Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-02

ed ALMOST lIOu uoy W usAJ'
changes noted in the foreign cost OF
production of various commodities are
doubtless individually slight; IN one
case they may swing, pendulum-llke.
little this way and a little that, end
ing their agitation at about the same
point where it began. In announcer
there may be steady trend TO one
side for while, due to causes not OIL
ficult to discover through the macnlh-
cry of the tariff board; but by the time
the divergence has become so marked
and continued so long as to make
change in this schedule desirable,
everybody will be prepared for it and
can estimate just about how much or
a change it ought to be. This ellmln'
ates the new customary shock OF sur
prise. Thus We have highly 1mpor,
tant part of the work of laWmak1ng
brought down to an almost automatlc
basis: at any rate, We can always De
sure of an automatic warning or Wnat
had better be done; and if congress
doesn't do 1t, or the president with
holds his approval from tariff amend
ment manifestly right, the people Will
know where to place the responsible
ity. At one stroke We can get rid OF a
lot of the old scandals about leg-roll-
ing and favoritism, and the charges
of perjury and bribery which were
freely banded between the parties IN
past times; make our tariff changes
gradual instead of precipitate, and
partial instead Of sweeping; and be
able to defend rate when fixed, by
showing with substantial accuracy the
measures of protection 1t extends 10
the home producer. Can any reason
able citizen object to such logical
and self-consistent plan, as suostl-
tute for our present practice OF revls'
ing the tariff by rule-of-thumb?
Cites the Payne Law.
"For very recent illustration. take
the Payne tariff act. There has been
a. loud outcry against it on the part
of public speakers and writer's, some
times for cause and with fair mo-
tive, and sometimes for the mere pur-
pose of stirring up the people by show
ing them only half the facts Now, let
us suppose that three years ago, IN
stead of having to depend wholly on
newspaper abstracts of the tarin hear
ings, few published speeches In con-
gress, and editorial comments which
necessarily reflected the political or
personal feeling of each commentator,
the people at large had had within easy
reach a non-partisan bureau OF infor-
nation from whose files they could as
ceretain just what the condition OF the
iron and steel trades, the wool and
wooden trades, and all the rest, had
been at the time Of the passage OF the
Dingley tariff act in 1897. and what
changes had occurred in them. In any
part of the world, since then. They
lad put the republican party in power
for four years more, and had a right
to hold It to account for carrying out,
as well as was humanity possible, the
promises of it's platform of 1908, in
Guiding the clause demanding re-
vision of the tariff with the obvious
intent that the revision should be
downward. &C.,. "
isn't it plain that instead of seeing
a law turned out by congress In the
way that the Payne law was turned
out, and having the air rent after
ward by accusations and recrimina-
tions for thirty months continuously,
we should have witnessed a cool-head-
ed, direct and orderly procedure lead
ing up to the passage and promulga-
ton Of the act, and then either gen.
eral popular acquiescence in the re-
suit, or an opposition based on facts
which could be proved from original
sources if challenged? Can there be
any difference of intelligent opinion on
the question which Of these pictures
makes the pleasanter impression on
the mind, and which presents our in
situations of self-government in the
more dignified aspect? AS it was,
neither congress nor the American
public had the first-hand knowledge
for the proper performance of its
part: congress. to enable it to frame
a bill most responsive to the demands
of the platform; or the people, to
criticise justly an act which congress
had evolved with such poverty of
equipment for the task" \
Would Not lnjure Protective Principle
But, you are aware that good
many protectionists object on prude>~
tial grounds to the sort Of tariff you
have set up for your ideal?"
II am not unmindful of the argu-
ment made by some timorous critics,
that the effect of reducing our tariff to
what they call the competitive basis
will be that it will really drop below
that. and cause our markets to be
flooded with cheaply made foreign
goods, so that our producers will be
driven out of business by insufficient
protection. Well there are two an
swers to that The first is that the
platform whose promises we are try
mo tn fulfill does not contemplate such
cut in rates as would cripple any
American industry. 1t takes account
of the right of the American producer
to a reasonable profit. The difference
between the foreign producers figures
and those of the American producer,
which I want to see used as the meas
ure of protection for the American. is
the difference between what each ex-
poets to get for his goods, allowing for
a fair competitive profit for himself.