The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-08-03

and a republican congress.
 have never been much interested in the debate over the technical pro- position that our promise was to re- wise the tariff downward. Beyond dispute, the people generally expect ed that 1t would be revised down. ward, because they knew that the du- ties were too high, and were greatly more than the difference between the cost of production here and elsewhere.
 The intent, as everybody will con cede. was that our manufacturers should be able to enter our markets ana sell their products at a fair price as against their foreign competitors; ana It was the further intent that grossly excessive profits growing out Of abnormal prices should be pre- vented by reducing the duties to a whenever our own manufacturers raised their prices above the level of fairness and decency
 I believe that ninety-nine republi- cans in every hundred desired re- vision that would keep the faith and accomplish the purpose. I believe that the president wanted to fulfill the promises of the party, and to
 make good his own declarations; but the leaders of both the house and the senate refused to recognize the party pledges; refused to be guided
 by the rule which had been announc- ed and forced through congress a tar attempting to ascertain, or of apply ing when ascertained, the standard which the party had established.
 The bill made many reductions and many increases-but the reductions were of little or no avail for they left the duties still far above the differ ence in cost of production, and fhA lecturers not only to charge existing prices. but to lift them still higher, and the increases were, in nearly every instance, not only without req son in fact, but without defense in debate. Some of us voted against the bill. and we make no apology for our votes.
 I, for one, refused to follow, and would refuse again to follow Aldrich. Hale, Lodge, Cannon, Payne and Da1- zell into sneering, contemptuous, open repudiation of my party plat form.
 It is not a republican measure, al- for the men who are chiefly responsi- ble for it thought more of swelling the overgrown fortunes of their inti- mate friends than they thought of the party principles, the party pledge, or the welfare of a long suffering people.
 It is said that 1t has stimulated business. It may be that it has, for the prize of enormous profits is exceedingly tempting.
 It is claimed that the average tax upon dutiable imports is something like one per centum less than under the Dingley act. This may or may not be so, for have learned to doubt the accuracy of tariff statements, but nf sta what superb showing it is. We have revised the tariff in response to an overpowered republican senti- ment, and have succeeded in taking off about one-forty-second of the av- craze imposition upon dutiable goods.
 The most important legislation of the last session of congress was the amendment to the interstate com merce law. The regulation of com mon carriers is altogether the most difficult undertaking upon which the government has entered.
 It would be an intricate and trying problem, even if the railway corpor- ations would cooperate with congress in the effort to enact the proper leg islation, but their cooperation is not to be expected. They will, in the future as they have in the past, re- sist every proposal to increase the eff fciency of the regulation and control already in our statutes. Their influ- ence exerted in a thousand ways and flowing in a thousand channels, is of tentimes hard to discover and always hard to overcome.
 Although the law was greatly strengthened in 1906 under the puis- sant and patriotic leadership of Theo- dore Roosevelt, the experience of four years demonstrated that the power of the interstate commerce commits sion should be materially enlarged, and we of the west, at any rate, felt that there should be some restriction upon common carrier corporations en- gagged in interstate traffic with re- spect to the issuance of stocks and bonds.
 The president assumed the initia- tive but unfortunately, as I view it, he delegated to the attorney general the task of preparing bill to be laid before congress. have no req son to doubt the honesty of the at torney general, but he had just come from long professional training and association which unitted him to deal wisely with this subject and there came from his hands into the house and senate a bill which, if it had passed, as Aldrich so emphati- cally declared it should pass, would have consigned the republican party to eternal disgrace and defeat.
 Contrary to our solemn promise in the platform it proposed to repeal the antitrust law with respect to traffic agreements among railways specify ing rates and charges, and to permit such agreements and the rates and charges made under them to go into effect without the approval of the in terstate commerce commission.
 It proposed to allow single judge to issue temporary injunction with out notice, restraining the interstate commerce commission from enforcing an order reducing rates and took away the right of appeal to the su- preme court from such an injunction.
 It is proposed to limit the period in which the commission could sus- pend changes in rates to sixty days, a period which everybody knew to be insufficient.
 It proposed to take away from the the power to establish through rates between steam railways and electric railways, thereby subject ing the latter to the arbitrary will of the former.
 It proposed to repeal the antitrust law with respect to the merger and of railways, and to sub stitute for it the unreviewab1e dis cretion of the commerce court exer- cised in an ex parte proceeding.
 It proposed, in effect. to validate the existing capitalization of railway and the regulation with regard to the future issuance of stocks and bonds was attended by series of exceptions which practically legalizes every known method of over |