Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1913-04-09
GETS
WILSON MESSAGE {: / !:
Brief Document Tells Purpose of
5$.. Extra Session.
MUST ALTER TARIFF DUTIES
Lawmakers Asked to Square the
Schedules With the Actual ys
ti@. Facts Of Industrial and +
Is Commercial Life.

4; Washington. April s. President
Wilson's message, read today to the
senate and house at the beginning Of
the extra session, was a brief, point
ed document setting forth in general
Il terms what congress is expected to do
], In the matter OF tariff revision. The
message was as follows: stjs3 X.
4 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 it
ought to perform promptly, in order
that the burden carried by the people
under existing law may be lightened
Z as soon as possible and In order. also,
that the business interests Of the
8 country may not be kept too long in
i suspense as to what the fiscal changes
/ are to be. to, which they will be re-
quired to adjust themselves. 1t is clear
20 the whole country that the tariff
duties must be altered. They must
be changed to meet the radical altera-
tion in the conditions of our ecnomic
life which the country has witnessed
within the last generation.
While the whole face AID method OF
our Industrial and commercial life
were being changed beyond recogni-
tion the tariff u schedules have re-
manned 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 1t 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
5rangement.
Business Not Normal. HI &:
We have seen tariff legislation
wander very far aheld in our day
very far indeed from the field in which
our prosperity might have had 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
q 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 y-.in order to
maintain a practically exclusive
market az against the rest of the
world. Consciously or unconsciously,
We have built up 81 set Of privileges
and exemptions from competition be-
hind which 1t was easy by any. even
the crudest, forms Of combination to
organize monopoly: until at last moth
ing IL normal. nothing Is obliged to
stand the tests Of efficiency and econ.
omy, in our world of big business, but
everything thrives by concerted ar-
rangement. Only new principles of
action will save us from a nnal hard
capitalization Of monopoly and Q
complete loss Of the Influences that
quicken enterprise and keep indie.
pendent energy alive.
t It 10 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 mot, and
probably cannot. produce. therefore.
and the duties Laid upon Injuries and
merely for the sake Of the revenues
they YIELD the object Of the tariff du-
ties henceforth laid must be effective
competition, the {whetting Of Ameri-
can wits BY contest with the Wits of
the rest Of the world. l.y4s zen s2&55
Development, Not Revolution.
~ It would be unwise to move toward
this end headlong, with reckless
haste. or with strokes that cut at tho
very roots Of what has grown up
amongst Us by long process and ut
our own invitation. It does not alter
thing to upset 1t and break It and
deprive it OF chance to change. 1t
destroys it. We must make changes
in our fiscal laws. in our fiscal system,
whose object 10 development, . more
free and wholesome development. not
revolution or upset or confusion. We
must build up trade. especially for
sign trade. We need the outlet and
the enlarged field Of energy more
than we ever did before. We must
build up industry as well and must
adopt freedom in the place Of arti-
sdcial stimulation only 30 far a. 1t will
build, not pull down. In dealing with
the tariff the method by which this
may be done will be matter OF judg.
msnt, exercised item by item.