Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-08-28


as the jest of some bibulous excursion
ist. The affair was similar to the one
where the mountain labored and
brought forth mouse.
TARIFF FOR A REASONABLE
PROFIT.
The speech of Hon. VIM. j. Bryan
at Des Moines, Iowa, last Friday is adj
mittedly the strongest utterance on the
Tariff yet made. He has elected praise
from enemies, such as the New York
Sun, and papers elsewhere not in ac-
cordance with his views on other ques-
tions. He has smoked Mr.. Taft out on
this issue. He has compelled him to
declare that if elected he will call a
special session to revise the tariff. But
if the tariff is the Ubiquitous and one
sided affair it is known to be can Mr..
Taft and his followers who have been
so opposed to revision be relied on to
change its Ubiquitous terms? The
thing Mr.. Bryan says is absurd. The
Republican cry is, ''The friends of the
tariff must handle it, not its enemies. !"
The friends are those friends who have
fattened on it, and who will never
change it except for their benefit. Mr..
Bryan reminds the Republican party
of its former attitude on protection in
the following words
1t will be noticed that the Republi-
can party has abandoned the earlier
arguments advanced in support of a
high tariff. We hear no more of the
''infant industries" that must be ten
derby cared for 'until they can stand
upon their feet"; there is no suggestion
that the foreigner pays the tariff, and
nothing about the 'shome market"
These catch phrases have had their
day-they are worn out and cast aside.
The Republican leaders are no longer
arrogant and insolent; they cannot
longer defy tariff reform. Their plan
now is to seem to yield without really
yielding.
AS his speech advanced he called
sharply the attention of the country to
the following clause in the Republican
platform
In all tariff legislation the true prin-
ciple of protection is best maintained
by the imposition of such duties as will
equal the difference between the cost
of production at home and abroad, to-
gether with a reasonable profit to
American industries.
Then he points out that reasonable
profit" is such an uncertain quantity
that there is likely to be a squabble
over it all the time. If certain of the
industries have not been as prosperous
as some politicians think they should
be, then the tariff must go up. If they
have been more prosperous then down
it must go. Or if they have been just
reasonably" prosperous, or have made
according to the platform reasonable
profit, then it would stand pat.
He asks Mr.. Taft:
Will you explain upon what rule the
present tariff was framed? When have
the Republicans claimed more protec-
ton than enough to cover the differ
ence in the cost of production here and
abroad? The reasonable profit to
American industries is an addition to
| the rule and is likely to be used as an
excuse for raising the tariff. And, by
the way, to what other business does
the Government guarantee treason
able profit? To the farmer, Or the
merchant, or the laborer?
Here Mr. Bryan puts Mr.. Taft and
his party in hole. Here he calls at
tention to the first claim by that party
of a reasonable profit" The funda-
mental objection to the tariff is found
in the very plank that the Republicans
use to catch votes. Any reasonable
man can see the unfairness of the sys-
tenn, and the RIGHTEOUSNESS of the rea-
sonable profit. He can see that it is
intended to give favored few an adj
vantage over the less favored many,
and that whilst it might have had
some element of reason in it when first
inaugurated, it has degenerated into
robbery by the government in behalf
of the favored few, and fat frying on
the part of the politician. In conclu-
sion Mr.. Bryan says:
For twenty-five years the American
WOrkingman has been told that he re-
ceives higher wages than the English
workman solely because of protection,
but our wage earners now know that
this cannot be due to protection, be-
cause the English workman receives
| higher wages than the German work.
man, although the German tariff is
higher than the tariff of Great Britain.
Protection does not make good wages.
Our better wages are due to the greater
| intelligence and skill of our workmen,
to the greater hope which free institu-
| tions give them, to improved machine
ry, to the better conditions that sur
round them and to the organizations
which have been formed among the
wage eargers.