The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-23
ANOTHER COMMISSION.


 ! It is becoming clearer that there is reluctance on the part of the Republi- can party to make the tariff question in any wise a prominent issue in the coming campaign. It is much to be preferred that commission on the and set to work in it's investigations and reflections during the campaign so as to avoid the necessity of taking any positive stand one way or another, until after the smoke of the approach ing political battle shall have cleared away and 1t can be more definitely de- termined what relation the tariff ac- tually has to the newer political ideas that have taken possession of the Re- publican party
 It has usually been the politieal hab- It to charge almost every national trou- ble to the tariff and to find it very useful subject for campaign purposes in the absence of more important pub lie questions But just now so many new political propositions have come to view, with something of suddenness, that the minds of a considerable num- Der of citizens seem bewildered, for it is not easy to marshal those new prop ositons In such a way as to obtain a logical connection Possibly the nex, platform of the Republican party, which Is sure to be remarkably unlike any that have preceded. will present the new ideas which are struggling for ,itterance In such form that all stud ents of the document may have both perspective and prospective view of ths purposes of the party, or learn the causes of the present crisis and the beneficent results that are to follow the policies which are to be adopted
 It will be fully as well that the tariff just now is not given prominent place. In seeking its relation to all the other questions that are troubling us, 1t may be found to have been, in it's high pro tective character a cause to a consid- erable degree of some of the difficulties that now confront the country. There was a time somewhere in the past when the tariff changed in character, ceasing to be protective and beneficent, but becoming subversive of the indus trial interests generally of all the peo- pie. When the country was passing from predominantly agricultural con dition to an industrial stage. a protec- tive tariff, so framed as to provide against the inequalities in competition between older industrially established countries and the new country strug- gling for industrial foothold, did a great service, but it has been for some time difficult thing to convince many people that it has not served in late years to foster great combinations of capital, called trusts, and to raise prices to American consumers. When American made products can be sold abroad for less amount than to the home consumer, it can be seen that the home consumer is paying a tax exact ed by too high a tariff. A high tariff is a method by which the function Of taxation is permitted to be exercised within the field of industry Here is the particular principle involved. It is this function of taxation that is used by great monopolies controlling various operations, in raising prices at one point to gain an advantage at some other point, or in driving out a trouble some competitor A tariff that goes farther than to equalize the conditions of competition tends to confer on some special privileges It is in the interest of a whole people only indirectly, when the benefits conferred trickle through to the people from those who are the nearest beneficiaries of the fostering care of the tariff method.
 As political affairs are now going, the old-time tariff that provided the subject for so much campaign oratory in the past is becoming something of an anomaly and exceedingly lonely, too, for it is about the only issue left Of the old Republican party. The new CT Issues are quite different in char acter The party has left it's former an- chorage and is sailing for port as yet not clearly dscerned. The Bever- idge bill now in the United Senate call ing for a commission to take into full consideration the revision of the tar if is in keeping with the new method of feeling the way. About every new advance has been preceded by com mission of investigation. It is proper for d vessel when at sea and approach