The daily sentinel., 1913-04-25
ON NEW
TARIFF BILL
NOW ON
BY clyde II. lavenner. Member Of
Congress.

BY Clyde II. 1avenner, Member Of
Congress.
Washington, Apr 25.-.The attack
of special privilege upon the Under
wood tariff bill has begun. All of
the moth-eaten old scares Tin the
opinion of thoughtful students of the
tariff. they are but scarecrows) are
being lugged out again. and a great
many honest people will undoubtedly
be frightened by them.
The first Indication OF the tactics
To be used by the beneiiciaries OF
special privilege came in the press
agented mass meeting of linen work.
ers in New York state a desperate
attempt is to be made to throw the
working men of the country into q
panic by parading before them the
bogey of hard times.
But, before they allow themselves
TO be stampeded, the people should
consider who are behind this old
standpat argument against tariff re-
vision downward. Are the working
men themselves doing Il? Last falls
election figures show that the work.
ing men of the country voted almost
solidly for the democratic party that
was pledged to make just the sort of
tariff revision that is contained in
the Underwood bill.
No; those now melting the cry of
hard times and urging the long
abused public to reject the tariff re-
vision before il is given a trial are
the very ones who have profited by
the robber tariff rates Of the Payne
Aldrich law.
Are they now so concerned for the
welfare of the working people when
during the l6 years they have resist
ed inch by inch the slowly successful
efforts of organized labor to make
them disgorge some OF the swollen
profits they have been enabled to
reap by iniquitous tariff rates.
The people should not he thrown
into panic by this old argument
For the first time in years the peo-
pie have it in their power to abolish
the trust-fostering republican tariff,
and the peoples representatives, the
democrats in congress, are going
ahead, undisturbed by the calamity
howlers.
AS matter of fact there will be
no business panic caused by the I'm
dcrwood tariff revision. Some busi-
nesscs. perhaps, those grossly ineffi-
cient in their methods or existing un-
der artificial conditions, may suffer
on account OF the new tariff rates,
but their number will be negligible.
Business, managed by capable men
honestly striving to be more efficient,
cannot be harmed by the tariff re-
ductions. On the contrary, only good
can result. American wastcfulness Is
n by-word to the manufacturers of
the rest of the world. AS long as
our business exists behind an arti-
ficially reared protection wall, this
wastefulness is bound to continue,
and the people pay for waste in the
cost of living. Take away this wall
and you do away with waste while
putting premium on economy and
efficiency The Underwood tariff
will put American business on
healthy foundation of thrift.
Business men in congress are not
worrying. Representative j. Ii. Goe-
Ike of Ohio Is the proprietor of a large
chain factory in that state. During
the consideration of the tariff bill by
the democratic caucus he said to me;
II Just now voted for the Under
wood duty on chains. 1t cuts the
present rate in two AS conditions
are now, this means that we win be
unable to compete with Germany on
some of the better sorts of chains.
but we do not expect to close our fac