Arizona republican., 1912-07-12
MT. Roosevelt and the Tariff


 party platform is going hilariously on The tariff plank of it, we learn from the dispatches of yesterday. is being given thoughtful consideration at oyster Bay. While nothing has been determined upon. MT. Roosevelt, it is understood. will abide by the prin- ciple Of protection, though there is an inclination toward an immediate re- vision downward.
 However they are more or less up in the air at Oyster Bay with respect to the tariff which is a question not easily straddled and in this, as in all other matters, the declaration of prin- ciples of the new party will be de termined only after a full considera- tion as to its vote catching possibii- ties
 1t is mentioned casually that the in clination toward downward revision is induced by the circumstance that downward revision is wanted in the west where Mir Roosevelt expects to get the most of his votes But, of course there is Pennsylvania and workingmen of the east to be con- sidered and workingmen as a rule are not strong for a reduction of the tar if on commodities in the manufac- lure of which they are employed.
 
 stances. being an adept in the art of side stepping, as we have heretofore. pointed out. is disposed to shift the business of inserting the tariff plank upon the convention. There is un- conscious humor in the statement. 'The eX-presidet feels, however. that his views on the theory of the pro- tective tariff are so well known that 1t is for the convention to decide what course of action shall be adopted
 Only mind readers know what Mir ROosevelt's tariff views are and per haps mind readers do not know for We are not sure that Mir Roosevelt
 
 administration he summed the tariff as a deadly thing but he acquiesced in all matters in the views of Speaker Cannon and the standpatters with respect to the tariff. In the many and voluminous messages with which he deluged successive congresses his 1rl-S ac ;fe were brief and non -committal
 Called by himself to the leadership of the progressive movement which had it's very origin in dissatisfaction with the Payne-Aldrich law, Mir Roosevelt throughout his pre-conven- ton campaign. alluded to the tariff only briefly and evasively It was not until he had been taunted with his silence on that subject that he spoke of 1t at all his remarks being all ad- dressed to those indefinite but favor ite themes, the "uplift" and govern ment by the people"
 His tariff speeches, and there were only two Of them, each consisted of less than hundred words In one, he said that he was in favor of tariff 'equtably adjusted" The most ram pant high protectionist would have said the same thing. In his other speech, Mir. Roosevelt favored a tariff which would equal the difference in the cost of production at home and abroad. That was exactly what the republican platform of 1908 favored and it was to find out the difference that the tariff commission was formed.
 But now. Mir Roosevelt can no longer side step this tariff question His platform must contain a definite declaration. It cannot be made to ap- peal to the voters of any one section of the country and it cannot be draft ed in such general terms as to be repellant to the voters of no section.
 As matter of fact. we do not be- lieve that MT Roosevelt has now or ever had any deep seated convictions regarding the tariff. His convictions on all subjects have always found voluble expression but, as we have stated. Mir Roosevelt has never talked volubly of the tariff.
 If he must select from the Moral Law for a platform, instead of Thou shalt not stear' why should not Mir