Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-08-11
THE PAYNE TARIFF BILL.

Senator McCumber APPLY said in
his address before the senate on the
adoption of the conference report
on the Payne tariff bill, that much
transformation had gone abroad
with regard to the provisions of the
bill. 1t is safe to say that a great
many of the critics of the bill among
the newspaper editors of this state
have not studied or made themselves
familiar with the provisions of the
bill at all, but have taken their cues
from larger newspapers and have
permitted their prejudices against
the senators from this state to lead
them into all kinds of mistaken crit
icisms They have taken advantage
of a popular wave of sentiment to
do an injustice to the representa-
tives of this state who voted for the
bill, and are I. satisfied they have
created a false impression to their
injury, irrespective Of the justice Of
their criticisms.
The Payne tariff bill is not an
ideal tariff bill. Indeed, there is no
standard in this country for an ideal
tariff that is practicable, and to
which majority of any party could
be rallied.
This is big and broad country,
and has diverse and various inter-
ests. What is beneficial to one Sec
ton Of the country may not pc held
baneficial to another. No senator or
representative from a state is likely
tosvote squarely against the COM
mercial and industrial interests of
his state.
An instance Of the difficulties of
making a tariff might be cited in the
grain and agricultural products
which this state raises and in which
il. is most interested. It might be
for the benefit of millions Of people
If the price of wheat were reduced
and bread made cheaper. 1t would
certainly be to the interest of the
millions who eat bread but do not
raise it. But, for the sake of keep
ing the price of our agricultural pro-
ducts firm and insuring a fair re-
turn to the farmer for his labor, the
tariffs are retained upon these pro-
ducts. It is retained on the theory
that if the farmer prospers he will
buy more Of the goods of]the manu-
facturer,, and thus contribute share
of his prosperity to the wage work.
ers. And so the tariff is adjusted
through it's various schedules, where
the protective principles enters. AS
President Taft has said, the republi-
can party did not promise free
trade tariff. 1t promised a revision
of the tariff downward. A study of
the schedules, and especially with
reference to those articles that enter
into the building and development
Of a new state, will show that the
promises of the party have beel
kept.
The revision Of a tariff bill IS al
ways the occasion OF. a struggle with
In the :Arks Of the party dominant
in congress It was true at the :ime
of the passage Of democratic
tariff bill, and it is likely that it al
ways will b. tue Of tag legislation.
Some of the so-called rep II ican SEN
ators have :ought the tariff, legisla-
ton proposed from the beginning.
They sto-d cut against anything that
was proposed, they could hear of no
compromises, and they finally voted
against the IT'LL.
+ TO have defeated tariff legislation
at this session would have been to
leave the Dingley law in effect and
to nullify the reductions that the
Payne bill has made. It would have
meant also the defeat Of the repub-
lican party in many doubtful states,
and the likelihood Of democratic
congress to give us such tariff as
we had when the democrats were in
\ power before. The stagnation of in
dustry, the reduction of prices, the:
condition Of the Industrial world at
that time Is well remembered. We
take Il the farmers Of this state do