The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-08


cussed and determined, not on the floor
of Congress, for that is not where
they have been determined, but in the
committee rooms and conferences?
That Is the heart of the whole affair
VIII you, can you, bring the whole
people into the partnership or not? No
one Is discontinued with representa-
tive government; 1t falls under ques
ton only when 1t ceases to be repre-
sentative 1t is at bottom question
of good faith and morals.
How does the present tariff look in
the light of it? l say nothing for the
moment about the policy of protection,
conceived and carried out as a dsin-
terested statesman might conceive 1t.
Our own clear conviction as democrats
is that in the last analysis the only
safe and legitimate object of tariff du-
ties, as of taxes of every other kind
is to raise revenue for the support of
the government, but that is not my
present point. We denounce the Payne
Aldrich tariff act as the most conspic-
uous example ever afforded the coun-
try of the special favors and monop-
olistic advantages which the leaders of
the republican party have so often
shown themselves willing to extend to
those to whom they looked for cam
paign contributions. Tariff duties, as
they have employed them. have not
been means of setting up an equitable
system of protection They have been,
on the contrary, method of fostering
special privilege. They have made II
easy to establish monopoly in our do
nestle markets. Trusts have owed
their origin and their secure power to
them. The economic freedom of our
people, our prosperity In trade, our
untrammeled energy in manufacture
depend upon their reconsideration from
top to bottom in an entirely different
spirit.
Business Is Sensitive
I'VE do not ignore the fact that the
business of country like ours is ex-
ceedingly sensitive to changes in legis-
lation of this kind 1t has been built
up, however i'll advisedly, upon tariff
schedules written in the way / have
indicated, and its foundations must not
be too radically or too suddenly dis
turbed. When we act we should act
with caution and prudence. like men
who know what they are about and
not like those in love with a theory. Tt
is obvious that the changes we make
should be made only at such a rate and
in such a way as will least interfere
with the normal and healthful course
of commerce and manufacture But we
shall not on that account act with
own minds. for we are certain of our
ground and OF our object. There should
be an immediate revision, and 1t should
be downward. unhesitatingly and
steadily downward.
1T should begin with the schedules
which have been most obviously used
to kill competition and to raise prices
in the United States, arbitrarily and
without regard to the prices pertaining
elsewhere in the markets of the world !;
and it should. before II Is finished or
intermitted, be extended to every item
In every schedule which affords any
opportunity for monopoly. for special
advantage to limited groups of bene-
ficiaries, or for subsidized control of
any kind in the markets or the enter
prises of the country; until special fa-
vors of every sort shall have been alb
solutely withdrawn and every part of
our laws of taxation shall have been
transformed from system of govern
mental patronage into system of just
and reasonable charges which shall fall
where they viii create the least bur-
den When we shall have done that,
we can fix questions of revenue and of
business adjustment in a new spirit
and with clear minds. We shall then
be partners with all the business men
of the country. and a day of freer.
more stable prosperity shall have
dawned
There has been no more demoraliz-
ing influence in our politics in our time
than the influence of tariff legislation,
the influence of the idea that the gov
eminent was the grand dispenser OF
favors, the maker and unmaker OF for
tunes. and of opportunities such as GER
tain men have sought in order to con-
| troll the movement of trade and in
| dustry throughout the continent. 1t has
made the government prize to be cap
tured and parties the means of eff
fecting the capture. II has made the
business men of one of the most vrile
| and enterprising nations in the world
timid, fretful full of alarms has robbed
| them of sclf-confidence and manly
| force, until they have cried out that
| they could do nothing without the as
sistance of the government al Wash
ington. 1t has made them feel that
! their lives depended upon the ways and
| means committee of the House and the
finance committee of the Senate tir
/ these later year particularly the
| finance committee of the Senatel, They
have insisted very anxiouslS that these
| committees should be made up only OF
] their "friends;' until the country in