingley SEIZED
ule, and in ringing the alarm bells Of
the trusts
The ambiguity Of the Ohio platform
plainly shows that it is the intention
to again deceive the people.