Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-04-10
SPECIAL WASHINGTON CORES.
= POkpENcE.
By C. II. TaYenner.

# - q o.
President Taft in hds message to
congress on the cotton report. uncon-
sciously knocked one OF the strongest
props from under the protective
system. In this message, the presi-
dent recommended reduction in the
cotton. schedule, and cited the report
OF the tariff board as his basis tor
such Recommendation Among other
things, he said:
.'In a great many instances it is
found that the labor cost OF weaving
cotton is less in this country than II
is abroad. In a large number OF
plain weayes the cost is greater IL
foreign countries, because OF the
practice here OF having each weaver
attend larger number OF looms.
This admission, it should he borne
in mind, was, made by the man VINO
less than a year ago defined Tue
Payne-Aldrich tariff tax as the best
one ever written in this country.
Those who framed the Payne-Alc-
rich tariff, including Aldrich, ZEN
rose. and Smoot, were unanimous us
and also vociferous in their con1en-
ton that the only excuse for such
high schedules as, were given to wool
and cotton was their desire to- PRO
tect American labor against the
pauper labor OF Europe" When the
Payne-Aldrich bill was under discus
sion in the House and Senate, a
listener in the gallery would nave
gathered the impression that the one
oNerpowering ambition Of the pro
ponents of the bill was to create a
condition under which American lab
or would he the best paid in the
world. The spectre Of compet1tlon
with the "paauper labor OF Europe
was held up constantly before those
who dared suggest that the rates
were too high. @.s
The Payne-Ald1ich bill, drawn on
this theory, went to- the president
and he promptly signed IT. NOW
comes this same president and pub
licly admits that the labor cost OF
making cloth in this country was not
so much greater than the cost
abroad that the abnormal tariff pro
lection is necessary-which IS exact
" what the Democratic members OF
congress contended when the biA
was under discussion.
Among we'll informed observers in
Washington, the thing that changed
the presidents position was not so
much the report OF the tariff board,
as it was the revelations incident 70
the great strike at Lawrence, Mass.
This strike brought to- light the TACT
that the wooden trust, which was en-
joying protection Of the sort that
not only kept the trust free from
foreign competition, but permitted 1T
to gouge profits from American con-
sumers at will, was paying wages as
low as white men any place in the
world were working for, and mpos-
ed conditions that were nothing
short Of shameful.
There was no resisting the logic
of the lesson taught by the Lawrence
strike. 1t proved, beyond the per
adventure of a doubt, that protect
ing American working men" is the
last thought OF the trust magnates.
Another Chance For Tart.
The democratic wool bill Of LASH
year proposed, reduction of so per
cent. in the rates on wool, and it
passed the House by a vote Of 221
to 100. The same bill has again
passed the House, this time by a
vote Of 1S9 to 80.
When he vetoed the bill last year
President Taft gave as his reason
the fact that the tariff board bad
not reported. Now, in the light OF
the tariff boards report, the republi-
cans Of the House have submitted a
bill which calls for reduction of
40 per cent. IN Schedule x, or just