Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-12
WILSON SEES SHAM
Tariff Policy Is Make-BeIieve,
He Ayers.
"JESTS GRIN BEHIND 1T"
Cites Alleged Evils of the Present
System.
SAYS LAWS AID CAPITAL
Industrial Enterprise Top-Heavy
and Lop-Sided, He Tells
Reform Club.
AVS LAWS AID CAPITAL

NEW YORK. May 1.-THE face ~
general advantage. worn by the tar.~
scheme. is a mask and many private
jests grin behind It." declared Gov. Wood
row Wilson of New Jersey, in an address
tonight on Tariff Make-belieye." AZ a
dinner OF the Reform Club, where he and
other speakers. including Senator Thomas
p. Gore Of Oklahoma, former assistant
United States Treasury Charles = Ham
lin, and Representative Henry George. IT..
united In holding the tariff issue up as
chief among all issues OF the political
campaign.
The top-heavy, lop-sided. unsymmetri-
cal bulk OF American industrial enter
prise is plain TO be seen by every one.
said Gov Wilson. after declaring that the
protective tariff was conceived in a day
of individual enterprise OF every kind.
whereas today the whole scene has
changed into one of ''monstrosities Of
development" and laws that were meant
10 stimulate everybody are now plainly
seen TO rebound to the advantage OF a
smaller and smaller number of persons.
in whose hands the larger masses OF
capital have steadily accumulated"
Favors Careful Action.
The governor favored dispassionate deal
ing with the tariff question and advised
against ANY changes so drastic or so
rapid as to endanger the very fiber Of our
industrial system"
Gov. Wilson devoted his whole atten-
ton to the subject of the tariff. and
spoke in substance as follows:
The whole tariff policy has become
a huge scheme of make believe. While
practically the whole economic life OF
the country has changed, the bene-
fciaries OF the tariff have continued TO
build 1t along the old lines conceived
generations ago and laid down Tor
family OF entirely different habits. The
very much as the grim Bastille would
look if IL still stood In the midst or a
gay, modern Paris. looking out with
sightless eyes upon a world wnicn hao
tarily. construct anything IKE IL
again.
Nation As It Was.
when one looks back to the begin
nings and early development OF tho
tariff policy in this country one sees
nation absolutely unlike that whose
affairs we now try to comprehend ana
whose fortunes we now try to guide IL
was a nation full OF individual enter
prise of every kind. There was free &C
cess to it's resources for everybody or
energy and initiative who could rake
together a little capital The farmer
had his individual market The laoorer
dealt. for the most part, with an fndi-
yfdual employer and could move readlly
at his will from shop to shop. or nine
to mine. or region to region. There Was
an open highway for enterprise The
competition of one man with another
i'm America sharpened our wits, QUICK
ened our industries. regulated the
prices in our markets, established inc
wages of the workman. Almost any
man might look forward to establishing
himself independently in business, ana
himself, In turn, employing labor.
1T looked to the statesmen OF that DAY
as IL it were absolutely necessary to pro-
tect us, while we grew. against merchants
and manufacturers abroad who were
working with the advantage OF an eco
nornic system developed at their oack
and all the means established by which
Present Situation.
But no one can pretend that any such
picture of America could be drawn now
or that the tariff plays any such role as
It did then Can any one thread the in
tricacies of those complex schedules and
pretend that they exhibit a plan for the
general stimulation OF industry and en-
terprises in America? Can any one can
didly say that he sees in the economic
life of America now picture OF free. I'M
rrammeled, individual initiative, field
of free and normal competition?
THE same principles and purposes that
l,,=1 ha n a
tariffs have also operated, directly ana
indirectly, to destroy the merchant ma
rine of the United States and put US at
an immense disadvantage in regard 10
our access to foreign markets.
THE theory of protection was very at
tractive 1t was a fine conception that
every part of America must be encour-
aged to make the most of itself. 1t sound
ed very we'll in public speeches to de-
clare that the system was intended TO
make for the farmer a great domestic
market, by giving him the whole field IN
a nation. that 1t was intended to shield
the American workingman from Foreign
competition; that it was meant to develop
undeveloped parts of the country, to sup
ply motive and capital to those who built
railways and established lines of steam
ers on the inland rivers; that II was d
scheme of general prosperity.
But the whole scene has changed. Tho
monstrosities of development produced by
1t have begun to be evident. The top
heavy, lopsided. unsymmetrical bulk oc
American industrial enterprise Is plain TO
be seen by every one. LAWS that were
meant to stimulate everybody are now
plainly seen to rebound to the advantage
of q smaller and smaller number OF per-
sons. in whose hands the larger masses
of capital have steadily accumulated.
1T begins to dawn upon the whole coun-
try that the tariff is no longer q states
manlike plan of protection, but a private
ly managed game for profits.
1.-The most manifest tokens of our
stimulated prosperity in recent years
have been the growth OF trusts and com
binations in restraint Of trade. and Be-,
vices by which monopoly is established
at an astonishing rate.
Control the Government.
The serious and sinister thing lying
back OF all this matter is the fact that
particular groups OF persons have got
control of this whole tariff business by
constituting themselves the chief patrons
of the party in power. by supplying il
with campaign funds. by convincing il
that panic will ensue upon any. even the
slightest, disregard of their interests and
demands The beneficiaries of the gov
ernments policy have become its masters
and the government itself 10 as much un-
der. their guidance and control as the
stock market and the prices for staple
goods Those who dominate the economic
growth of the country and determine the
opportunities of development, both for
individuals and communities. dominate
khe government also and determine the
opportunities of politics. both for indi-
Eidual candidates and for organized