The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-07
CAUGHT ON A PIN-HooK.

Now that the corporation tax amend
ment has been passed by the senate, il
is said at the instance of the president,
the question naturally arises as to how
much Of the boost in the tariff rates
Mr.. Taft will stand. There is something
more than a suspicion abroad in the
land that the president has been
worked" by Mr.. AIdrich and the high
protective tariff wing Of the Republican
party. BY allowing the executive to
come forward with the corporation tax
proposition he was given a personal in
terest in the tariff bill and furnished
with an excuse for affixing his sigma
ture TO that measure when it reaches
the White house.
This is not primarily a Democratic
view of the situation. The Republicans
who pinned their faith to the Chicago
platform and believed the prediction
statements Of Mr.. Taft on the stump
are now harassed by doubts and fears
as to the outcome. The New York
Globe, a stalwart Republican organ,
takes this view of the tie-up between
the president and the cha 'rman of the
finance committee:
But Senator AIdrich found his bene-
ficient work menaced in two directions.
A private canvass OF the senate revealed
that majority was in favor of an in
come tax. Senator Aldrich feared that If
Il were adopted and II were upheld by the
supreme court that It would be a means
of raising revenue so popular that a basis
would be laid for lowering duties. So he
was against the income tax as a bar to
the kind of protection he wants. He also
had reason to suspect that the president
might not sign his tariff schedules. How
was it possible by one stroke to beat the
income takers and SO commit the pres
ident that he would sign the Aldrich tar
if bill? He hit on a plan. It was the
corporation tax, relied on to split the in
come takers and to be bait attractive
enough to induce the president to accept
the tariff bill to which il was attached.
So far the plan of campaign has worked
well Senator Aidrich has added TO his
laurels as an adrCit manager. With the
hot weather aiding him By discouraging
debate he hopes to be able to be through
before the end Of the month, and all very
good.
A fanatic concerning his species of pro-
lection. senator Aldrich would be quite
capable of sacrificing the general bust
ness interests of the country If there was
no other way to guard the special in
terests that he has taken for his oil
entS- He has done so now and is not
ashamed. Better a > per cent tax on
corporation revenue, he says in effect
than abate the minutest fraction from the
100 per cent duties that he has ARA Daad
he doesn't like 10 make the choice. but
he has felt that ne must, and he has done
20 the more readily because convinced
mat the corporation tax is so bad that
II VIII be quickly repealed. The ONLY nm
solved fraction of the problem is as Ia
whether the president will stand hitched.
If he peeps arc md the carefully sd iueta,I
binders and DnTpefEeg yr-Har-a No 30.
taken he IS likely to snap the strap. and q
new situation viii be quickly created.
The understanding OF the Globe is
that Mr.. Taft has been cajoIed into q
position from which he viii find il diff
ficult TO escape, but at the same time
hope is expressed that he won't stand
hitched." The stand-pat Republicans
preferred a stamp tax for the purpose
OF replenishing the treasury after its
utter depletion by the Republican ad-
ministration, but they acquiesced I'm the
corporation tax idea for the burmese of
putting the president in a hole. and into
the hole he went. Whether he has the
moral courage to extricate himself re-
mains to be seen. His after-dInner
speech at Yale indicates that the Hgbt
Is beginning to break in upon him and
that he is beginning to chafe. Perhaps.
after carefully weighing the pros and
cons in the judicial mind he is popular
~ supposed TO possess. he will find a
preponderance Of evidence in favor of
the assertion that he has been BAN
boozled by MIR. Aldrich and act in ac-
However, at this particular stage Of the |
game the prospects for such action are
not fattering.