The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-20
VIEWS
Senator Makes Severe Criticism
of President Taft.
Accusing Him of Error and Lack
of knowledge.

When asked for an expression on
the tariff speech by President Taft at
Winona, Mimi, Friday night, Senator
Bristow is quoted as saying:
The president in his speech on the
| tariff at Winona, Mimi, accepts the
Aldrich-Payne view of the new law.
His discussion of the schedules is prac-
J tically condensation of the statement
made by Mr.. Payne when the confer
! ence report was submitted to the
fouse. It even contains some of the
gross errors that Mr.. Payne made in
his hurried compilation of the esti-
mated results of the bill. For instance,
| the president repeats the statement
made by Payne that the increased du-
ties in the steel schedules were on
| articles the aggregate consumption of
| which in this country was only about
IL million dollars a year; while the
! records show that there was an in
| crease in the duty on structural steel
| equivalent to more than Sc ton, and
that, of this article alone more than
z6 million dollars worth is consumed
in the United States annually.
THAT is on one item in the steel
schedule upon which the duty was in
creased The consumption in this coun-
try is more than 26 million dollars, while
dent repeats in his speech, declares that
the entire increase on oil articles in
the steel schedule only covers a con-
sumption of IL millions.
This statement was made by Payne,
and six weeks afterwards repeated by
the president, when the latest statis-
tics printed by the conference commit
tee, on page SO, show that there are
il creases on articles in the steel sched-
ule OF Which the consumption in this
country aggregates $37,675,40S. There
are OTHER statements as glaringIy mac
curate- It is unfortunate that some of
the presidents advisors were not ssuf-
hciently Informed on the details of the
t,ll SO as to protect him from such
gross errcrs IN statements of fact
There was nothing especially new in
the presidents speech 1t is simply a
repetition of the arguments of Aid
rich, Lodge, Penrose. Smoot and the
other high tariff advocates in the SEN
ate.
1.-THE president states that the bill
is not what he desired in all of it's
as one instance in which the pledges
of the party were not fulfilled; but,
in summarizing, he decides that it is
the best tariff bill that the Republi-
can party has ever enacted. If the
president were not burdened with the
tremendous responsibilities and volu-
minous work which go with his great
office, and had had time to look him
self into the details of the alleged tar
iff revision, he would certainly not
have taken the view that he does.
There are other schedules in
which the pledges of the party are
just as grossly violated as they are in
the wooden schedules. In speech
delivered in the senate on the 2d day
of August, 1 gave my objections to
the bill. 1 stand by them now as
gave them. That was as clear, con-
servative and accurate analysis of
the provisions of the bill as 1 was
able to make, and nothing in the
presidents speech has caused me to
change my views in the slightest de-
gree. In my judgment the president
is in error if he expects the agitation
for tariff reform and the reduction of
excessive duties on trust-controlled
articles to stop. 1t will not stop I'M |
til the declarations made by the Re- |
publican party in the last campaign |
have been honestly and thoroughly |
fulfilled .-..--