The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-10
The Triumph Of Reaction.

New fork Times .. g. House of Representatives now have the power to put through the tariff bill with no changes of any importance. and that the changes that will be Ear, the progress of the bin. from the moment the ways and means commit tee took it in hand to the present, has been triumph of reaction. We hate to say it. but it Is also a triumph Of
 The discussion of the bill in the press has been exceedingly vigorous. Painstakine: and conclusive; More
 of the tarin. the facts have been care fully analysed, the tricky complexities of the. text of the bill have been dis defects have been laid bare. If the debate in the House, during the. ab- surd1y short time allowed. has been confused, scrappy. and without definite it. The public interest never received SC many proofs of acute attention to the articles on our editorial page de- voted to the tariff as in the last month. of the majority in the Honsc of Rep been similar awak snisss of sentiment in diitsrent sections of the country ev- talns. The managers in the House. and. House. have been apparently indiner. snt. Even the opposition party has as the Republican organization or to agree on any distinct improvement In the utterly bad provisions of the bill. by the leaders to secure the swift pas sage of the tariff bill have been In the interest of reactionaries, to make the burden of taxation heavier rather than | lighter, and to make the further bur den of the profits of protected indus tries also heavier. It Is impossible to deny that, so far. the pledge of the Re publican Party has been cynica1ly stage. has been up and not down. And
 this has been accomplished by trtckery
 that would shame a shyster lawyer.
 scattered in different parts of the bill,
 where only their beneficiaries could | find them. Duties have been raised by 1 intricate changes in the basis of as-
 ule. Duties already high. as in the
 case of women's and children's gloves
 have been made practically prohibitory
 in order to secure the same monopoly | gloves. Duties have been raised, as in
 c large part of the woolen schedule, | by an elaborate device of varying tax
 simply impossible for American buy. CTS to get pound or yard of real woolen gods for their wearing, And | back Of all these complex and ingen- iOus tricks and devices is stretched th (
 vast dragnet of the maximum duties l to catch substantially all the goods that may have escaped the rest of tha
 bill.
 The most regrettabIe and most
 abomnible feature of the bill. as 1t now stands on the eve of its passage by the House of Representatives, Is that il | lets of the rioh comparatively easy
 and puts a heavier burden on the weary backs of the poor. Why? Be cause greed. like any other force acts along the line of least resistance. The
 poor are numerous enough. in all con | science, but they are relatively help | less, they are unorgani8ed; they have
 no lobby in Washington; they can con | tribute nothing to campaign funds ! they are dumb. Worst of all, thank | t0 the calculated obscurity of the tariff bill. and the indirect operation of ttl | oppressive provisions, they are for the most part kept ignorant of iti