Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1912-03-13
The Worst Feature of Protection,
He Says, Is Decentralization
of Our Political ideas.
SCHEDULES MUST BE REVISED
System at the Heart Of Every Other
Economic Question We Have to
Deal With, Says Governor Of
New Jersey.
Atlanta (Ga.) Journal.

Il Nc OOIllHdul issue Ol tue dpPlOdCn
ing presidential campaign will be the
tariff.
There is certainly no other question
that reaches so far or strikes SO deep
ly into the nations common interests.
AT the very root of many. II not
most, of the political evils that now
beset the country, lies the outworn !
system of protective tariff which the
Republican party brought forth and |
which 1t persists in maintaining.
The trust problem itself is but one
aspect of the tariff question. Certain
IL is that monopolies and combinations
In restraint of trade will be vastly
more difficult to form and maintain
when the artificial tariff wall that now
protects them is removed. They would
still require a measure OF regulation.
but under present conditions we find
the government prosecuting them with
one hand and patronizing them with
the other. The Sherman antitrust act
is well enough in its particular sphere,
but no matter how vigorously 1t may
be applied. it can never within itself
undo the effects of a tariff system that
puts ban on competition and builds
| a hot house for groups of particular
interests This is the policy that en-
| ables American trusts to charge the
| people of this country more for their
| products than they charge their Gus
toners in Europe. This is the heart
and the source of nearly all the evils
which we classify under the term.
special privilege" 1t is Just at this
point that corrupt business and cor
rupt politics join hands.
1t is a noteworthy circumstance that
Governor Woodrow Wilson. as a can
didate for the presidential nomination,
is a particularly clear-headed and Wig
orous exponent OF the doctrine OF tar
III for revenue only. In a recent ad.
dress before the National Democratic
club in New York. Governor Wilson
declared:
THE worst feature OF protection II
i the Generalization of our politica
5 ideas We have based government
upon patronage and privilege instead
= of justice and equality. That's thu
cancer that eats at the hearts of all
y 1t is likely that for an indefinite pc
Rod we shall have to pay our nationa
bills by duties collected at the ports
| Though / am not for drastic changes
l wish / saw some ultimate escap
from it, At present l do not There
fore. what we have to ask ourselve
is not the principle upon which we ar
to act. for that is plain. We are t
% act upon the fundamental principle {
the Democratic party. not free trade
but tariff for revenue and we hav
hat hxvc q
by such stages and at such pace q
will be consistent with the stabiEt
and safety of the business of I'll
country"
There is here set forth a thorough
consistent and ut the same time We
poised course of action for the par
to pursue. A system that has been d
veloped through generations and tn
- involves the cOuntry's business equi
- brium cannot be struck to pieces at
single blow. But 1t should be des
with none the less positively. al
there should always be held in vie
the ultimate principle of tariff for rev
nue. only.
Governor Wilson has said again
an interview with the New 70
World:
-The tariff question is at the hes
of every other economic question
have to deal with and until we ha
adjusted that properly we can set
- nothing in way that will be satisf
~ tory and lasting. The tariff is the @
central issue Of the coming ca
paign."
The Journal has previously &C
mended Governor Wilson to the p
pie of Georgia and the south on
ground that he is a Democrat OF sou
nth ern birth who represents the keen
ex- sympathies and the best traditions
y of this section and who Furthermore
on virtue of his luminous record and
yer splendid ability is the party's most
10 visable candidate for the presider
,nt To that we may now add that he
m and has long been. a foremost az
cate of the one basic doctrine
II In southern Democracy-the. doctrine
nice tariff for revenue. instead Of for
A lection and patronage. Surely a dc
Gel nant issue and a presidential ca
ow: date were never more thoroughly I
ed.