Norwich bulletin., 1909-09-18
Taft Defends
 Payne Tariff Bill
IN A SPEECH LAST NIGHT AT
 WINoNA, MINN.
BEST TARIFF MEASURE
Ever Passed by Republican Congress Best Tariff Bill the People Have Ever Known.

most important utterance he has made
 since his occupancy of the White
 house. President Taft here tonight. ir
 a state which is the hotbed of the
 lnsurgent' movement within the re.
 publican party, defended the Payne
 tariff bill as the best tariff meas,,rf
 ever passed by republican congress ! ana hence the best tariff bill the peo- pie have ever known
 The president boldly asserted that
 the Insurgents" who voted against
 the bill had abandoned the republican | party. | Was it the duty. of. the members
 of congress who believed flat the bill
 did not accomplish everything that it
 ought to accomplish, to vote against | It.! asked the president
 am here to justify those who an-
 sWer this question in the, negative. I
 am not here to defend those who voted
 Tor the Payne bill, but to support | them.'
 Crowd Responded with Cheers. To this statement, the crowd in the l Winona opera house responded with
 cheer which could be heard far
 uoWn the street. It tas shouted by the adherents of Representative Taw-
 ney of this distric., the chairman of the house committee on appropria- tions, who had been on the defensive ever since the adjournment of con gress because he did not vote with
 the other members of the delegation from Minnesota, both in the house and senate against the bill.
 Mfr. Tawney met the president at
 Lacrosse, Wis, this afternoon, and accompanied him to this city. his home town. It had been reported for some time that the president intended defending Mr. Tawney for his party regularity, but there was nothing to predict that the president would go so far as he did tonight in character izing the position taken by the @in- surgent' senators and representatives. The president had met Senator La Toilette of Wisconsin, one of the lead CTS of the i1surgent" movement at Milwaukee during the forenoon. and had greeted him cordially.
 A Question for Each Man to Settle for
 Himself.
 "To make party government effec- tive,'' said the president tonight, "the members of that party should surren- der their personal predelfction of com- parative less importance. I am not here to criticise those who felt so strongly and believed so intensely that 1t was their duty to vote against the tarfff bill because it did not contain dAA tACJ thOBSHI 1t SuOuiu. r-.4
 Tt was a question fc< each. man to settle for himself. In matters of this kind it is question with the party representative whether he shall help maintain the party solidarity for ac- com fishing it's chief purposes or whether the departure from princi- pie in the bill, as he regards it, is so extreme that he must in conscience abandon the party"
 
 "A Final Word to the "lnsurgents."
 Further along. the president gave a final word to the insurgents" q am glad to see that those who voted against the bill still insist that they are republicans and that they intend to keep up the fight for still lower tariff rates within the party. That is their right and in view of things, is their duty.
 T have to say in respect to MT. Tawney's action in voting for the bill and my action in signing it. is that believed that the interests of the country, the interests of the party. re- quiTed me to sacrifice the accomplish ment of certain things in the revisionI of the tariff which had hoped for in 1 order to maintain party solidarity, 1 which l believe to be much more inn | portant than the reduction of rates in | one or two schedules of the tariff"
 Remarkably Plain Spoken Defense.
 President Taft's speech was a re- markedly plain spoken defense of the1 Payne bill. He has been met with | many queries since the beginning of | his trip as to when he intended talk ing up the subject of the tariff and | -heer was marked disappointment in | Chicago yesterday among those who had the reception of the president in | . 1o hot Io here on this most important subject
 MT. Taft waited until this afternoon | when with mass of facts and figures before him, with a new statement just by Chairman Payne of the house committee on ways and means lnd with his own personal knowledge If all the intimate details of the tariff lght in Washington still fresh in his hind, he sat down in a state room in ] lis private car and dictated to two tenographers the speech he delivered onight which represents a statement # the accomplishments and demerits # the Payne bill from an administra- ion point of view more thorough in ts simple appeal for an understand ng by the people. than any document nat has heretofore been issued from my source.
 low the Measure of the Bill Should
 Be aken. 4 The statement contained only enough lgures to make clear a point which he president has dwelt upon for some ime in his confidential talks. that the measure of the bill should be taken by1 he amount of reductions made on ar icles of general consumption com ared with the increases on articles title used. The president, by means of table prepared at his request by MT 1 'ayne, showed that the tariff had been 1creased on articles whose consump- lon in this country amounts yearly to 651, 100000 and that of this amount 379, ,000,0e0 is represented by such 1xuries as silks. wines, liquors. per lmes and pomades. leaving a balance $272,000,000 representing increases | n articles not 1uxuries Against thisi he president. with great emphasis in Is delivery, set the fact that the tariff ad been reduced on articles, mostly ecessities,J the consumption of which l this country amounts annually to 1 ve billions of dollars.
 Presnent Goes Into Details. The president went into the details every schedule of the tariff bill. l yelling especially on the schedules 'hicb were the subject of the great Fl !. st fight and which developed more ( trongly the -.'insurgent' movement As to the wooden syhedule MT. Taft i eclared without hesitation or eauiv- cation that the rates of the Payne i'll were too high. It was found early , ] the fight. however, he asserted. nat the wool and woolen manufac- ring interests in the republican par- ]; 2 were so strong that any attempt to | hange the Ding1ey rates would result | { ] defeat of the bill i
 T am sorry that this is so." said {