Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-09-25
TAFT UEtENDS
The TARIFF BILL
Declares 1t is the Best the
People Have Ever Known
SCORES THE INSURGENTS
Says They Who Voted Against Payne
Bill Have Abandoned the Republican
Party-shcws Revision Was Down
ward.

F6rty-Sh0Ws REVISION was DOWN
ward.
Winona, MINI, Sept. is. In the
most important utterance he has made
since his occupancy OF the White
House, President Taft here, In a state
which is the hotbed of the "insur-
gent moyement within the Republi.
can party, defended the Payne tariff
bill as the best tariff measure ever
passed by q Republican congress and
hence the best tariI bill the people
have ever known.
The president boldly asserted that
the insurgents who voted against the
bill had abandoned the Republican
party.
Was 1t the duty of the member OF
congress who believed hat the bill
did not accomplish everything that 1t
ought TO accomplish, TO vote against
it?" asked the president
Il am here to justify those who an
swer this question in the negative. |
am not here TO defend those who voted
for the Payne bin, but to support
them"
To this statement the crowd in the
Winona Opera House responded with
a cheer which could be heard far down
the street. II was shouted by the adj.
herents of Representative James A.
Tawney, Of this district, the chairman
of the house committee on appropria.
tons. who has been on the defensive
ever since the adjournment of congress
| because be did not vote with the other
members Of the delegation from Min
| nesota, both in the house and senate,
| against the bill.
Defends Tawney For His Regularity.
Mr.. Tawney met the president at La.
crosse, Wis, and accompanied him to
this city, his home town. 1t had been
| reported for some time hat the presi.
dent intended defending Mr.. Tawney
for his party regularity, but there were
none to predict that the president
would go SO far as he did In charac-
terizing the position taken by the in
surgent senators and representatives.
The president had met Senator La
Toilette, OF Wisconsin, one OF the lead
ers of the insurgent movement, at Mil.
| waukee and had greeted him quite cor
daily.
ITO make party government effec-
tive" said the president. "the members
of that party should surrender their
personal predictions of comparative
less Importance. | am not here to
criticise those who FELT so strongly
and believed so intensely that it was
their duty to vote against the tariff
| bill because 1t did not contain all they
thought 1t should"
Further along the president gave a
final word to the insurgents.
II am glad to see that those who
voted against the bill still insist that
they are Republicans and that they in
tend to keep up the fight for still lower
tariff rates within the party. That is
their right and in their view of things
is their duty"
President Taft's speech was a re-
markedly plain spoken defense OF the
Payne bill, He has been met with many
queries since the beginning OF his trip
as to when he intended taking up the
subject OF the tariff.
Mr.. Taft waited until he reached
here. when, with a statement just pre-
pared by Chairman Payne, Of the house
committee on ways and means, and
with his own personal knowledge of all
the intimate little details Of the tariff
fight in Washington still fresh in his
mind, he sat down in a stateroom IN
his private car, the Mayfiower, and
dictated the speech he delivered, and
which represents a statement on the
accomplishments and dement's of the
Payne bill, from an administration
point Of view, more thorough In its
simple appeal for an understanding by
the people, than n document which
has heretofore been issued from any
source.
Shows Revision Was Downward.
The statement contained only
enough figures to make clear a point
which the president has dwelt upon
for some time in his confidential talks,
that the measure of the new bill should
be taken by the amount of reductions
made on articles Of general consump-
ton compared to the increases on ar
ticles little used. The president, by
of a table prepared at his re
quest by Mr.. Payne, showed that the
tariff had been increased on articles
whose consumption in this country
amounts yearly to 1851 900, 900, and
that of this amount $379,0 900 is rep
resented by such Injuries as silks,
wines, liquors, perfumes and pomades.
leaving a balance of $272, 000. 900 rep
%Tesenting Increases on articles not
luxuries. Afainst this the president
set. with great emphasis in his deliv-
cry, the fact that the tariff had been
reduced on articles, mostly necessities,
whose consumption in this country
amounts annually to $4,000, 600, 1000.
The president went into the details
OF every schedule OF the tariff bill,
dwelling especially on the schedules
which were the subject Of the great.
est fight and which developed more