New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-05-12
WILSON ASSA|LS TARIFF |
Tells Reform Club 1t Is Chief Is
sue of Any Political Campaign.
AS UGLY AS OLD BASTILLE
Senator Gore and Charles S.
Hamlin, of Boston, Agree That
Protection Is Harmful.

OICOb1Oh 40 44cbi LII III
The protective tariff was assalled last
night by a number of speakers who were
invited by the Reform Club TO a dinner
given at the Hotel Aston for the purpose OF
discussing the tariff and advocating a re-
vision downward of the present schedules
! Governor Woodrow Wilson declared that
"the tariff is the mother of artificial prices,
because il is the foster mother OF monopoly,
ard only when these roots Of the whole evil
thing are touched shall we begin to get con-
troll Of the forces which have all but mas
| tered"
"Who can doubt in the light Of all the
circumstances" Governor Wilson said in
summarizing his remarks, that the tariff
| question is not only the chief issue of any
political campaign that may be fought in
this country, but the issue that Is funda-
| mental TO all the rest and without whose
| solution no other issue can be successfully
| settled. II is a great moral question, be-
cause nothing could be more profoundly i'm
moral than that any group Of interests or
body Of men should control the government
| for their own private benefit Such pos
sibility alters the whole aspect Of govern
ment Instead OF making government the
! chief instrument of equity and justice and
regulated opportunity. instead Of making It
! a thing even handed and impartial, II turns
! Il into an instrument Of gain, terrible en-
! CINE OF selhshness, and introduces every
| possible element Of corruption into its oper
alton"
The other speakers were Senator Thomas
P. Gore. of oklahoma; Charles S. HamlIn.
Of Boston, and Representative Henry
! George. IT,, Of New York.
Among the guests were Francis ".
| Aymar, Henry de +. Baldwin. Earle l..
! Beatty c. G. Birmingham. Francis w. Bird,
| Frederic II. Coudert, Alfred b. Cruikshank.
Mr.. and Mrs Charles r. Crane. Justice and
Mrs +. J Gavegan. Mrs. Henry George jr..
:. q. Gibboney. Mr.. and Mrs. Charles S.
Guggenheimer W. II. Tornblowcr, John II.
Harper, Mr.. and Mrs Raymond V. Inger-
sell Commissioner Milo r. MaltbIe Benja-
min G. Marsh. w 9. Afuschenhelm. w. II.
Page. Lawson Purdy Mrs. Calvin Tomkins.
Mr.. and Mrs. Samuel Untcrmyer, Horace
White, Henry Wollman and Travis II.
Whitney.
Recalls Reform Clubs Service.
Calvin Tomkins. Commissioner Of Docks
and Ferries and president OF the Reform
club. introduced the speakers Mr. Tom
kins said the signal service rendered by the
club to the nation was performed ia lS,3.
when 1t made possible the nomination OF
Grover Cleveland for the Presidency
The tariff Issue. special privilege against
equality OF opportunity. was again before
the country Mr. Tomkius added. The Re-
form club sought TO make It. as typical
OF all privileges. the dominant issue Of the
campaign, to tho exclusion OF picturesque
personalities and fugitive Illusions. FIX
pcrlonce. he said. showed that whenever
the Democratic party had made the tariff
tho issue, II had won.
Governor Wilson did not speak until late,
but the diners waited patiently until no
was called to the rostrum and gave him a
hearty reception.
The Who'll" tarir jollcy has become a hugo
scheme Of makC-bcilrve. said Governor WI
son. While the whole economic life Of tho
countr, has changed. he explained. the
bcncnciarlcs Of the tarln have continued to
build 20 along the old limos. conceived gen
crations ago and laid down for a family OF
entirely different habits.
During the carly development OF the tariff
policy the nation was absolutely different
from what 81 was now. he said. II vas a
nation FUN Of individual enterprise: tacro
Was FREQ access TO its resources for every
body Of energy and initiative who could
rako together little capital. Almost any
man might look forward to- establishing
himself Independently I'm business. and the
hop, enriched him and iillod him with con
ndoncc.
But no ono could pretend that any such
picture Of America could be drawn nov or
that the tariff was needed 10 protect infant
Industries, Governor Wilson exclaimed. He
then said:
can amy ono thread tho intriCacics 81
those complex schedules and pretend that
they exhibit a plan FOR the general stimu-
lation 81 industry ard enterprise I'm Amer
lea? Can any one Cand!dly say that he sees
I'm tho economic life OF America now
picture % free, Untrammeled individual
Initiative; a field Of free and normal COM
petition: n field into which any man may
freely enter and work out enterprises Of
his own ConCcving, a field In which the
workingman IS as free as his employer to
adjust himself to the conditions Of the
time and find the best market for his Ia Dor;
n field i'm which the laws operate TO stimu-
lato and not To create privilege or private
advantage And can any one justly main
tain that America. with its great develop
mcnt. with its maturcd genius for manage
mcnt and invention, and It's accessible and
deyOlopcd resources, with its manifold
means OF transportation. IS naturally ut n
disadvantage I'm competition with the rest
Of the world; that its Industrial system ~
SIN immature, its commercial enterprises
weak? m
same principles and purposes that butt up
the great system Of protective tariffs have
also operated. directly or indirectly, TO
destroy the merchant marine OF the United
States and put ms at an immense dlsadVan-
tagc I'm regard 10 our access 10 furclRn
markets We must ship our goods by
routes established for the advantage or
others We must wait the convenience OF
ghipogners who serve us only after they
have served their own people. our enter
prises in every foreign field must come In
under their wing ana by tn'lr Suierance
and on their terms.
The theory ~ protection was well in its
time. Governor Wilson added. but the
whole scheme has changed and the mon
strosities produced by the tariff have begun
TO be evident The topheavy, lopsIded. un-
symmetrical bulk OF American industrial
enterprises is plain TO be seen by every
one he said and then went on:
1t begins to dawn upon the whole coun-
try that the tariff is no longer n states
manike plan Of protection. but a privately
managed game for profits A big game-a
huge Scheme-carried out through the
votes Of enormous numbers Of men. who
are deceived by the old phrases and do
not face tho new facts; a game I'm which
the powerful. the subtle. the INSCRIPTIONS,
are more likely TO prevail than any others
II has become a huge make believe. II
stands as ugly and as full of unwholesome
secrets and hidden places. to which the
light has never penetrated az the old
Hastille.
Trusts and combinations have multiplied.
and no law yet passed has been effectual
TO stop or even to check them, the Gov