The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-04-14
4 Democratic MESSAGE.

IlCS1uCuI WIlSoA AAioI AhS0o~oS
to Congress is thoroughly Demo-
cratic Like most of Mr.. Wilson's
writings, it will bear re-reading. I'm
der the circumstances it must be
regarded as a great public paper.
This is so because it displays wis
dom in it's devotion to one subject
the tariff; and for the further rea-
son that it deals with that subject
in the frank and thorough fashion
that has already come to be accep-
ted as the Wilson characteristic.
There is, first, the recognition of
the duty laid upon the party in
power at the recent elections-the
duty of doing something that shall
actually give the people relief. The
program suggested is not an abnor-
NAL one. On the contrary, 1t is
an EFFORT to restore harmony in our
fiscal affairs. There have been rad1-
cal changes in the conditions OF
our economic life during the last
generation, but. in the language OF
the President-and this paragraph
should be held firmly before the
eyes of those who object to tariff
changes-in the language of the
President: while the whole face
and method of our industrial and
commercial life were being changed
beyond recognition the tariff sched-
ules have remained 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 suffering from
the facts and the sooner 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 artificial ar
rangement."
There is here no apology to the
system that stands today frankly FOL
plumber where a generation ago its
advocates honestly regarded it as
patriotic. According to the Pres1'
dent, it is now direct patronage OF
the government" for the private in
dustries of the country which were
once merely to be protected" In
the building of our tariff schedule:
the thought uppermost in the build
ers' minds has been ITO give eacf
group of manufacturers or pro
ducers what they themselves thou
ght that they needed in order tt
maintain a practically exclusive maj
ket against the rest of the world
AS result of this bad practice, WA
have built up a set Of privileges be
hind which monopoly has been or
Gaal.sd aaA he sssys bo, ls ,inIg
cy and economy, In the -wur1u o,
big business. but everything thrive'
by concerted arrangement"
LII IuC CSAuSuIS Wow, LIN
object of the tariff duties hence
forth laid must be effective compe
tition, the whetting OF American
wits by contests with the wits OF
the rest Of the world" He does
not advise that this course be adop.
ted with RECKLESS haste" but Il
is our business to discover genuine
remedies and then apply them. The
anxiety to avoid reckless haste" Ii
not to be taken as an excuse for 6
do-nothing policy. On the contrar
the President makes 1t clear thai
when the tariff program has beer
completed it will commend itself te
the intelligent American citizen who
we'll understands the difference be.
tween political bombast and patriot.
ic effort.
President Wilson has, in a nut
shell, outlined the Democratic pro-
gram on the tariff question, land his
first message to ongress will be
given place by Democrats along
side of his splendid inaugural ad-
dress.-The Commoner.