Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-09-23
TAFT pEEENps TnH TARIrF


passed by congress some newspapers and
prominent public men have been making
positive declarations that the President
who signed the bill would neither desire
dor dare to defend the tariffin hisspeech-
es in the middle west; and they contend
ed that this would be especially true in
Minnesota and Iowa, in which no sena-
tor and only q few members supported
and voted for the bill in its final passage
But President taft has dared to speak
and support the new tariff law as Repub
lican measure.
Congressman James A. Tawney, chair
man of the committee on appropriations,
was the only one of the entire represen-
tation of Minnesota to cast his vote in
favor of the bill When he returned
from Washington to his home in Winona
he was actually prosecuted by the
insurgents because of the position
he had taken in support of the Republi-
can program and voting for Republican
measure. When the President learned
of the situation out there his itinerary
was changed so as to make date at
Mr.. Tawney's home on Thursday even
ing, September II, when he struck right
out from the shoulder in support of the
Payne bill as being one of the best tariff
bills ever made; and one that meets
the pledges made by the party platform
and his own Interpretation of it in the
speeches made by him in the last cam
paign. He contended that he did not
promise that everything would be re-
vised downward; but as a whole the re-
vision would be downward, which he
claims is true of the Payne law. Mr.
Taft produces the figures to support his
contentious. The President spoke in
part as follows:
After year of study and investiga-
ton by the ways and means committee
Mr. Payne reported bill, which went
to the senate and was amended by in
creasing the duty on some things and
decreasing it on others. The difference
between the house bill and senate bill
was very much less than the newspaper
reporters represented. 1t turns out upon
investigation that the reductions in the
senate were about equal to those in the
house, though they differ in character.
One way of>stating what was down is
to say, what the facts show, thrt under
the Dingley law there were 1904 items.
This Included dutiable items only. The
Payne law leaves / $50 of these items
unchanged. There are decreases in 654
items and increases in 220 items. Now,
of course, that does not give a full pro
cedure, but it does show the proportion
of decreases to have been three times
those of the increases.
Now let us take up schedule A in
the oils and paints. The articles upon
which the duty has been decreased are
consumed in this country to the extent
of $433, 900, 900; the articles upon which
the duty has been increased are consum-
ed in this country to the extent of ST.
100000 Take schedule b, earthern-
ware and glassware. The articles on
which the duty has been decreased en-
tered into the consumption of the coun-
try to the amount of $l2, ZOO, 900 and
there has been no increase in duty on
such articles. Take schedule G, metals
and British manufactures. The amount
of the articles on which the duty has
been decreased entered into the con-
sumption of the country 81, 243, 600, 600;
whereas the articles of the same sched
ule on which there has been an increase
enter into the consumption of the coun-
try to the extent of only 81 ,000, 900.
Take schedule d, lumber. The arti-
cles in this schedule upon which there
has been decrease enter into the con-
sumption of the country to the extent
of 1865, 900. 600; whereas the articles I'M
der the same schedule on which there
has been an increase enter into the con-
sumption of the country only $31 600, 900
Now, the promise of the Republican
platform was not to revise everything
downward, and in the speeches which
have been taken as interpreting that
platform, which made in the campaign,
/ did not promise that everything should
go downward What / promised was
that there would be many decreases and
in some few thugs increases would be
found to be necessary, but on the whole
Iconceived tnat the change in condi-
tions would make the revision necessarily
downward and that condition has been
the result of the Payne bill. did not
agree, nor did the Republican party
agree, that we would reduce rates to
to such a point as to reduce prices by
the introduction of foreign competition.
That is what the free traders desire.
That is what the revenue tariff reform
ers desire, but that is not what the Re-
publican platform promised and it is
not what the Republican platform wish
ed to bring about To repeat again with
what / opened this speech-the PROPOSE
ton of the Republican party was to re-
duce rates so as to maintain a difference
between cost of production abroad and
the cost of production here insuring q
reas enable profit to the manufacturer
on all articles produced-in this country
and the proposition to reduce rates and
prevent their being excessive was to
avoid the opportunity for monopolies
and the suppression of competition so
that excessive rates could be taken adj
vantage of TO force prices up.