The Washington herald., 1913-04-09


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 re-
cent 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 govern
ment.
For a long time-a time so long
that the men now active in public pol
icy hardly remember the conditions
that preceded tive have sought in
our tariff schedules to give each group
of manufacturers or producers what
they themselves thought they needed
in order to maintain a practically ex-
elusive market as against the rest of
the world. Consciously or uncon-
sciously, we have built up a set of
privileges and exemptions from COM
petition behind which it was easy by
any, even the crudest, form of combi-
nation 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 BUSH
ness, but everything thrives by con-
certed arrangement. sOnly new prin-
ciples of action will save us from a
final hard crystaliZation of monopoly
and a complete loss of the influences
that quicken enterprise and keep in
dependent energy alive.
Must Abolish Privilege.
1T is plain what those principles
must be. We must abolish everything
that bears even the semblance of privi-
lege or Of any kind of artificial advan-
tage, and put out business men and
producers under the stimulation of
constant necessity to be efficient, eco
nomical, and enterprising, masters of
competitive supremacy, better workers
and merchants than any in the world.
Aside from the duties laid upon ar
ticles which we do not, and probably
can not produce, therefore, and the
duties laid upon Injuries and merely
for the sake of the revenue they yield,
the object of the tariff duties hence
forth laid must be effective COMPETE
tion, the whetting of American wits by
contest with the wits of the rest of
the world.
1T would be unwise to move toward
this end headlong, with reckless haste,
or with strokes that cut at the very
roots of what has grown up amongst
us by long process and at our own
invitation. 1t does not alter a thing
to upset il and break il and deprive it
of a chance TO change. 1t destroys II.
We must make changes in our fiscal
laws, in our fiscal system, whose OBJ
ject is development. more free and
wholesome development, not revolu-
ton or upset, or confusion.
1--WE need the outlet and the enlarged
field of energy more than we ever did
before. We must build up industry as
we'll and must adopt freedom in the
place of artificial stimulation only so
far as it will build, not pull down. In
dealing with the. tariff the method by
which this may be done will be a mat
ter of judgment, exercised item by
item.
'rro some not accustomed to the eX-
elements and responsibilities of great
er freedom our methods may in some
respects and at some points seem
heroic, but remedies may be heroic and
vet be remedies. 1t is our business to
make sure that they are genuine RENE
dies. Our object is clear. If our mo-
tive is above just challenge and only
an occasional error of Judgment is
chargeable against us, we shall be
fortunate.
Dealing with Facts Of Today.
1--WE are called upon to render the
a great service in more mat
ters than one Our responsibility
should be met and our methods should
be thorough, as thorough, as moderate,
and well considered, based upon the
facts as they are, and not worked out
as if we were beginners. We are to
deal with the facts of our own day,
with the facts of no other, and to make
laws which square with those facts. 1t
is best indeed it is necessary, to begin
with the tariff. 1 will urge nothing
upon you now at the opening of your
session which can obscure that first
object or divert our energies from that
clearly defined duty.
AT a later time / may take the lib
erty of calling your attention to re-
forms which should press close upon
the heels of the tariff changes, il not
them, of which the chief is
the reform of our banking and curren-
cy laws; but just now 1 refrain. For
the present. I put these matters to one
side and think only of this one thing
of the changes in our fiscal system
which may best serve to open once
more the free channels of prosperity
to a great people whom we would serve
to the utmost and throughout both
rank and file"