The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-05-06
TARIFF MAY BREED TROUBLE

1t seems to be one of the impor-
tant duties at Washington at the
present time to adope a tariff sched-
ule which will have the least tenden-
cy to breed trouble in the republican
party, particularly in the west. Rum
ors are arising in the country west
of the Mississippi, and among it's rep
resentatives in Washington that the
people are not getting just the fair
thing in the way of revision on a
lower scale, and the mutterings are
becoming a little louder, until eau
ton Is being urged by the leaders
for fear of what might happen. This
trouble Is thus scented by w. w. Jer-
name, a Washington correspondent
In the Minneapolis Journal, who says:
"A good deal has been said by the
newspapers about the growth of pro-
lection sentiment among southern
democrats, and 1T is all true, but it
Is no more SO than the statement that
a great gulf is growing up between
the old-fashioned h%igh-tariff repub-
licans of the east and the low-tariff
republicans Of the central west. The
Increased voting power, and conse-
quent greater political influence of
the latter region, makes this division
more serious at the present than at
any previous time in American tariff
history.
There are many able men repre-
senting the Mississippi valley states
in both houses, and they are doing
all they can to have the tariff bill
shaped in a way hal will satisfy
their constituents. But it is uphill
work. With the high protectionists in
control Of the bill in the senate, and
apparently disposed to push their adj
vantage to the limit, there is ample
room for anxiety on the part of those
who desire that the republican party
should retain control of the popular
branch Of congress and President
Taft, in consequence, given an op-
portunity to work out his policies in
the most unhampered fashion.
ut seems to be the idea Of Senator
Aldrich to give the country in the
new tariff law, the present Dingley
law with more or less unimportant
notifications. In proportion as he is
able to do this. the political danger
above referred to will be increased.
Apparently Senator Aldrich cares
nothing about 1910, or the control of
the ~sixty-second congress. Nor does
he seem to be particularly worried
about 1912. These bridges can be
crossed when they are reached, is the
way he puts it, and meanwhile the
highly protected industries of New
England and the east. must not be
disturbed in the advantages they are
enjoying under the Dingley law. His
shield and buckler is the senate,
which he figures will be republican
until after 1915, or through the next
presidential quadrennium.
Speaking of the new authority
with which the president is clothed
In his responsibility for knowing
what the government should spend,
Jermane says:
..Under the terms of a law enacted
during the last session Of congress,
the president is now, for the first
time, charged with the responsibility
OF s%crutinizing all estimates of gov
eminent expenses. These estimates
heretofore have been made up by
cabinet officers and sent to congress
each December by the secretary of
the treasury, the figures on which
they were based being collected dur
Ing the summer months. Mr.. Taft has
ordered that these estimates be COM
pleted and in his hands by May ! of
the present year. AS soon as he gets
them he will turn them ove to the
bud get committee of the cabinet,
who will go over them carefully at the
same time inquiring as to the rev.
enue outlook. Should the committee
decide that the estimates will exceed
the government income, then, under
the new law, Mr.. Taft will be charg-
ed with the duty of communicating
that fact to congress in his annual
message. He will be further charged
under the law with Recommending to
congress one of three plans for max
Ing the probable outgo meet the prob
able income-an issue of bonds. new
source of revenue or further econ
omy eff administration.
I'm the meantime, the president is
making a careful study in person and
Through his cabinet, OF additional
revenue possibilities. Four venue
or approach TO the question are open
70 him He may recommend to con-
gress:
y Ffrst n fax IN wealth. taking the