Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-04-02
VOICES OF THE PRESS.
Democrats and the Tariff.
(New York Tribunc.)

| Divisions among Democrats on the
tariff issue are so pronounced that the
minority party in the House of Repre-
| sentatives has given up as hopeless the
| ATTEMPT to frame a substitute for the
| Payne bill Such Il substitute, had it
| been possible to prepare it, could have
satisfied only Il small fraction of the
Democratic membership of the House,
| for it would have been a hodge-podge
of Inconsistencies and compromises.
| Many Democrats would have incOntl-
ncntly abandoned it, on the ground that
| neither as a revenue producer nor as q
| measure OF Incidental protection could
| it bear comparison with the far saner
| bill offered By the Ways and Means
Committee. The divergcnces of opinion
| in the Democratic camp are. in fact, 50
| irrcconcilablc that the minority of the
Ways and Means Committee could not
formulate even a theory of tariff taxa
| ton to which a majority OF Democratic
| REPRESENTATIVES would subscribe.
The Hon. Champ Clark opened the
general debate for the minority. Much
was expected Of him, for he is a tacile
| and interesting talker. Yet he failed
completely to define his attitude toward
tariff taxation. He Gid not commit
| himself to any one Of the three views
| of tariff policy which the Democratic
party. generally speaking. has held. He
would rot say distinctly that he favor
| ed IS near an approach to free trade as
| possible. He did not argue explicitly
| for tariff for revenue only, or for a
tariff for revenue with incidental
protection. 1t is needless to add
| that he did not give countenance
| to the Old Randall doctrine of a
tariff for protection with incidental
| revenue. fer Mr.. Clark is at heart a
rcvsionst of the Missouri kentucky
| school. and has inherited the idea SO
| fcclingly expressed by the Hon. Ollie
James that tariff taxation is in the
main a device for "pillaging humanity"
There are many Democratic Repre-
sentativcs who seem to be more than
anxious to "pillage humanity" They
protect. in factthat the Payne bill does
| not carry the pilagc far enough. Some
want higher duties on lumber and pea
nuts Some want the tax on hides re
stored. Some want to preserve the
taxes on iron ore and coal. Some want
q duty. other than the present counter
waning uulN, ldlu on petroleum. Many
Democrats who have spoken in the
House have begun by attacking the
Payne bill for not lowering certain pro
tective duties and ended by criticising
it for not incr easing or maintaining
other protective duties. In the last
Democratic revision the real prophets
| of tariff reform laid down the principle
that raw materials should be admitted
free and that manufacturers should
bear the brunt of taxation But from
the point of view of revenue taxation
pure and simple there is no excuse for
such discrimination. The discrimi-
nation is protective in character since
it aims at encouraging manufacturing
at giving larger employment to domes
tic labor Mr.. Wilson framed his tariff
bill of 1891 in accordance with the free
raw material theory He took the tax
es Oft coal. iron ore. sugar, hides lum-
Der. raw wool and cotton and deno1nc-
ed as traitors to Democratic princinles
the Democratic Senators who reimpos-
ed duties on those articles.
Is the Democratic. party of 1909 true
to the Democratic faith of 1894? Appar-
emily not; for many Democratic Renre-
sentatives are now clamoring against
the removal Of duties on raw materials