The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1913-04-11
SUBMITS
FIRST MESSAGE
Congress in Extra Session Is
Told What President Ex-
poets Done
DOCUMENT UNUSUALLY BRIEF
Tariff Schedules, Says Chief ENeou.
tive, Must Be Altered to Conform
With Modern Conditions 40
eordlng to Party's Pledge.


message to congress, a document OF
unusual brevity, President Wilson to-
day told the senate and house what
he and the country expect in the way
Of revision of the tariff, the task for
which mainly the extraordinary SEES
sion was called, Following is the
text of the message:
To the Senate and House Of Repre-
sentatives:
have called the congress together
in extraordinary session because a
duty was laid upon the party now in
power at the recent elections which 1t
ought to perform promptly, in order
that the burden carried by the people
under existing law may be lightened
as soon as possible and In order, also,
that the business interests 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 re
quired to adjust themselves. 1t Is clear
to the whole country that the tariff
duties must be altered. They must
be changed to meet the radical Altera
ton 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.
ton the tariff schedules have re.
NAMED what they were before the
change began, or have moved in the
direction they we're given when nc
= large circumstance Of our industrial
development was what 1t is today
Our task is to square them with the
actual facts. The sooner that is done
I the sooner we shall escape from suf
, ferlng from the facts and the sooner
our men Of business will be free t
\ thrive by the law of nature 1.-THE ma
ture of free b%usiness) instead Of b,
the law Of legislation and artificial ar
rangement.
. Business Not Normal.
l. We have seer tariff Legislation
e wander very far aheld in our day
y very far indeed from the field in whic
our prosperity might have had a no
e NAL growth and stimulation. No on
d who looks the facts squarely In tn
face or knows anything that lies b,
meath the surface of action can fall I
perceive the principles upon whic
recent tariff legislation has bee
based. We long ago passed beyon
the modest notion Of protecting" tn
Industries of the country and move
e boldly forward to the idea that the
were entitled to the direct patronag
of the government. For a long time
y a time so long that the men now activ
g in public policy hardly remember III
conditions that preceded tive hay
sought in our tariff schedules to civ
: each group of manufacturers or pr
q ducers what they themselves thougl
that they needed in order
maintain a practically exclusiV
! market as against the rest Of tn
d world. Consciously or unconsciousl
we have built up a set Of privilege
and exemptions from competition b
hind which 1t was easy by any, eve
the crudest, forms Of combination
organize monopoly; until at last not
" ing is normal, nothing is obliged
stand the tests of efficiency and eco
n omy, in our world of big business, b
- everything thrlves by concerted a
" rangement. Only new principles
d, action will save us from a final ha
err capitalization OF monopoly and
~ complete loss Of the influences tn
quicken enterprise and keep ind
pendent energy alive.
n It is plain what those principl
must be. We must abolish everythiI
that bears even the semblance Of pr
nege or Of any kind of artificial g
vantage, and put our business m
and producers under the stimulate
OF a constant necessity to be eficieI
as economical, and ~enterprising, maste
on Of competitive supremacy, bett
workers and merchants than any
the world. Aside from the duties Ii
liza upon articles which we do not, a
probably cannot, produce, thereto
and the duties laid upon luxuries a
merely for the sake Of the revenu
81 , they yield. the object Of the tariff
ties henceforth laid must be effect.
competition, the whetting Of Anne
rs. can wits by contest with the wits
sea the rest Of the world.
Development, Not Revolution.
" It would be unwise to nov tow'
this end headlong, with reckl,
haste, or with strokes that cut at
very roots OF what has grown
amongst us by long process and
our own invitation. 1t does not al
Roses From Italy.