Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-24
Taft Would Not Make 1t the
Foot Ball of Politics.
WOULD GIVE CONFIDENCE
Frowns on Attacks Aimed to Arouse
Unjust Prejudice.
DISCUSSES METAL BILL VETO
President Sends Greeting to Hard.
ware Men Meeting in Conven-
tion in Atlantic City.

ATLANTIC CITY, n. j., October pa
letter from President Taft to the Ameri-
can Hardware Manufacturers ASsocia-
tfon and the National Hardware Asso-
citation was read at today's session Of the
joint convention. 1t follows:
Beverly. Mass. October 1s, 1912.
''My Dear Mr.. Jantz:'
Il am very glad to send a message Of
greeting to the members of the American
Hardware Manufacturers Association
and the National Hardware Association
on the occasion Of their annual joint con-
vention. One of the members of your
association wrote me the other day that
what this country needs most is indus
trial peace There can be no such peace
in the absence of national prosperity and
l am glad to believe that the members Of
your association are doing their full share
TO welcome the. prosperity which. Is just
at our door by maintaining our present
economic business basis and by the en-
couragement OF business expansion and
progress through legitimate use of capi-
tai.
Il am a firm believer In a tariff board
or tariff commission. ! do not contend
that the tariff can be taken out of poll
tics IN the sense that Ii will never be
made the subject of political controversy
Men differ radically as to the economical
for revenue only. and that must always
be the subject of political discussion. But
here is a means of taking the ascertain
nent of facts away from tribunal like
necessarily hurried in its conclusions and
necessarily lacking in the thoroughness
and temper which are essential to. reach
impartial conclusions.
Veto of the Metal Bill.
Probably no industries affected by the
tariff need scientific and impartial con-
clusions more than those which are rep
resented in your convention. In my
message Of August II last, returning to
the Congress without my approval the
bill to revise the metals schedule. point
ed out that in this schedule iron and
steel as primary products are less than
one-third in value of the subject matter
covered by the schedule. I presented a
table showing that included In the met
ais schedule are ffty-nine allied indus
tries ?f sufficient importance to Justify
separate classification. study and report
by the census bureau I pointed out FUR
ther that foundry and machine shop
products. which are secondary products
If the iron and steel industry. are made
10y more than 1900 competing establish
ments. with an invested capital of more
than a billion and a half dollars. with
more than half a million wage earners
employed and producing nearly a billion
and a quarter dollars in value of products
annually. Every dollar of this capital
and every workman employed in the in
dustry was directly affected by the bill.
and / could not find. either in the re-
port of the committee on ways and means
If the House or. to any extent, in the
discussion Of the schedule. that serious
consideration had been given to the ef-
feet of this revision on this particular
branch of the industry, and the same
NAorI tyx-r t,frdc 1f
the industries covered by the schedule.
Machine Tools on Free List.
There was. little logical relation be-
tween the reductions made by this bill
in the schedule. For example, steam en-
gines and machine tools in the present
aw are dutiable at 80 per cent In this
revision steam engines were reduced to
II per cent and the whole machine-tool
industry was put on the free list, without
any reason whatever being given In the
report OF the ways and means committee
n either case for such action. The term
machine tools has already been the
subject of much litigation. and its scope
should be clearly defined before the great
variety OF articles which 1t now seems to
cover are placed on the free list. The
expansion of our foreign trade would
seem to demand that transfer to the
free list. like the one made in the bill. OF
products and the opening Of the bes,
market in the world 10 free and unre-
stricted competition should not be made
without at the same time at least secur-
ing, as IS the case now of specified agri-
cultural implements, the privilege of a
like free entry into the markets OF our
competitors.
Il refer to these facts to bring home to
the dangers of ilI-advised political tin
kering with business. ] vetoed the bill
which would have spelled ruin to many
Of you. because / was. unwilling to ap-
prove legislation which vitality affected
not only millions of workingmen and the
families dependent on them. but hun
dreds Of millions Of dollars worth of
stocks OF goods in the hands OF store
keepers and distributors generally. with.
out first providing for careful and dis
Interested inquiry into the conditions of
he whole industry.
Must Not Be Political Foot Ball.
And so. 1 say. We must not make
legitimate business the foot ball OF poll
Tics We must have investments from
which to secure a large wages fund
which is needed to support the wage
earners. We must inspire In the busi-
ness men who control thee investments
the confidence that they will not be
driven out of business. Let US put our
shoulders together in movement to pro-
mote the business prosperity Of the coun-
try by frowning down those attacks that
are engendered not by a real desire to
eliminate abuses. but by wish to arouse
in the people an unjust prejudice, and
take away from them their clear percep-
tion as to their real interest in encourag.
ing the investment of capital in com.
mending its thrifty. wise and lawful use
to secure good and reasonable profit. and
to enjoy the widespread influence of the
prosperity that business thus ENCOURAGED
is bound to shower upon the people al
large. Sincerely.
WILLIAM H. TAFT.
&c. H. JantZ. Esq. President American