New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-25


Tho iauntv confidence OF the Demo-
cratic Insurgent leaders i'm Congress tDat
they could put President Taft IN, Il
hole" by sending him any old rupblsu
in the shape of revised tariff schedules
Is not shared in an equal degree by the
Democratic and InsurSent Repupilcah
rress. We reprinted a few days ago
significant editorial from THE Brooklyn
Eagle" which dissentcd entirely from
the view that the President was re-
quired TO approve on faith any tarir
legislation presented to him, no matter
what its obvious absurdities. or else
stand convicted Of being an "anti-reVi-
sionist." THE Eagle frankly con-
fessed:
II Is the sheerest perversity Of Demo
cratic fate that at the eleventh hour OF
session characterized by management al
most brilliant such vulnerable measures
should be sent to the White House. The
vetocs they provoked were not Repup-
Hcan. They were not written by par
tisan. The bills were literally Impossible
of acceptance.
Mr.. Underwood may declare with sur
face assurance, as he did on Wednes-
day night 10 the National Italian Demo
cratic League in this city, that the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT coalition sent 10
the President five great bills, express
ing our views as 10 what the tarlt
should be in the interest of the Amer
lean people" But he knows at heart
that these five great bills"-one at
least Of which lie never saw until it was
presented In the Senate as the handi-
work of an unnamed Treasury clerk
represented only the supposed necessities
Of politicians juggling with the tarih
for partisan advantage. and could not
from the very nature Of the process by
which they were hammered into shape
have taken into serious account "the IN
terests Of the American people
Most Democrats realize this, and some
are candid enough TO admit 1t. "The
New Orleans Picayune" said the other
day that the tariff legislation under
taken by the coalition was mainly for
political effect" ana added: president
Taft has taken the proper stand that
"the tariff should not be disturbed eX-
"cept after exhaustive Investigation of
leach and every item 10y the Tariff Com
mission" "rhe Cleveland Plain Deal
er" favored the wool bill because 1t be-
lieved that It had been worked ont with
IL, oil, Ip,1la fhqn
Of the others. but it condemned the eyre
eious Farmers Free List bill as hap
hazard and unthinking" and said last
week Of the cotton, iron and steel and
chemicals bill:
II the free list bill was ineXcusable the
So called cotton measure is even more so.
To the cotton revision has now been
tackled iron aud steel, chemicals and ma
Chiuery. There was reason to doubt the
wisdom Of this bill as originally framed;
it is completely condemned by its later
principle Of sound tariff revision. It's
Inevitable veto will be welcomed.
Even "The Evening Post Of this
city, admitted the other day that the
President was able to show that the
attempted revision Of the chemical
schedule was "a very sloyenly piece Of
legislation" and condemned the attach
ment Of that schedule TO the cotton bill
as obviously a mistake
It is worth while adding a quotation
from one of the leading Progressive Re
publican newspapers Of the Northwest,
"rhe Des Moines Register and Leader"
which heartily fayOrs rational down
ward revision, but cannot approve the
reckless, slap-dash methods by which
the La Follette-Underwood coalition
bills were thrown together. II said:
In his veto Of the wool hill he 1.-THE
President is bound TO he justified by
Republicans. who believed that when the
leaders Of the party talked Of abandoning
the old system Of log rolling, and trades,
and compromises and political jockeying
IN revising the tariff they really meant IT,.
The effort Of President Taft TO put re-
vision Of the tariff schedules on an in
telligcnt business basis viii be approved
by the people. who arc bound to admire
courage and consistency and whose in
tcrcSt lies in the correct determination
Of the right tariff rates. to discover which
the Republican party is pledged.
The sharper the issue is made be-
tween the President and the coalition
in Congress the more general viii the
conviction be that he protected the
countrys interests by his vetoes Of loose
ard dangerous legislation