The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-19
DEMOCRATS AND
 THE TARIFF
PART OF 4 SPEECH DELIVERED BY GOVERNOR WILSON AT PITTSBURGH, FRIDAY,
 OCTOBER 18TH.
[1%TTEI E

T welcome sksf.stPoetlsnft,s of stat ing what I believe to be the we'll con- party with regard to the tariff It is absolutely essential that we should be entirely frank with one another in the fzo1. The business men of the he eoun %
 try owe 1t to themselves to face the facts as they are and to meet them m q spirit H:,z.E of aecomm2fati2n which of-zsss--fAeeEeeieaa eaa-.reeesas astrtaetion in
 sThe Democratic party does not pro- pose free trade or anything approach ing free trade. It proposes merely a reconsideration of the tariff schedules such as will adjust them to the actual business conditions and interests of the country. Every observant blfsi- mess man must have realized long ago that the tariff schedules were con was not upon "a normal basis in the United States Tk1ey- do not constitute a system Of well considered protection. On the contrary, they embody innum- era'bfe cGnningly devised and carefully concealed special favors, and particu- far groups of capitalists and manufac- turers have taken advantage of these special fayors to build monopoly up in a way that is threatening and dang erons to every new and independent' enterprise. Our field of industry is like an intended garden. Some of the plants have so overehadoWed the rest as to give them no chance of light or
 L LS~ opo1ized the soil, and new growths are all but impossible If we would have stable prosperity, we must admit light and air and freedom into the whole process of our industrial life. and it is with that object that the Demo- crats will approach the revision of the tariff Their desire is not to check, but to aid: not to embarraSs, but to quicken They will not undertake the task like amateurs, either. They will seek and obtain the best possible ad- rfrzEnf fr4- e # far and wide, and not only in the quarters from which it has usually some
 sIt is obvious that the country de-
 nands, and will sooner or later ob- tain. thoroughly considered revision Of the tariff. and the serious practical It bR brought about? It is practically out 5of4 the question that the. Repub- the next House of Representatives; it Is evident that those who stand pat on the tariff will not control the next Senate, the forces of reform will be at a standstil1 in such circum stances by a President entirely out of sym patl1y with Congress Will be to gen
 Tn spite of all the obstacles of the existing tariff system, in spite of all the embarra ssments of an inelastic ~,rrrer,cy. in spite of the uncertainties of politics, the commercial and indus trial interests of the country are mov- Ing IT, an 1rreSlSIlDle stream. me aT- xument is put forth. therefore to Let we'll enough alone The argument would be very impressive if we really thought that the present conditions are wef1 enough. but we know that they are not that they constantly involve inc influences of monopoly, of mani pulation of priyaT,e s, G,tr contrGl and even ven leaxing them al2ne ste zelset MT Taft a &andstiH for four years and exas- perate the very forces which may now. if properly guided and wisely moderated. remove every obstacle to free enterprise and unlimited business expansion
 saThere, are more possibilities of panic upon abounding prosperity un- der fhe present system than there could be under any other, and every dfcfate of prudence, every instinct of etatesmanship. ptlght tp point tor those early reforms which can be accom- piszhed in good -teBPsT-bsFs-e common counsel and in moderate form We cannot stand still least of all when flla opportunity of unbounded prosper ffv beckons us on. To retain our pres ent endorsements would be to miss <.f7o 70