The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-17
TAFT STANDS PAT
The President Defines His Posi-
tion on the Tariff.
Says the Country Was Promised
Revision Downward.
HE WILL KEEP FAITH
With the People as Far as 1t Is
in His Power.
Pleaders For Special FaVors Get
HE WILL KEEP FAITH
Pleaders For Special Favors Get
Little Encouragement.

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emphatic declaration that he regarded
the Republican platform as meaning
and the sentiment of tho whole people
as demanding revision downward" >"
eclipsed in interest all minor and speci-
| fic details of the tariff struggle here
today.
The statement issued late in the day
after delegation of congressman had
appealed to the president for mainten-
ance or protection upon raw materials,
particularly iron ore. wool, hides, oil
ana lumber purported to be an outline
report of the discussion which took
place during the visit of the delegation
and especially of what the president
said to the visitors; but the very fact
| that such a statement was issued at all,
and in particular, the emphatic conclu-
sion of the remarks of the president
thus reiterated made it clear to all
who studied the pronouncement that
the president intended 1t virtually is
an ultimatum-
Many read into the statement barely
concealed threat on the part of the
president that if the bill reached him in
a form which he regarded as unfaith-
tul to the promises of his party and
dlsobedienee to the. sentiment of the
mass of the people he would veto it.
Few of the prominent members of
either house would discuss the state
ment for publication and most of the
LlIeranceS INTENDED Tor quotation were
OF a perfunctory character; but in con-
fdence many talked freely and some
of the conservatives very bitterly; some
Went so far as to say that the presi-
dents stand meant nothing less than
the defeat Of the bill. One man said :
Now the standpatters will become
the insurgents, the lines will all have
to be reformed and nobody can fore
cast the outcome"
Logic of the Game.
Those oh 4I,a1
view that the president had simply
made Il long foreseen move essential
to the logic of the game" and that it
would mean the speedy dissolution of
the opposition to the downward revis-
ion and the termination of the long
fight with the bill at last in the presi-
dents hands substantially as he has
all along intended it should be.
Increasingly, the White House state
ment is regarded as in some sort of an
informal message to congress at a criti-
cal Juncture, such as Mr.. Roosevelt Of
ten chose for many of his directly ad-
by the most bitter of the opposition
that by his attitude thus far of
"hands off, Mr.. Taft has attain
ed a position of enviable inde-
pendence, and that he has chosen an
advantageous moment when each house
of congress has fully discussed the !
question ard placed itself unmistaka- !
bly, on record, and their joint product |
is in the hands of a conference com
mittee to present his views not only /
generally to the people, but specifically |
to those who are in position to act
decisively on the subject matter.
The general feeling today was that !
the presidents pronOuncement would |
inevitably have a profound effect, not |
only Immediately on the conference |
committee, but in the time intervening |
before final vote in the two houses on |
those representing both wings, espe- |
cialIy of the Republican majority, |
~, gI,1fn -11yN
political future after they go home is
SO deeply involved in the outcome.
All Doubt Removed.
All doubt as to where President
Taft stands with regard to the down
ward revision of the tariff was swept
at the White House setting forth in
detail what the president had to say
to twenty-three Republican members
of congress who called to protest
free list. The president in this state
ment declared that the Republican
party is committed to downward re-
vision; that he has never had any 9TH |
er idea of the Chicago platform and
that he personally has promised
downward revision to the people. This
statement is interpreted IN some quar-
terS here as a direct notification to the
conferees on the tariff bill that if the
measure they finally agree upon does
not, constitute q material reduction in
specific duties the president will exer-
else his power of Veto
Dictated in the third person, the
statement concludes with this final
word of the presidents attitude as
outlined to his callers, He felt strong
ly tie call of the country for a down
ward revision within the limits of the
protective principle, and he hoped to
be able to respond to taht call as he
heard it, as well in the interests of the
party as of the country
Later the following official state
ment was made at the White House:
Mr. Young, Michigan. opposed
free ore; Mr.. Mondeu opposed free
coal or reciprocity with Canada and
free hides; each on ground that the
policy would injure the interests in
his state and discussion was par
tieipated in by other representatives
who urged that the doctrine of free
raw materials was not a Repu blican
doctrine.
Committed to Downward Revision.
THE president replied that he was
not committed to the principle of
free raw material, but he was
committed to the principle Of a
downward revision of the tariff
which he had promised and that he
was obliged to look at the matter
not from the standpoint of any par
tfcular district. but from the stand
point of the whole country and also | /
from the standpoint of responsibility ,
for the entire Republican party. He
said the question in each case was a
question of fact to be determined by
evidence. as to whether the present
duty was needed for protection or
whether the rate was excessive so
that downward revision or putting
the article on the free list. would in
lure the industry.
He repeated the platform Of the .