The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-04-11

ought 20 perform promptly, in order
that the burden carried by the people
under existing law may be lghtened
a. soon as possible and ia order, also,
thar the business interests of the
country may not be kept too long in
suspense as TO what the fiscal changes
are 20 be 70 which they will be re-
CURED 10 adjust themselves. 1t is clear
% the whole country that the tariff
duties must be altered They must
b. changed TO meet the radical altera-
tion 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 recogni-
tion the tariff schedules have re-
NAMED what they were before the
change began. or have moved in the
direction they were given when no
large circumstance of our industrial
development was what it is today
Our task is TO square them with the
actual facts. The sooner that is done
the sooner we shall escape from suf-
fering from the facts and the sooner
our men OF business will be free to
thrive by the law of nature (the ma
ture OF free business) instead of by
the law Of legislation and artificial ar
Tangement.
Business Not Normal.
We have seen tariff legislation
wander very Tar afield in our day
very far indeed from the field in which
our prosperity might have had a nor
nal growth and stimulation. No one
who looks the facts squarely in the
face or knows anything that lies be
meath 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 protecting" the
industries OF the country and moved
boldly forward TO the idea that they
were entitled to the direct patronage
of the government. For long time
time so long that the men now active
IN public policy hardly remember the
conditions that preceded tive have
sought in our tariff schedules to give
each group OF manufacturers or pro-
ducers what they themselves thought
that they needed in order to
maintain practically exclusive
market as against the rest of the
world Consciously or unconsciously
We have built up a set OF privileges
NET nnpnnnrifiNn ho-
hind which il was easy by any, even
the crudest. forms OF combination to
organize monopoly; until at last moth
ing rs normal, nothing is obliged to
stand the tests OF efficiency and econ
omy In our world of big business. but
everything thriyes by concerted ar
rangement Only new principles of
action will save US from a final hard
capitalization OF monopoly and a
complete loss OF the influences that
quicken enterprise and keep indie
pendent energy alive
Il Is plain what those principles
must be. We must abolish everything
that bears even the semblance of priv
ilege or OF any kind Of artificial ad-
vantage. and put our business men
and producers under the stimulation
Of constant necessity to be efficient,
economical and enterprising. masters
Of competitive supremacy, better
workers and merchants than any in
the world Aside from the duties laid
upon articles which we do not. and
probably cannot. produce, therefore
and ha AnfAau lofA l1vnrinS on
merely for the sake OF the revenues
they yield. the object of the tariff du