The National tribune., 1909-06-03
THEY ALL WANT TO KNOW,
Continued from page one.)

Bailey, of Texas, lately in a game of
hsticuTs with New York Times corre-
spondent, is also asking questions and
declaiming. Neither of them will down.
Each has following of inquisitive men.
who are constantly wanting to know
why thus and so. And this array of
interrogation marks now appears for
midable. The Democrats and Western
Republicans want to know the reasons
for every schedule, and when the rea-
sons have been given they enter upon
debate.
All this may be important from the
low tariff standpoint The considera-
politics. The campaign of 1910 is LOOM
ing ahead. 1t will be a preliminary to
the campaign of 1912 The big West
ern constituencies are rampant, so their
Senators and Representatives say. You
have now made your fight" say the
Senate regulars to the progressive"
Republicans. You have fought long
enough. so that your people cannot
help understanding that you have done
all you can do. What is the use? Every
time you let us have roll call you are
beaten by about the same old major
ity."
Getting a Lot of Information.
"Ah. but We are getting lot of in
formation" the Democrats and the
Western Republican Senators respond.
This is an educational campaign We
are conducting. Never before in all
the history of tariff bills, has Senate
debate yielded so much information
about the intricacies of a tariff. The
Finance Committee Senators are telling
us something new every hour that tne
Senate is in session. We propose 10
keep laundering away for WHILE All
zl.%s fNy h n Tll
paign for tariff revision we are going
to start anew one of these days. OF
course, we know that we cannot
change votes here IN the Senate. You
are too strongly organized for us. But
we are going to appeal to the people
We are gathering in this debate the
material for, our next combat
There is an element of truth in the
assertions on both sides. The debate,
long and tedious as it is. will probably
prove profitable to the country in the
long run. And it is well for the coun-
try to understand as much as possible
about the significance of important leg
islation that Congress is enacting. On
the other hand the business interests of
the country are clamoring for a set
tlement of the tariff question. Mer-
chants want to lay plans for their Fall
trade. The owners of factories want
to start up at full blast. New enter
prises, extensive Industrial improve
ments are under contemplation. The
banks are full of idle money. Bankers
want this surplus to be earning inter-
est. But first of all men engaged in
trade and industrial enterprises want
to know what the tariff rates are going
to be- A change here or there in the
tariff law might wipe out the profit of
an enterprise as at present organized.
The RuSinesS Cry
The business cry. however, does not
appeal to the opposition. You Re-
publican leaders are responsible" say
these oppositionsts You shall not
rush thru legislation here on that sort
Of an argument"
Then the Western country, from
which the Republican insurgents come,
is not an extensive manufacturing Sec
ton. Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Minne-
sofa. South Dakota. That comprises
about all the insurgent Senators. In
most of those States a big factory
would be almost as much of a curiosity
as modern battleship. And the COM
paratively few factories that those
States have are engaged in manufac-
lures that grow out of the agricultural
industry-the big flour mills of Minne-
apolis, for instance. And these big, impe-
rial States in the heart of the country
are protected from foreign competition
in their products by the great distances
from the seaboard, which means pro-
hibitive freight rates for incoming prod
ucts. Cotton goods, woolen goods,
boots and shoes and scores of manu-
factured articles that these imperial
States in the very center of the coun-
try use in quantities are made In the
great manufacturing States to the East.
Even the insurgents from Nebraska,
Kansas, South Dakota, and Minnesota
can be as nimble as anybody else in
piling bricks upon the tariff wall when
it helps them and their constituents.
All at once, the other day, Senators
Bristow, LaFollette. Nelson, Burkett
and others of the ultra Western PRO
gressive" group, wheeled out of the
Democratic column and caught step
with Aldrich, Hale, Lodge, Root, Pen
rose and other high tariff men. 1t was
a sight that will long be remembered.
Barley was the cause. The Senate FL
nance Committee had recommended a
duty of 80 cents a bushel on barley,
where the house voted "a cents. The
barley raising States said "a cents was
not enough. altho the House at the very
eleventh hour. had raised the rate.
Iowa does not produce barley and
| therefore the eloquent Dolliver and the
aggressive Cummins voted against the
increase. Nearly all the other insur-
4
the regular Republican ranks and
helped pile up the duty on barley.
BristOw Commended.
Senator Rristow has received a thou
sand letters of commentator since he
started his fight in the Senate for in
formation. That is enough to turn
the head of a new Senator. New men
have a hard row to hoe in the Senate
as rule. At first the Senate paid little
attention to the inquiring Bristow. The
hero of the Post Office Department in
vestigation knows how to hang on with
grim determination. He pursues to the
bitter end. He sat up nights to study
the white lead schedules. and then made
a speech. He read testimony to the
Senate. he asked questions about figures
and then the Senate voted against him
Undaunted he began sitting up nights
to study the sugar schedules. He trained
his inquiries upon the famous mo. 1G