The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1909-11-05
CARRIES OUT THE
PARTY PLEDGE.
1t Was a Protective Tariff that
~Jhe People Voted for
Last November.

The things which Mr.. Taft said in
his speech in Winona about the Tariff
are just what ought TO have been ex-
pected but he said them with little
more emphasis and decisiveness than
had been looked for. When he sign
ed the bill he said that 1t did not
suit him in every particular, but he
declared that it was the best bill
which could be obtained from Congress
and after therefore ought to be placed
on the statue book. At Winona he
cited one or two items to which he
objected, particularly some portions
of the whole schedule, but \ he did
not believe that the duties would in
crease the prices of wollen clothes.
By the use of table which had been
prepared by the Ways and Means Com
mittee he pointed out that the general
direction of the changes in the Tariff
was downward. The decrease in the
duties touch goods which in the pre-
vious year, were imported to the ex-
tent of $4,674, 900, 900, while the in
creases in duties affected imports of
more than four times the ex-
tent of the expansions After looking
at the measure calmly in the five
weeks which have passed since it's
enactment, Mr.. Taft declares that he
believes it to be the best Tariff which
the Republican party ever passed, and
therefore the best which the country
has ever seen.
After all the uncertainty which the
country had between the Republican
promise of revision in June, 1908, and
the enactment of that revision In Au-
gust, 1909, industry is entitled to a
rest for a few years from further
Tariff alterations. Let us give the new
law a fair test before we think of
making changes in it. No test can be
fair unless 1t extends through several
years.
Business responded to the enact
ment of the Payne law by making
long step forward, and there has
been a steady advance ever since. If
there were serious belief of further
changes in the schedules in the session
this year, or in the session which ope
a year later, the advance would be
checked, and that trade activity which
the country wants, and which promises
TO apear before the end of 1909, would
be postponed.
AS it stands, the new law may be
said to carry out the pledge OF the
platform of 1908, 1t was a protective
Tariff that the people, by a plurality
/ ESQ, 900, voted for last November.
That is the sort of a Tariff which has
been placed on the books. II the
people had wanted a Tariff without
any protection in it they would have
elected Mr.. Bryan and a Democratic
House of Representatives.
Mr.. Bryan says his party will make
the Tariff an issue in the campaign
of 1910, but he Is mistaken. He him
self may talk about 1t, but as his
party split on that question near the
middle of Congress, and there is
feud upon it between Messrs Bailey
and Bryan now, with Messrs. Stone
Daniel McEnery and many other Dem
ocrats supporting Bailey, the Democ,
racy can make no fight in 1910 or
1912 on the Tariff unless it is
fight in it's own ranks. The party I'M
less it is a fight in its own ranks.
The party unity to which small diff
ferences of opinion must conform
demands that the Republican line be
kept intact in the campaign which is
only a year ahead of us. The country
credit and prosperity depend on the
election of Republican House of Re
publicans in 1910. Many live issues
are before the country and the Repub
lican party is the only organization
which is capable of dealing with thos
questions courageously and intelligent
ly.-St. Louis "Globe-Democrat."