The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-07-18
SENATORS SEEKING COVER.

time or their handling of the tariff
schedules, the idea of revising the tariff
downward was treated with the utmost
scorn and contempt. Senator Hcybu
Of Idaho discussing the Taft idea of
this, said on the floor of the Senate, on
June Sth:
This talk of being under obligation to re-
lNlsc the tarin downward came from some :
where; do not know from where; from
some political. was going so say swamp,
IKE n miasmas 1t was a con-
in confidence TO the voters whose support
they thought they had 10 have, ="
| There is nothing In the platform OF the
| Republican party which requires us as
suggested by the Senator from Iowa TO
| make any concession, because some one
or many may have promised Il revision
! downward,
And that seemed to be the idea up
on which the Aldrich gang operated all
through. They were not under anv obli.
cations to revise the tariff downward; ;
not they; they would revise it TO suit
themselves, and whether the revision
was upward or downward, they would
carry out their own ideas either up or
down, without respect to any assumed
pledges or any idea that they we're
| pledged to anything so far as that was
concerned.
Now, however, all at once tbey seem
to feel the force of the country s ay-
pectations that the tariff was TO h.,
revised downward. and they arc MAX
ing diligent, even frantic. protestalions
that in fact, the tariff revision they
made is downward. No one of the
really able men of the committee, how
ever, appears engaged in this forlurn
hope; none but Smoot, who has no rcpu-
tation Of this kind TO lose, would risk
his reputation on any such proposition
as this. The Bureau of Statistics of
the Department of Commerce and
Labor, gave out an analysis Of the prac.
tical effect of the Senate tariff bin,
and that result was on consideration of
the whole schedule, including the free
list, the conclusion being that there
was an average revision upward of 565
per cent. Smoot undertakes to assail
this analysis of the Bureau of Stats
tics, and ne and his special boosters
here arc stupidity undertaking TO MAKE
1T appear that the question whether the
tariff revision has been upward or
downward, is simply an issue between
Smoot and Senator LaFollette Even
so, Smoot would be decidedly Mt disad-
vantage. But the fact is, that Senator
LaFollette simply presented the analy-
sis made by the experts of the Bureau
81 St,T .
the time he presented the figures, So
that there is no chance for any honest
claim that it was merely an issue be
tween those two men. If 1t were, |
Smoot would be the one 10 suffer. AL
IT is. he is distanccd in his computa
experts arc the best in the country, |
and know all the time precisely what
they are talking about. 1t would be
impossible TO conceive an erroneous
statement given ont by the Bureau Of
Statistics on such a matter as this.
The fact is that il is Just as accurate |
as the multiplication table, this being |
a case solely Of mathematics and com |
7 Iutation. and there is no more oppor
tunity for a mistake than in any other
case Of accurate mathematics. Smoot |
to assai the Bureau experts |
by iumblng up partial statements from
different years since the DingIey bill |
WAS enacted, and tops all his absurdity
with the claim that tho experts Of the
Bureau of Statistics failed 10 include
the free list in their computations. Such
nonsense is not worthy of any consd
Grafton at all
But what is it that has changed the
position Of the Aldrich clique on tins
main question? Why is it that they
are now so solcitous about showing
that their revision was downward,
when, during the time they were max
ing that revision, they were so openly
of any suggestion that
the revision should be downward1 Their
revision was not downward, and they
know it; they didn Z intend it to be.
Their revision was upward. and they are
we'll aware Of it. They were lust as
well aware Of it before the Bureau Of
figured it out for them as
they are aware of it now. What has
made the change in the Senate IS atti-
tude in this respect? Simply that
President Taft insists that recognition
shall be given to his campaign pledges
that the Republican National platform
promised that a revision would be
made, and that this revision would be
downward. That is all there is to il.
They have found out now that it is
not from any miasmatic swamp that
these promises Of revision downward
,ame. but from the substantial
Of President Taft, and it
makes mighty big difference to the
Aldrich clique whether they arc
brought up with a round turn or not
During all the proceedings of the re-
vision of the tariff in the Senate. Aid .
rich simply cracked his whip, and
pushed his points through by brute
force and strength, with majority of
the votes. Neither he nor any of his