East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-04-05
BEvERIDGE ON THE TARIFF.
Continued from page IL

a tariff commission which 1 wrote in
to the bill thai passed the senate;
but all save one of the democratic
senator's were the enemies of any
tariff commission then. and are its
enemies now.
There are examples. l was against
them them am against them now.
Compromise on purely economic de-
tails is often wise; but compromise
with sheer injustice is always wrong.
THE making of a tariff, so long as
moderation justice are followed,
is an economic question, but the mo-
ticed the making of a tariff becomes
also a moral question.
The fight last year was a national
fight, and who bore the battle? I
want the people of Indiana to know
that all the real fighting that was
done for justice in tariff schedules
was done by the republicans and not
by the democrats. The democrats
voted against the bill. I voted against
excess and for protection. I voted
against the interests and for the peo-
pie. I voted and fought for the genu-
inc republicanism of Lincoln, the
founder of our faith; the moral, the
father of our tariff; of Garfield, the
interpreter of our principles; of Nc
Kinley, the apostle of projections; Of
Roosevelt, the soldier Of righteous
ness.
Assuming that honest differences
of opinion eXist-and they do; giving
to them upright men who voted for
the law as a whole. with credit for the
sincerity that 1 claim for myself,
what is the way out of the difficulty?
Surely not to turn the government
over to that grotesque band of politi-
clans in public life n who want to
get into public life, misnamed the
democratic party.
Where, then. lies the plain rem
edy? In a tariff commission"
Tariff Bill a Mockery.
Senator Beveridge, speaking of
what he designated 1.-The ~so-called tar
iff bill, said:
when 1 introduced the tariff COM
mission bill three years ago 1 said it
had no friends in congress. Today a
large majority of republicans are for
it and even one democrat has seen
the result. But at the beginning Of
the last session it had only a few
friends in congress. Therefore I felt
that it was impossible to get a full
fledged tariff commission enacted in
to law; and so 1 acted on the theory
of getting the best l could. Mine was
a fatal faith. For what was the re-
suit? 1 drew the provision authoriz-
ing the president to appoint persons
with full power to make tariff inves-
legations under his direction. Senator
Aldrch would not agree to all of it.
He struck out or changed vital Ian
guage. Yet what remained of my pro-
vision gave to these persons broad
powers to gather necessary facts to
aid congress in tariff legislation. In
this form it passed the senate.
But the conference commission
struck absolutely every word CIV
ing these persons any powers to in
vestigate and collect the facts, leav-
ing to the president nothing but the
authority to employ persons to assist
them in the administration of maxi
mum and minimum sections of the
law.
I'VE asked for a reality of the law
they gave us a mockery. We asked fol-
power, they gave US palsy. We ask
ed for bread; they gave US a stone
Such a makeshift will not answer the
needs of American businessmen, pro.
ducers and consumers"