The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-09-06

Material Issue and Not a Moral
 Issue.
 Sioux Falls. Sept. 3.-Whenever men just like ourselves-probablyn not much better and certainly no worse-con- tinually fail to give us the results we have right to expect from their efforts we may just as well make our minds that the fault lies not in their personality. but in the conditions under which they work, 8nd profit comes not from denouncing them, but in seeipg that the conditions are changed 6
 This is especially true of tar'n mak- ing. It has been conclusively shown by experiments repeated again and again that the methods of tariff mak- ing by congress which have now ob- tained for so many years cannot from the very nature of the case bring real ly satisfactory results.
 I think that the present tariff is bet ter than the last and considerably bet ter than the one before the last, but it has certainly failed to give general satisfaction. I believe this country is fully committed to the principle of protection. but it is to protection as a principle. to protection primarily in the interest of the standard of living Of the American woFkingman.
 I believe that when protection be comes not a principle, but privilege and a preference-or, rather, tumble of privileges and preferences-then the American people disappPove of it. Now, to correct the trouble it is neces- sary in the first place to get in mind clearly what, we want and in the next place to get in mind clearly the meth cd by which we hope to obtain what we want.
 What we want is a square deal in the tariff as in everything else-a square deal for the wage earneP a squaBe deal for the employer and a square deal for the general public. To obtain 1t we must have a thorough 1y efficient and well equipped tariff commission.
 The tariff ought to be a material issue and not moral issue. But if instead of a square deal we get crooked deal then it becomes very emphatcally a moral issue. What we desire in a tariH is such measure of pEotection as
 
 here and abroad, and as the cost of production is mainly labor cost this means primarily 8 tariff sufficient to make up for the difference in labor cost here and abroad.
 The American public wants the American laboring man put on an equality with otIsr citizens, so that he shall have the ability to achieve the American standard of living and the capacity to enjoy it, and to do this we must see that his wages are not lower ed by improper competition with in ferior wagewoPkers abroad = with wageworkers who are paid poorly and who live as no Americans are willing to live But the American public does not wish to see the tarif so arranged as to benefit primarily a few wealthy men.
 Commission of Experts.
 As a means toward the attainment of it's end in view we have as yet de- Nised nothing in any way as effective as tariff commission. There should be commission of well paid experts. men who should not represent any in- dustry, who should be masters of their subjects, of the very highest charac- ter and who should approach the mat ter with absolute disregard of every outside consideration.
 These men should takeAup in success sion each subject with which the tariff deals and investigate the conditions of production here and abroad. They should find out the facts and not mere ly accept the statements of interested parties, and, they should report to con gress on each subject as soon as that subject has been covered.
 Then action can be taken at once on the particular subject concerned. while the commission Immediately proceeds to investigate another. By these means log rolling would be avoided and each subject treated on it's merits, while there would be no such shock to gen eral industry as is implied in the pSes- ent custom of making sweeping changes in the whole tariff at once.
 The same principle of 8 first class outside commission should be applied to river and harbor legislation. At present river and harbor bill, like tariff bill, tends to be settled by a squabble among a lot of big selfish Interests and little selfish interests. with scant regard to the one really vital interest, that of the general pub lie
 In this matter the national 1egisla- lure would do well to profit by the ex- ample of Massachusetts. Formerly dealt with it's land and harbor legislation just as at Washing ton tariff and river and harbor laws have been dealt with, and there were just the same pulling and hauling. the same bargaining and log rolling, the same subordination of the general in terest to various special interests