The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-08-28
FROM THE
CONWONEP
MIR. BRYAIYS PAPER
REVISION UPWARD.

In his speech of acceptance Mr..
TAFT, speaking of the tariff, said:
"On the other hand, there are some
few schedules in which the tariff is
not sufficiently high to give the meas.
ure of protection which they should
receive upon Republican principles"
This is sufficient to prove that re
vision Of the tariff as understood by
the Republican leaders does not mean
revision In the interests Of the people,
but does mean that the protected IN.
terests viii receive first consideration.
II also demonstrates that the Indian.
apOlis News, Republican newspaper,
knew what it was talking about when,
IN its issue of July .. II said:
"All that was needed to prove that
the Republican tariff plank is dclu.
sion and n snare, ms far ms the tariff
refOrmcrs are concerned, was the com.
mendatiun Of the American Economist,
the high tariff organ. This 1t now
has The Economist is fairly jubilant
over the victory won in behalf Of eX-
IRENE protection. The Republican
party It says, in national convention
assembled. has declared anew for the
policy of neutrality-suspicious. that
shall be adequatc--and has rejected
revision OF the tarif1 downwards.
Which, Of course. means that the
party has declared, either In favor OF
leaving the tariff as 1t is. or of reyis
Ing 1t upward. We quote from the
Economist. which, be 1t remembered
is the uncompromising champion OF
Dlnglcysm:
1.-THE free traders and advocates OF
tariff revision downward will not find
word or syllable in this tariff plank
that tends TO furnish them the slight
est crumb OF comfort. There is nc
promise in the platform Of tariff re-
vision downward. After full
consideration Of the whole subject, the
Republican party in convention as
sembled did not declare for revision
Of the tariff downward, nor did It give
the slightest intimatiOn that the be
lief is entertained by the great body
OF Republicans throughout the land
that the tariff rates of the Dingley Law
IRE too high
Even the maximum and minimum
tariff plan which is advocated con
templates, according to the Economist
making the present rates-or other
adequately protective rates'-the
minimum, and the imposition of still
higher rates to force fair treatment
from other nations. We do not often
find ourselves In agreement with the
Economist But II seems TO us that
what Il says about the amazing plank
adopted at Chicago is true. Every on,
knows that there are hundreds oi
thousands OF Republicans all over tn,
country demanding tariff revision In
the direction of lower rates. Manu-
facturers who are held up by tho
trusts feel very deeply on this sub
ject When the convention met II
knew just what this demand was, Just
what It meant 1t knew that 1t coult
not be silent on the tariff question
knew that it could not refuse TO pre-
tend to promise real revision.
And yet this convention put itsel
on record as favorlng sufficient pro
lection to put our manufacturers alb
solutely on n level with those OF Other
lands, and then TO give them a rea
sonable profit besides. This car
mean nothing else than what The
Economist says 1t means. 1t Is M
promise OF revision dwonward Tn,
proposition is not to equalze condi
tons here and abroad, not to make
up to our manufacturers the excess o
the wages they are supposed TO pa!
over those abroad, not to help then
out In the matter OF raw material. bu
after having done all these things
after having removed every obstacle
and taken off every handicap. We ar,
20 tax ourselves TO give the manu-
facturers-such MS the steel trust;
reasonable profit So It IL grea
victory for the standpatters. Tn,
Economist is quite right. For once 4
is absolutely right The party ha!
thrown itself into the arms Of tn,
standpatters. Taking this plank IL
connection with the refusal of the con
vention TO demand publicity fo
campaign contributions, and ais,
for campaign contributions, and alsc
in connection with the great activit!
OF the agents OF the steel trust at Chi
cago, It is hard to see how any tariff
reformer can get much hope from tn,
tariff plank Of the Republican plat
form. There is less comfort thar
ever to be got from It now that thu
American Economist. a besotted higl
tariff organ, has commended II will
ouch touching enthusiasm"