The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-07-17
TAFT EXPLAINS
 TARIFF VIEWS
Tells Delegation of House Stand.Patters That He is Committed to Down.
 ward Revision.
MUST KEEP PARTY PROMISE

Washington, July 17.-An official if fnot exactly explicit statement or the Presidents position with reference to the pending tariff bill has been evok- ed from the White House by the call there of a party of Republican mem bers of the House, who went to protest | to Mr. Taft against the free listing of certain "raw materials" such as coal, oil, hides, and iron ore. They spent an hour and a half with the President, presenting arguments which were usually based upon con sideration of the local situation in their respective districts.
 In the course of the afternoon the following statement about the call Of }the Representatives was issued at the White House:
 MT. Young of Michigan opposed free ore, MT. Mondell opposed free coal or reciprocity with Canada and
 free hides, each on the ground that Pthe policy would injure the interests in his State, and discussion was par Pticipated in by other Representatives,
 who urged that the doctrine of free raw materials was not Republcan doctrine. The President replied that
 he was not committed to the principle
 of free raw material, but that he was
 committed to the principle of a down
 ward revision of the tariff, which he had promised, and that he was obl1g-
 ed to look at the matter, not from the standpoint of any particular district,
 but from the standpoint Of the whole
 country and also from the standpoint of responsibility for the entire Repub-
 lican Party.
 .tHe said the question in each case was a question of fact, to be deter
 mined by evidence, as to whether the present duty was needed for protec-
 tion or whether the rate was exces- sive so that a downward revision, or putting the article on the free list, would not injure the industry.
 ,'sHe repeated the platform of the
 Republican Party and said that he had always understood that it meant a downward revision in many instan- ces, though perhaps in some few in stances an increase might 6e needed |; that he reached this construction of the platform on what he understood to be the principle of protection and | it's Justification, namely, that after an industry was protected by duty equal to the difference between the cost of production abroad and the | cost of production in this country, in cluding a fair profit to the manufac- turers, the energy and enterprise of lists, the effectiveness of American la- l bor and the ingenuity of American in- ventors under the impulse of compe- 1 tition behind the tariff wall would re- with the reduction and the cost of production, the tariff rate would be- come unnecessarily high and ought to
 be reduced.
 l / Wants Party Promises Kept. 'This was the normal operation of | the tariff as claimed by the defenders | of the protective system-not in every | case, but as a general tariff rule | that, of course, a. revision of the tar | if could not be perfect, must have de- fects and inconsistencies; but in SC ! far as his influence went when called upon to act in connection with leg 4 islation,s ,seit would be thrown in the di- I rection of performing the promises o1 | the party as he understood them, and | that if iron ore and coal and hides did not need protection, and the condi | tions were such as to enable the ore | producers and the oil producers and | the coal producers and the producers | of hides to compete successfully with out reduction of wages, with the pro. ducers from abroad, then they did not I need a duty, and their articles should go on the free list.
 'It was a question of fact which he
 hoped to make up his mind with res. I pect to on such evidence as was avail.
 able to him in order to carry out what
 the party to the whole people. He sai6
 he felt that his position as the titulal
 head of the Republican Party, and. a:
 President, with the whole people a:
 his constituency, gave him a some
 what broader point of view than sthat
 of a single member of Congress il
 respect to articles produced in his dis
 trict. He felt strongly the call of the
 country for downward revision
 within the, limitations of the protec
 tive principle, and he hoped to bt
 able to respond to that call as h,
 the party as of the. country
 l