The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-09-08

ftainly would nsvsr 80 been presi-
ident. and when he added that he
felt under such Obligation to the
West that his best services would be
at the command of the western peo-
pie throughout his life.
During the dinner, Col. Roosevelt
discussed Speaker Cannon at length,
addressing his remarks to Congress
man Burke, who has been regularly
faithful to Cannon and who was made
chairman of the Indian affairs COM
mittee by Cannon. The ex-president
declared Aldrich and Cannon could
both perform a great service for the
republican party, Aldrich by resign
ing at once and Cannon by announc-
ing he would not be a candidate for
reelection as speaker.
AS he left the table. Col. Roose-
Welt shook the hands Of Congressman
Martin and Burke and said in a loud
voice, easily heard by many in the
room:
II have given q brief statement to
the press urging that all the republic
cans of South Dakota support loyal
ly the primary nominees. And l
think, Martin, you and Burke should
give out a statement at once saying
you will not again vote for Cannon
for speaker"
Ex-senator Kittredge was invited
to sit on the platform as Roosevelt
spoke and to attend the banquet, but
he was not present at either, although
he was in the city.
Col. Roosevelt, speaking at 5
O'Clock Saturday afternoon. said:
Whenever men just like ourselves
probably not much better, and GER
talnly no worse-continually fail to
give US the results we have a right
to expect from their efforts, We may
just as we'll make up our minds
that the fault lies, not in their per-
sonality, but in the conditions un-
der which they work, and profit
comes, not from denouncing them,
but in seeing that the conditions are
changed. This Is especially true Of
tarif-making. It has been conclu-
'sively shown. by experiments repeat
ed again and again. that the methods
of tarin-making by Congress, which
have now obtained for so many
years, cannot, from the very nature
of the case, bring really satisfactory
results. l think that the present
tariff is better than the last, and
considerably better than the one be-
fore the last; but it has certainly
failed to give general satisfaction. /
believe this country is fully commit
ted to the principle of protection;
but it is to protection as a principle;
to protection primarily in the inter-
ests of the standard of living of the
American workingman. l believe
that when protection becomes. not
a principle, but a privilege and a
preference-or, rather, a tumble of
privileges and preferences-then the
American people disapprove of it.
Now, to correct the trouble, it is nee
essary, in the first place, to get in
mind clearly what we want, and, in
the next place, to get in mind clear
lily the method by which we hope to
the wage-earner; a square deal for the
want Is a square deal in the tariff as
in everything else; a square deal for
the American standard of living and
employer; a square deal for the gen.
eral public. To- obtain it we must
have a thoroughly efficient and we'll
equipped tariff commission.
The tariff ought to be a material
issue and not a moral issue; but if
instead of a square deal we get a
crooked deal, then it becomes very
emphatically a moral issue. What
we desire in a tariff is such measure
of protection as will equalize the cost
of production here and abroad; and
as the cost Of production is mainly
labor cost, this means primarily a
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 other citizens, so that
he shall have the ability to achieve
the American standard of living nd
the capacity to enjoy 1t; and to do this
we must see that his wages are not
lowered by improper competition
with inferior wage-workers abroad
with wage-workers who are paid
poorly and who live as no Americans
are willing to live. But the Amer
lean public does not wish to see the
tariff 80 arranged IA to heneft nri.