Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-01
cratic party. in House caucus. repudiates
any obligation to meet this national need.
The Philippines.

cratic party. in House caucus. repudiates
The Philippines.
The Philippines have enjoyed popular
government and much prosperity during
this administration in view of the free
trade under the Payne bill which they
have enjoyed. The continuance OF the
same policy with respect to the Philip
pines will make the prosperity of those
| islands greater and greater and will
gradually At their people for self-govern-
ment, and nothing will prevent such re-
suits except the ill-advised policy pro-
posed by the democratic party OF hold
ing before the Philippine people inde-
pendence as a prospect Of the near fu-
ture
Our Foreign Trade.
During this administration everything
| that has been possible has been done TO
| increase our foreign trade. and under the
Payne bill the maximum and minimum
clause furnished the opportunity. for re-
moving determinations in that trade, so
that the statistics show that our exports
and imports reached for the year ending
July I, 1912, a higher figure than ever
before in the history of the country. Our
imports for the last fiscal year. ending
July 1. 1912, amounted to $1.653, 426.114
and our exports to $2.049, 800, 1879. or
! total OF 1857 ,64s.2 62 If there were add
ed to this the business done with Porto
| Rico. Hawaii and the Philippines the sum
total of our foreign trade would consid
erably exceed $4,O0OOOO.OOO. The excess
OF our exports over imports is $3.50, I95.
914. Manufactures exported during the
year 1912 exceed $1,OO0.OOOCO and sur
PASS the previous record. These figures
seem to show that the business is large
enough to produce prosperity, and the
fact is that it has done So
The Protective Tariff.
The platform of 1908 promised. on be-
half Of the republican party. to do GER
tain things. One was that the tariff
would be revised at extra session. An
extra session was called and the tarifr
was revised. The platform did not say
in specific words that the revision would
be generally downward, but / construed
II to mean that During the tendency OF
the bill and after 1t was passed it was
subjected to the most vicious misrepre-
sentation. 1t was said to be a bill to in
crease the tariff rather than to reduce
1t. The law has been In force now since
August. 1903, a period of about thirty
five months. We are able to judge from
its operation how far the statement is
true that it did reduce duties.
1T has vindicated itself. Under It's Op-
Grafton prosperity has been gradually re-
stored since the panic OF 1907. There have
been no disastrous failures and no disas-
trous strikes. The percentage of reduc-
ton below the Dingley bill is shown in
the larger free list and in the lower per-
centage of the tariff collected on the to-
tai value of the goods imported. The fig
ures show that under the Dingley bill,
which was in force IA months, the aver
age per cent of the imports that came In
free was in value Al per cent of the to-
tai importations, and that under the
Payne bill, which has been in force thir-
value of the imports which have come
in free amounts to OH per cent of the
total: that the average ad yalorem OF the
duties on all importations under the
twelve years Of the Dingley bill was 45.S
per cent. while under the thirty-five
months of the Payne bill this was 41.2
per cent. and that the average ad va
loren of the dutiable imports under the
Dingley bill was 25.5 per cent. while I'M
der the Payne bill it was 2O.1 per cent
In other words, considering only reduc-
tons dutiab BILE goods. the reduction in
duties from the Dingley bill to the Payne
bill was 10 per cent. and considering both
free and dutiable reductions, they amount
ed to u per cent.
Work of the Tariff Board.
Under the provisions of the Payne
bill. l was able to appoint tariff board
to make investigations into each sched-
ule, with view to determining the cost
of production here and the cost of pro-
ducton abroad of the articles named in
the schedule. in order to enable Congress
in ad justing this schedule to know what rate
of duty was necessary to prevent destruc-
tive competition from European countries
and the closing up Of our mills and other
sources of production. We are living on an
economic basis established on principles
of protection. 4 large part of our prod
ucts are dependent for existence upon
rate of duty sufficient to save the pro-
Queer from foreign competition, which
would make the continuance of his bust
ness impossible. In the making of .he
Payne bill Congress did not have the ad-
vantage of the report of the tarfH board
showing the exact facts. II it had, the
bill would have been constructed on a
better basis. but now have had the
tariff board working. and it has made
report on the production OF wool and the
of wOolens in this country
and in all the countries abroad and has
given the same data as to the manufac-
ture of cotton If the republican party
had control of the House of Representa-
tiyes there would be no difficulty now in
has been proposed by the republicans in
the House. reducing the duty on wool
and wOolens to such a degree as
not to include more than enough to
wooden industry to live and produce a |
reasonable profit. The same thing is
true with respect to the cotton industry.
On the other hand, our opponents. the
democrats, have presented to me for my
signature a wooden bill and cotton bill, |
both of which. If allowed to become |
law as the reports of the tariff board
show, would have made such radical |
cut in the rates on many wooden and cot |
ton manufactures seriously to interfere |
with those industries in this country. |
This would have forced a transfer of the
to England and Germany |
and other foreign countries.
Should Democrats Control.
IF the result OF the election were to
put the democrats completely in control
OF all branches of the government, then
we may look for the reduction Of duties
upon all those articles the manufacture
of which need protection, and may antici- |
pate serious injury to large part OF
our manufacturing industry. We would
not have to wait for. actual legislation on
this subject: the very prospect of demo-
cratic success when its policy toward our
great protected industries became under
stood would postpone indefinitely the
coming of prosperity and tend to give us
a recurrence OF the hard times that we
had in the decade between 1890 and 1897. |
The democratic platform declares protec |
ton to be unconstitutional, although 1t |
tariff bills since 1889, and indicates as |
into m To-.