Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1913-04-11
MESSAGE READ BY PRES. WILSON
TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
To the Senate and House OF Repre-
sentatives;

To the Senate and House OF Repre-
sentatives;
have called the congress togeth
or In extraordinary session because q
duty was laid upon the party now in
power at the recent elections which
1t ought to perform promptly, In or.
der that the burden carried by the
people under exlsting law may b'
lightened as soon as possible and In
order, also, that the business inter,
ests OF the country may not be kept
too long in suspense as to what the
fiscal changes are to be to which
they will be required to adjust them
selves. II Is clear to the whole
country that the tariff duties must
be altered. They must be changed
TO meet the radical alteration in the
conditions Of our economic life
which the country has witnessed
within the last generation While
the whole face and method OF our
Industrial and commercial life we're
being changed beyond recognition
the tariff schedules have remained
what they were before the change
began, or have moved in the dlrec-
ton they were given when no large
circumstance OF our industrial de-
velopment was what It is today. Our
task is to square them with the ac-
tual facts. The sorner that Is done
the sooner We shall escape from suf-
fering from the facts and the soon
er our men of business will be free
to thrive by the law of nature (the
nature Of free business) instead Of
by the law of legislation and artlh-
cial arrangement.
Tariff Legislation.
We have seen tariff legislation
wander very far aneld in our day
very far indeed from the field in
which our prosperity might have had
normal growth and stimulation.
No one who looks the facts squarely
In the face or knows anything that
lies beneath the surface OF action
can fail to perceive the principles
upon which recent tariff legislation
has been based We long ago passed
beyond the modest notion Of pro
tecting' the Industries OF the coun-
try and moved boldly forward to the
Idea that they We're entitled to the
direct patronage Of the government.
For u long time a time 80 long that
the men now active In public policy
hardly remember the conditions that
proceeded Tive have sought in our
tariff schedules to give each group
OF manufacturers or producers what
they themselves thought tnat they
needed In order to maintain a prac-
tlcally exclusive market as against
the rest of the world Consciously
or unconsciously, we have built up
set of privileges and exemptions
from competition behind which It
was so easy by any, even the crudest,
forms Of combination to organize
monopoly; until at last nothing is
normal, nothing is Obliged to stand |
the tests OF efficiency and economy
In our world of big business, but ev-
erything thrives by concerted ar
rangement, Only new principles of
action will save us from n final hard |
capitalization OF monopoly and a
complete loss OF the influences that
quicken enterprise and keep indie
pendent energy alive.
Abolish Protection.
1t is plain what those principles
must be, We must abolish every
thing that bears even the semblance
of privilege or OF any kind of artin-
cial advantage, and put our business
men and producers under the stim-
ulation of constant necessity to be
efficient economical, and enterpris-
Ing, master of competitive suprem-
acy, better workers aud merchants
than any In the world. Aside from
the duties laid upon articles which I
we do not, and probably can not
produce, therefore. and the duties
laid upon luxuries and merely for
the sake Of the revenues they yield. |
the object OF the tariff duties hence |
forth laid must be effective compe- /
tition, the whetting OF American wits |
by contest with the wits OF the rest |
OF the world
No Reckless Haste