The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-22

"The President of the United States, by q veto message. attempted to stand in their way, but a democratic House, believing in local self government, recognized hat the American citizens who live in Arizona were as much entitled to a voice II the government of this union as a man who lived in Alabama was. or in Kentucky, passed those bills. and before the next Presidents election two more stars will shine out in the glorious flag of our union and say to the people of the world that every foot of territory from Maine 10 California, from Canada to the Rio Grande. is an organized state in the union, and that it's free born American citizens shall have their voice in the control of government of the country. (Applause.)
 Kept Pledge in Taft
 we had pledged ouselves to an honest reformation of the tariff downward: we kept our pledge We sent out bills to Ihe President of the United States only to meet his veto messages That is the rec ord we ask you to indorse They ask you to indorse. the record of the republican administration that has been the tool of the interests, that subservant servant Of those who desired special favors and not of the masses of the people of the United States
 "When MT. Taft was nominated for President of the United States there was a wave of sentiment in this country sweeping over it. demanding a lower re- vision of the tariff taxes that were levied at the customs houses Recognizing that sentiment the republican party in its plat form promised a revision of the rariff. Their candidate for President of the Unit ed States repeatedly on the stump told the American people that if they would trust him but one time he would revise the tariff downward in their interest.
 Result of Trusting Taft
 What was the result? The Congress was called in extra session: the Presi- dent sent special message to Congress asking it to revise the tariff laws of the United States. and how did they do 1t? Did he follow the sentiment of the peo- pie. No. Who were his chief advisers in the writing of the Payne-Aldrich bill? Joseph G. Cannon, who brides himself that he belongs to the 'stand-pat' wing the republican party; Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island a most able and astute man, but a man that no man can contend stands to represent the people of the United States a man who for years rep resented in the Senate of the United States every monopoly that existed In this country.
 These two men were the men who were called into consultation by the President. They were the men who dic- tated the Payne-Aldrish tariff bill. They were the men who gave it life and vi- talitY. And it was at their dictation that the President signed the bill.
 MT. Taft's Inconsistency
 He said he could not sign our bills be- cause we were not informed that we must have tariff board to advise us how to legislate. Did he ask for any tariff board when he signed bill that was hand ed him by Senator Aldrich and Speaker Cannon. My friends. was there any re- vision of that tariff bill in your interests? :? They did lower some things some du- ties, but they lowered prohibitive duties and left them still prohibitve.
 'lf I had 9 foot wall there and tell you to jump over it. you can't jump over that wall; if I cut it down to 15 feet and tell you to jump over it, you still cannot get over the wall. Now, when you have a tariff duty so high that it prohibits the importation of goods coming into this country from abroad, you can at times revise that wall or that rate to a mate rial degree, and yet leave it so high that no goods will come in. And the returns of the treasury department today show that the Payne -Aldrich tariff bill Is more prohibltive than the Dingley bill which it took the place of
 Raised Tariff on Necessaries
 "On the other hand, on many of the things that you require in your every day life they raise the tax. On some raised the taxes ts much as S5 per cent over the old rate. They raised the tax on rubber goods from 30 per cent to 45 per cent.
 Ask the man in the store in this town how much the price of rubber shoes. that your children must wear to school to keep their feet out of the winter snow, i,,.,. ya1 laau fl,a ,f the United States signed a bill increasing the tariff rates from 30 to 45 per cent on rubber goods.
 Not only that they were not fair and candid in their increase. In their tariff bill there is free list: there is tax list and at the end of every schedule there is what is called a blanket clause.
 How They Revised the Tariff Now, to illustrate the way they raised this tariff on the American people with out their knowing it. In the House they reduced the tariff on structural mate rial structural steel from five-tenths of a cent a pound to three-tenths of a cent per pound making something like s30 per ton. When that bill went to the Senate they simply run their pen through the entire article about structural material, and threw it into the blanket clause be- cause that was not named in the bill
 
 raisel it to 45 per cent.
 Ut was the same thing with all cotton goolds that had rubber in them. They were originally classified in the cotton schedule, and instead of apparently raising them took all cotton goods, like suspenders or goods of that kind and dropped them out of the cotton schedule and put them in the hemp schedule because in the hemp schedule they had to pay 60 per cent instead of 40 per cent
 That is the way the republican par ty revised the tax schedules down in the interest of the American people. Are you going to endorse that position.
 Tariff That Clay Stood For My friends, as l said a moment ago, this district sent to the Congress of the United States one of the greatest states men that this country has ever produced. They say that Henry Clay was in favor of protective tariff but the protective tariff that Henry Clay stood for was a tariff that taxed the people only 20 per cent of the value of their goods.
 "The average rate of our present tar | if law is 47 per cent. If this democratic congress were immediately to tax every schedule in the tariff bill down to a 20 per cent tax, the tax that Henry Clay | said was sufficient to support and fos- | ter the infant industries in his day, if | we reduced the tariff to that basis. our republican orators would say that We had declared In favor of free trade. More Than Protects Labor "rhey would say we are tearing down | the custom house, that we are destroying | American industries. and yet that very | same 20 per cent more than represents the difference in labor cost at home and | abroad. According to the census reports taken for the year 1909 hardly two years ago the total labor cost in the Moolen