The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1908-04-15
PAYNE ON THE TARIFF
Republicans May Declare For
Revision.
TO MAKE TRADE AGREEMENTS

tries viii Be Maintained.
The following from the recent speech
of Chairman Payne of the ways and
means committee shows the position
| the Republicans will take on the tarln
| question:
Mr.. Chairman, have spoken much
longer than | intended to speak. !
have much more that | thought
would say before | commenced, but
will not take the time or trespass on
the committee any further The Re
publican party will be at the polls next
November with platform that means
something They will declare them
selves on the tariff question In no I'M
certain sound. | do not mind saying
today that 1t seems to me that they
will declare for revision Of the tarif
and that the strongest reason impelling
them to that declaration will be the
fact that we need maximum and
minimum tariff for the purpose OF ne
gotiating proper trade agreements with
the nations OF the eartn.
But If we have maximum and mini
mum tariff and the Republican party
passes it that minimum will be pro-
tective tariff to every American In
dustry and to every American laborer
In the United States. The maximum
will be higher, and In doing this we
can be successfully accused of purloin-
Ing some of the idea from Germany
and France and Russia, each of which
countries has the same kind of maxi
mum and minimum tariff.
BY the way, here comes a bill that
was not introduced by the gentleman
from Mississippi, and In the last con-
gress he repudiated the idea, but he
does not seem to have squelched the
bill. This was introduced by that emf
nent Democrat Mr. Lamar Of Florida
ito levy and collect an import duty on
long staple cotton imported into the
United States from foreign countries,
10 cents pound on lint and 6 cents a
pound on seed"
/ do not know which gentleman rep
resents the Democratic party, whether
1t Ia the present leader, soon to go into
the coordinate branch, or whether 1t Is
the gentleman from Florida, who,
understand, has his eyes ON a seat In
the coordinate branch, but the thar
mony" of these brethren on this great
oY, az fior Ia rnm afhinr that ma CON oan.
graduate ourselves upon. Why, you
know they have good many ways of
looking at the tariff question. 1t is
not long ago, | can remember, one of
quoted on him now, and am not GO
Ing to speak about that-who said IL
he could have his way he would throw
down all the custom houses in the Unit
ed States from turret to foundation
stone"
OF course my genial friend modified
It afterward, because the brethren told
him 1t would not do to have such a
doctrine us that come from such a
prominent Democrat. They say he is
to be the leader Of the Democracy In
the next house. | wonder what kind
Of a tariff bill he will introduce when
he gets into that position.
Mr.. Chairman, under the Dingley bill
we have had twelve years of unexam-
pied prosperity. 1t is true that disaster
overlook us in the latter part of the
summer 1t is true that men lost their
heads and rushed to the banks to draw
out their deposits. 1t Is true that some
banks boarded the money that was In
their vaults. 1t Is true that rich and
poor erred In this respect. Now money
Is abundant. The treasury did not
have to go out in the market and sell
Its bonds at Is per cent below the
market price In order to get gold to
put into the treasury and to answer the
demands on the treasury. The Cleve-
land administration sold $162, 900
of bonds.
The bonds we put out last autumn
were put out for the purpose of giving
the people more currency. We did not
have to do 1t. We had surplus Of con-
siderably over $200,000,O00 In the treas
ury at the time, and the soundness Of
the treasury and the fact that people
all over the land had been at work for
years and the farmers were never so
prosperous all over the United States
are now auguries that the panic cannot
last and survive these healthy condi-
tons in the body polite. II new COM
plications arise 1t may perhaps delay
the coming and revival of the good
times we had before the panic came,
but the people Of the United States will
see that 1t was not because Of an empty
treasury; 1t was not because Of the loss
Of faith by the people In any part Of
the currency Issued by the government |
Of the United States; 1t was not be-
cause of lack Of faith in Republican adj
or In the justice and wis
dom Of the laws enacted by the Repub-
lican party that we have had this last
unfortunate panic. am willing to
postpone until November the question
of who shall be president of the United
States, and expect the usual result In
that case.