The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1909-07-22
ANOTHER TARIFF CAMPAIGN.

Confronted with a party crisis, the
republican majority of the senate fail
ed to grasp the tariff nettle firmly.
The result is that the whole outfit
has been stung for it's timidity.
The senate, led by Aldrich, quite
mistook the temper of the country.
1t did not believe tariff revision was
so earnestly demanded. 1t listened
to the siren song of the %intrenched
ones-that tariff revision was only
a campaign cry, They were persuad-
ed that a little revision would suffice.
Pass a bill, they said. 1--WE will
take care of the result. Prosperity
and business will make the people
forget this populistic, free trade clam
or"
A majority of the senate was taken
in. 1t has passed a bill which, in the
face of party promises and in the
face of changed conditions, actually
raises many of the t~op-heavy Dingley
rates and reduces very few.
But the fatuous consels of the In
trenched Ones are bound this time to
fail. The have not taken into &C.
count the fact that the demand for
tariff revision was not mere clamor,
but a thoroughly reasoned out and
logical demand. Neither did they take
sufficiently into account that the peo-
pie know more about tariffs than they
ever did before. So the senate has
impaled itself on a bill which cannot
become a law without disorganizing
the party in the middle west.
The bill is not yet a law. 1t cannot
become a law without the votes of
the Mississippi valley in the house.
1t could not have passed the senate
if the republicans in the valley had
stood together. That they did not do
so is II of the mysteries of the tar
if debate. With such men as Nelson
and Clapp of Minnesota, Cummins
and Dolliver of Iowa, standing out
against bogus revision, how did it
happen that McCumber and Johnson
of North Dakota, Gamble of South Da-
kota, and others were found voting
for it? The weight of the Mississippi
valley senators was enough to sink
the Aldrich bill, if it had been APP
piled. But with a part of the valley
strength supporting it, the bill went
through.
A grave part of this responsibility
must rest with Senator McCumber of
North Dakota. His position on the
finance committee made him the nat
ural leader of his section. With a
strong insistence upon real revision
from McCumber, the valley senators
would have taken heart and might
have won out. Yet Senator McCum-
Der is chargeable with nothing more
than a mistake. He thought he was
doing his full duty, when he increased
the prohibitory tariff on wheat, which
was the bait Aldrich threw him. Hean-
while, he disregarded his mandate to
represent the on lumber;
when he got around to that, Aldrich
bowled him over. Had not McCumber
already been paid with an %unneces-
sary f%ive-cent increase in wheat tar
if? What more could he ask? Hence
McCumber voted to raise the shingle
duty twenty cents, which the farmer
will pay.
One lesson of this tariff debate is
that senators who represent merely
sections and industries are toe one
sided to be really useful. We need
some statesmen who can adjust the
tariff to the consumers ability to pay.
We have had too much tariff based
on the manufacturers eagerness to
grab.
The grab game in the Aldrich bill
has put the fat in the fire, where it
will fry through another campaign.
The bill which, it was hoped, would
quiet the tariff question for another
decade, has done just the opposite.
1t has assured an agitation which will
not cease until the %iniquities and in
| equalities of the system are done
away with. And this agitation will
- .N.Al.~. o,eno ~~c Op,boI
no, not even if the sacred system it.
self is brought under scrutiny.
This country can live without a
tariff. 1t cannot live without justice.
Minneapolis Journal.
Life 100000 Years Ago.