Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1909-07-24
TlFT'S GREAT BATTLE.

battle in Washington.
Arrayed against him. bitter and
smooth, are all the great protected
interests of the greatest nation on
earth. Each has grown strong in
political power, and wealthy be-
yond the dreams of avarice.'' All
are ready to prove the disaster to
the common people that will be
brought about through a reduction
to tariff favors.
Lined up with him are the Peo-
pie - many OF them invertebrate,
some because they are built that
way, and others so on account of
their not taking the time to inform
themselves. A great number will
be loud in their condemnation of
the President should the revengeful
Interests by their power of manipu-
lation bring about depressed indus
trial conditions that they may point
q the President as the responsible
ian.
II takes courage to pursue a
curse which though right may re-
suit in suffering among a class OF
people wha can III affard the stress
of industrial battle brought on by
criminal Interests.
Since such tremendous issues are
at stake. the official statement is
sued from the White House after
conference with the President of
twenty-five Congressman advocating
a tariff on raw material, must be
reckoned as one of the historical
documents of Mr.. Taft's administra-
ton.
For this reason II is presented to
b Il lie t n readers in full. Spe-
cial attention is called to the third
paragraph, in which the President
states his understanding of what a
protective tariff Is:
"Mr. Young of Michigan opposed
rice ore; Mr.. Mondell opposed free
coal or reciprocity with Canada, and
free hides. each on the ground that
the policy would injure the interests
Of his state, and a discussion was
participated in by the other repre-
sentatives. who urged that the doc
trine of free raw material was not
Republican doctrine.
THE President replied that he
was not committed to the principle
of free raw material, but that he
was committed to the principle Of
a downward reduction Of the tariff
which he had promised, and that he
was obliged to look at the matter
not from the standpoint OF any par
! ticular district. but from the stand
point of the whole country. and also
from the standpoint of responsibility
! for the entire Republican party. He
said the question in each case was a
question of fact, to be determined by
evidence as to whether the rate was
excessive 80 that downward re-
vision or putting the article on the
free list would not injure the in
dustry.
"He repeated the platform of the
Republican party and said that he
had understood 1t meant n down
ward revision in many instances,
though perhaps In some few cases an
increase might be needed; that he
reached this construction Of the
platform on what he understood TO
be the principle of protection and its
justification. namely, that after an
industry was protected by a duty
equal to the difference between the
cost of production abroad and the
cost of production in this country,
including fair profit to the manu-
facturer. the energy and enterprise
of American business men and cap
italists. the effectiveness of Ameri-
can labor and the ingenuity Of
American inventors under the i'm
pulse of competition behind the tar
III wall would reduce the cost of
production, and that with reduction
of the cost of production the tariff
rate would become unnecessarily
high and ought to be reduced. This
was the normal operation Of the tar
In as claimed by the defenders of
the protective system-not In every
case, but as a general rule. That Of