The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1910-11-12
CIarIk and the House.

he Would 90 IN -u4As ERSu-'s'
clark and the House.
Now that the Hon. Champ Clark
has d last his longed-for House. Of
REPRESENTATIVE the New York
tribune wonders what he Will do
with IT Says the Tribune:
Senate remaining safely Repubzs
IIcan. the country win look to the
lower branch Of Congress for the
formulation and application OF Dem
Iocratic policies. Mr. Clark cannot
anord to remain inactive and nom
commfttal when he takes the reins
of leadership in his hands in De
cember, 1911, for a Presldential
campaign Will then be upon US. He
and his followers have argued that
the high cost of living is due to the
tariff. and they will naturally as
sumo that the country has accepted
their assurance. They must make
an effort to reduce the cost of liy-
ing by reducing the tariff duties or
stand convicted OF having obtained
Office under false pretences.
What course Will Mr.. Clark follow
under these circumstances? he has
two Democratic precedents to
choose firm. In the days OF Nor
rison and Mills, when the Democrats
controlled the House, but lacked a
majority in the Senate, those free
trade leaders regularly prepared
genraI tarin bills for the purpose OF
influencing public opinion Some OF
the bills were defeated in the House
Itself through the secession of Sam
uel ]. Randall and his semi-protsct-
EST associates, and some were passed
and side-tracked in the Senate. But
Messrs. Morrison, Carlisle and Mills
never shrank from proclaimtne
their faith and embodying it in
measures intended to show just how
far toward absolute free trade the
Democratic party was willing to 60
at any given juncture. Under the
Crisp-Springer regime from 1891 to
1893, while the House was also
Democratic and the Senate Republt-
can, the alternative plan OF passing
"pop-gun' bills was tried, the Dem
ocratic majority voting to remove
| the duties on certain selected arti-
cIes, like wool and coal. 1t rests
with Mr.. Clark, therefore, to deter
mine whether the tariff shall be re-
modelled as a whole for the purpose
LOT campaign exhibit. or whether II
shall be remodelled piecemeal.
The Democrats in the House voted
almost sondIy at the last session
against enlarging the powers Of the
present tariff board, and most OF
them took the position that such q
board was superauous and should
bs abolished. They exhibited little
sympathy with President Taft's pro-
gram of revision in detail in the
light OF accurate information re
garding the diRerentfal in cost OF
production here and abroad. The
average Democrat has little use for
such information, because he doesn
care much what the differences In
cost of production may be. and
wants to have revenue duties levied
on articles of consumption. The
Taft administration will probably
be prepared by December, 1911, to
recommend changes in several
schedules based on a scientific in
vestigation of production values.
Mr.. Clark will have to meet that
challenge and show the country
where he stands, eitheE by attempt
ing to modify the administration
suggestions or to oppose them with
general bill of the Morrison and
Mills pattern. It is fortunate that
the prospective speaker is states
man Of pronounced convictions and
We are contiden
that 1t will not be his fault If the
voters do not know before the Pres
idential election of 1912 what a
Democratic revision of the tariff
would mean. They can vote with
full appreciation of the conse-
quences of turning over the Senate
and the Presidency to the Democ-