Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1911-02-09
COMING TO A SHOWDOWN

- ANSoi'S AAiSi'No oSalhSU llC RIcNGut
tariff law. and in favor of au imme-
diate downward revision of the tariff.
This has been heard almost incess-
antly in South Dakota, and was en-
bodied III the last republican state
platform where immediate downward
revision was insisted upon. Presi
dent Taft has made move which
has almost taken the breath away
from these same progressives. He
has negotiated an agreement with
Canada which puts on the free list
many foodstuifs and much raw ma
terial and which in return widens the
American market i'll Canada. The
agreement meets to dot the noisy
demands of a lot of socalled pro-
gressives, and it comes up in a very
practical and non -dodgable way.
President Taft has made, in our
Judgment, the ten strike of his ad-
ministration, and lot of fine takers
on the question of tariff revision are
now invited to come out into the
open for showdown.
Already joint resolution of pro-
test has been introduced at Pierre
memorialiZing the South Dakota del
egation to vote against tariff revision
as accomplished through the Cana
dian agreement. Information from
Pierre is that many of those who
have most loudly denounced the
Payne Aldrich tariff law because it
did not revise the tariff enough are
now against the Canadian agreement
because it revises the tariff too much
and because forsooth it touches some
things which South Dakota produces!
These same people have howled loud
and lorg about the high cost of iiv-
ing, but the minute it is proposed to
reduce the price of something they
have to sell, their indignant protest
is recorded.
OF course an ideal tariff law would
be one which protected everything
that you have to sell, and which put
on the free list everything you have
to buy. But this arrangement,
though delightful, is not feasible.
There are ninety millions of people
in this republic and only six hundred
thousand of them live in South Da-
kota. 1t is just a bit too much to
ask that tariff law should be made
entirely satisfactory to the people of
South Dakota, but unsatisfactory to
many millions of people whose inter
ests are directly the opposite of
ours. The man who raises barley
wants it protected; the man who
buys barley wants it free; and it so
happens that there are more people
who buy barley than there are who
sell it.
The Canadian agreement would
give us the free importation of rough
lumber. 1t would give the free im-
portation OF wood pulp and certain
grades of print paper and thus would
help every man who builds house
and every man who publishes a news
paper in Sonth Dakota. Still the
progressive legislature of this state
after being elected to Office under a
platform demand for a lower tariff is
considering the adoption of /. resolu-
tion instructing its congressional
delegation to vote against the agree
ment. To do so would be to break a
material platform pledge ard to con-
fess that the factions demand was not
really for downward tariff revision
but simply in a captious spirit OF
criticism against Taft. We are
curious to see what the legislature is
going to do about it.
Soon after the presidents special
message was put before congress, il
was declared in Washington that
there was no chance to do anything
before the fourth Of March when the
present congress must adjourn
| Present reports are the other way
| The president s message has begun
TO soak in, and some of the word y
reformers are beginning to note that
the president has really put them ir
a tight corner. The vote against the
agreement is to repudiate their posi-.
| tion for downward revision; to vote
| for it is to give Taft big boost fol
1912; to delay beyond March fourth
| is to play into the hands Of the demo
Gratis. Hence it is that present re.
ports are not so pessim istic about
| the measure as was the talk only a
few days ago.
The republican party has long
talked much about reciprocity but
has steadily refused to do anything.
1t has declared for the policy of
Blaine and Mckinley, and many eio-
u1aut fiuuraS nf speanh hayo l,sa n