New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1911-02-18
THF ENTERPRISE
AND BSEIVER. Copsot,p.teD
THE TARIFF PROGRAM.

Our Republican friends arc pre-
| dieting that the ncmucra ic party
will split IN the next Congress. on
: similar lines t. the split II th"
| Republican party IN the present
Congress. But then. the Rrpuhll-
cans were free ~ predicting that
the caucus. held on the 10Th of
: January. would show the line Of
dnmarcatlnH, whereas It presented
solldlty which IS gratifying anl
full Of promise, The hope Of the
party and Of the country, IS III the
atrirt observance by the DomOcla-
Nc members of Congress. Of the
decision of a ma! orliy Of their
numbers We do not expect that
all members will agree on an maj
ters Of party policy. but the eoun
try has been immensely cneollr
aged by the disposition If Demo
cratic members Of the House to
abide firmly by the decision Of
he caucus. IN unity there IS
strength and the battle is more
than hsif wpp when members de
tintnWne to subofd,nata thGlr IN
dlyidual opinions and ambitions 10
n fairly arrived at decision Of -
majority Of their party colleagues.
Tariff Reduced 70 Revenue Basis.
The Congressional caucus seems
10 have been IN thorough accord
with the opinion Of Demno'ats
everywhere, on the essential gues-
,ion Of how far the tariff rpvsIon
is TO 60. how much there is f. be
Of projection. and how much thore
IL to be Of entire elimination "f
lax. Senator Bailey of one school,
and William j. Bryan Of another !
Champ Clark and Mr.. C,ayton Of
another. Governor Harmon Of still
another, Edward NJ, Shepard and
William +, Aheehan Of, perhaps.
another, are all Of one mind on
this poiut-that the tariff shall
be reduced TO q revenue basis
wholly apart from dts protective
features. They hye one and all
agreed on looking nj the ntriff
from the Constitutional ""
point. Accordingly they are fore
ed to the conclusion that the tar
if must be revised. nv it should
primarily have been made, whoi-
" on the side Of an equitable ap-
portionmnnt II The tariff ltaxes
on articles Of consumption to meet
the needs Of the Government.
THIS. as opposed TO the Dingley
and Payne Aldrieh schedules.
which amount to q distribution.
among the great corporate pro
ducers. Of the right to exact tri-
butte from consumers under the
guise Of protection to American in'
dustries
Opinions Of Foremost Democrats.
How closely the views of fore
most Democrats coincide on this
great national question of the
hour may be shown in brief quo
tations ftom recent expressions.
A few such are here mnue--
Governor Harmon The people
have turned to us SO far as they
can at this time. And they have
done 1T with full knowledge of our
views on the subject. They know
we believe the raising Of public
revenue to be the proper object u
all taxation. that. whatever the
process. the Government can and
does tax nobody but its own citi-
zeps. from whom comes every dol
lar Vt gets.
Representative Henry D. Clay
ton-We have promised to reform
the tariff. by reducing 1T to n rev
enue basis. We must and will en-
deavor TO keep that promise. Lets
us declare. az Demectats. land
forever maintain that the Govern
ment has no right to exact even
30 much as one dollar from the
citizens. under the guse of u
tariff law. except for the support
| Of the Government.
Speaker-Designate Champ Clark
Our first duty in that (tariff)
regard is to cut off the excrescn-
ces. to cure injustices and to re
move thu cruel 6patunes of the
general bill. The proper function
Of the tariff is TO raise revenue,
and we should 80 arrange the
rates as to raise the maximum
amount Of revenue, at the same
time taking from the pockets OF
the people the minimum amount
Of money.
Senator .Joseph w. Bailey
Without assuming TO be wiser than
lthey are. | venture to believe that
I can lay down a rule to which no
Democrat can offer n vahid objec-
ton. and by which our friends III
the House can draft a valid tariff
measure above just and success
fm criticism. NY rule would be
this: Levy duty on every arti
Gle from the importation Of which
an appreciable amount Of revnue