The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-08-23
THE TARiFF-LoCALLY AND
NATIONALLY.

dent Taft for his veto of the steel
bill.
The fact that steel plant is be.
ing erected across the bay from Du.
luth may have something to do with
the oyster-like silence of our esteem.
ed contemporary In the Zenith City.
Were wooden mills in operation in
Duluth perhaps The Herald would
not have so severely scolded the
president for his veto of the wool
bill. ~
There, are features closely allied
with the tariff question that amuse
us. A few months ago there was
agitation in Mankato in favor of a
beet sugar factory, and an intima-
ton was made that plant would
be put in operation here. T.
1t was then that a petition was
numerously signed by Mankato bust
ness men and others requesting con-
gress not TO reduce the tariff duty
on sugar. -g
The prospects of factory spurred
the. people to ask for protection.
Democrats and republicans alike
signed the petition, which in due
time was forwarded to our repre-
sentatives in the national law-making
body.
Let us get down to brass tacks
Had there been no agitation in
favor. of a beet sugar factory, and
had someone taken the trouble to
circulate petition in favor of plac-
ing sugar on the free list, there is
not doubt but that it would have
been as numerously signed as was
the, request to the contrary.
So it goes the country over. In
sections where industries are located
the people interested therein seek to
keep these industries protected-and
on the other hand where there are
no industries many people demand
a reduction of what they are pleased
to term the 'robher'' tariff.
The tariff is in,- a sense a local
issue. This is illustrated in the case
of the duty on granite. When the
protective schedule on this particu-
Inhalation the owners of and the
workers in the quarries at ST. Cloud
protested, claiming that their indus
try would be harmed thereby.
When it was proposed to admit
free cigars and tobacco from the
Philippines, the people living in
Southern Wisconsin raised storm
of objections, claiming that such an
invasion would destroy their indus
try. ,a,.- 49,.
Similar cases could be cited, all
going to show that no section of
the country is without some kind
of an industry that demands protec-
ton from the competition that free
trade would permit. , ...-...
The merchants of Mankato demand
protection against the itinerant who
peddles his wares, but pays nothing
for the community's keep. The
manufacturer wants protection against
the importation of goods from abroad.
The former principle is in line with.
the. latter-a tariff policy that has
been applied to the manufacturer and
the farmer in this country for the
PAST fifty years. .e...~
There are people who would ap-
ply the protective principle for the
benefit Of the local dealer, which is
proper and right, but nationally they
would let down the bars to the
forelgn-made article and permit 1t
to compete with those that come out
OF the factory that gives employment
TO hundreds of thousands of wage
earners who consume the products
OF the farm and enrich the tiller of
the, soil. Is this a consistent at
titude?
In Its last analysis there are too
many people who ask protection for
their own particular interests and
are willing to see those of others
hit by a reduction of tariff duties
and the introduction of free trade
a simon pure. democratic doctrine.
they would ask and receive favors
that they, would deny to others who
are equally entitled to like privileges.
The tariff problem is one that
should be dealt with scientifically if
honest results are to be obtained.
A commission, such as President Taft
advocates, should have the care and
custody of this question, which is
so closely related to the business
and Industrial interests of the coun-
try and has so much to do with
the cmaterial wellbeing of the peo-
pie.