Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-09-01
Taft Blunders Again.

wooden plank or schedule X and in
his famous Winona speech said sche-
dule X. was indenSible-that is he
could 0 defend it-yet he had a
chance last week to approve a bill
that would have made schedule K a
little more decent, but he found an
''indfeneSible" excuse for a veto. The
Sioux City Tribune says Of President
Tafts action:
Mr.. Taft rescues schedule X from
ever the gentle shearing of the pro
lection 1t received as 4 compromise
b e wee prOgreSSiveS, prOclaiming
loyalty to the great American prin-
ciple of protection, and the democrats
whose bill moved gently towards a
revenue tariff. The schedule that he
pronounced ''indefensible' he saves
from being made less i~ndefensihle.
And he does this on several grounds,
some absurd, some Incompatible with
his own action and some as com iCally
based upon a reversal Of cause and
effect as was his prOnOuncement that
the prosperity Of the country depends
upon the prosperity OF the railroads.
"The business Of the country rests
upon a protective tariff basis" On
this foundation he builds his argu-
ment. Five million people are con-
cerned in maintaining that basis for
the wool and wooden industry. Ninety
million people are made to pay more
for their WOOlenS because industry OF
5000, 900 is based on a protection that
averages Al per cent on wool growing
and on wooden apparel averages 81 per
cent. But 80, OOO, 900 people are de-
pendent upon the agricultural indus
try and the ink is hardly dried upon
the bill to which he put his signature
that removed entirely from the in-
dustry whatever protection it had
against Canadian competition.
He withholds his approval because
his tariff board has not completed its
study Of wool and woolens, from
which he expects exact information
as to cost differences upon which a
''Scientitic" tariff can be framed. And
this in the face of the statement Of
that same board in it's report upon
the print paper industry that the
of production in the paper mills
of this country is so variant that de-
finite conclusion is impossible. Be
tween the mills of best efficiency and
those of least the board found a diff
ference in the cost of making print
paper to vary nearly 100 per cent.
And he expects, with a confidence
that is childlike, that this same board
will be able to So accurately define
the costs of production in the infinite
ly more complex WOODEN industry
that a "scientitic" schedule Of rates
can be framed.
There is q palpable absurdity in his
criticism Of the rates as fixed by the
compromise, connected with his state
mGnt that ''the great difficulty in
discussing the new rates adopted was
that there were no means available by
which impartial persons could deter
mine what In fact was the difference
cost Of production between the
products of this country and the same
products Abroad In 1905 and again
1907 the census bureau obtained
from the manufacturers of textiles
detailed statements showing the cost
Of production Of their products. In
The wooden industry these statements
showed that the labor cOSt-the only |
die iii which COST Is claimed TO ue !
greater here than abrOad-the per-
OF labor cost, was not above
20 per cent of the value of the prod
And he yetoes a bill that gave
ranging from 10 to IS per cent,
or more than twice the entire labor
cost.
Mr.. Taft, it is said, Is coming west
20 defend his course. He should avoid
,he cities and talk to the farmers and
ell them how he saved protection to
,he makers Of the wo0,srs they wear
while taking from them whatever of
they had for their products.