The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-06-15
TOSS PLAYS TARIFF
Says Honest Revision Must Come
 From Democrats
PLEADS FOR EXTRA SESSION

Massachusetts Manufacturer Sounds F the Slogan "Free Wool and Cheap cIothins"-says People Have Lost Confidence In the Republican Party. Congressman Eugene N. Foss, the victor of Massachusetts, a leading manufacturer, by the way, and an ex- Republican whom the governments tariff policy has driven into the Dem- ocratic ranks, indicated his new posi- tion in a stirring speech delivered in the house on May 20. He said:
 Tt cannot be denied that the people have, rightly or wrongly, come to re- gard this whole revision scheme of the Republican party leaders as plan ned in the last national campaign and as promulgated in their platform and as finally butchered in the special tar- if session of congress as an intention al and deliberate bunko game from start to finish"
 Speaking of the appointment of a tariff commission to report as to the difference>in cost of production here and abroad, he insisted that the con- mission should report to congress and not to the president. He asked: "Why does the administration seem to be so solicitous that this commis- sion shall be absolutely under the con- trol of the executive, seeing that it is primarily intended for such legislative purposes? Is there an ulterior mo- tive?
 ''1f the commission is to be merely an executive instrument and report only to the president, how is congress to receive the information excepting as the president may elect to transmit 1t, and what is to prevent the execu- tive department from withholding or suppressing or coloring such informa- ton, as has more than once been done heretofore? Is there not an evident fear that the control of this commis- sion will too soon come into the hands of Democrat and reform congress?" In ominous tones that caught the attention of the house he continued: "I recognize that the people have lost confidence in the Republican party and that they are no longer looking to them for an honest revision. The people have turned to the Democratic party. Now the responsibility. of an honest revision of the tariff is up to the Dem ocratic party with the aid of the fn- surgent and such independent elements as will ally themselves with us." In voicing his demand for another special session to revise the tariff the speaker said: "The people demand that the revision and reduction of the tariff which were promised two years ago by the Republican party be carried out by the Democratic party as soon as the new congress can convene. The Dem ocratic party ought to raise the issue that there shall be an extra session convened next spring to do the work to which this congress has proved faithless. The people have made the immediate reduction of the tariff the issue, and the Democratic party must pledge itself in most distinct and specific way to carry out this course in order that the mandate shall be a compelling one. that the victory shall be so complete that the Republican ex- ecutive will be forced to acquiesce in It dQu call congress lOSeIueI
 Mr. Foss declared that the rallying cry should be made Free wool and cheap clothing" But the climax of his speech was hiss open declaration as a manufacturer that duties were unnecessary:
 "Now at this point it seems to de volve upon me as representative here in congress of this reform and as representative manufacturer in the iron and steel industry of New Eng land engaged in the production of important lines of machinery, employ ing large numbers of skilled workmen and using large quantities of the fin ished products of the steel trust, to state publicly here that, in my judg- ment, my industry and the people em- ployed in it would not suffer under free trade conditions-that is, if the 45 per cent duty was entirely removed and provided these conditions apply to the whole iron and steel industry from the coal and iron ore up. This statement is equally true of other sta pie industries. In fact, I believe today that under free trade conditions we can compete in the markets of the world in most if not all of these in-