St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-11-17
SEN. WEEKS POLICIES
'OutIines What He Would Do If Presf-
dent.


Senator Weeks of Massachusetts.
one of the men most frequently and
favorably mentioned for the Republi-
can nomination for President was
asked by Leslie's to outline his pro-
gram for the restoration of prosperity.
He said: 81 am confident that if it
were not for the European war we
would be in a state of great industrial
depression, and that when that war
ends we shall be flooded with goods
made by labor which will be cheaper
than ever before, and that great num-
bers of European laborers will come
to this country on account of the low
wages, the Distress and heavy taxes
which will then prevail in Europe.
Therefore, it seems to me that there
is no other course for us to take than
to levy a much higher tariff than the
one which now prevails; in fact, in
some respects it may be necessary to
make it higher than the rates provid-
ed in the Payne-Aldrich bill The
present tariff has completely demon
-strated it's incapacity as a revenue
producer, and it is not in any sense a
protective measure. The lessons of
the European war have, in my judg-
ment, completely demonstrated the
necessity for a protective tariff. Ger
many has been living under protect
i've tariff, which has developed its re-
sources so that it has been able to live
within itself without, apparently suf-
fering greatly on account of it's isolat-
ed position. To take one instance, we
can see illustrated how necessary it
is for country to be able to produce
all the articles which it needs. We have
never maintained a duty on dye-stuffs.
&c cd ho+
manufacturers have greatly suffered
Isince the beginning of the war on ac-
count of the supply which we have re-
ceived from Germany being restricted
and, in some cases, cut off. We should.
therefore, put a high duty on the pro-
'duction of dye-stuffs retaining it until
we are able to compete with foreign
competitors and, if necessary, to pro-
duce our own supplies.
This war has also completely dem
onstrated the necessity of our building
up and maintaining a merchant ma
rine, sufficient to carry our own pro-
ducts. If England, which is the great
ocean carrier. had not been able to
control the seas, we would have been
in position of having enormous pro-
ducts ready for market market
ready to receive them in Europe, and
yet, no means VI u
tunately for US, the English have con-
troll of the seas so that we have been
able to take advantage of the prevail
ing conditions and have benefited
greatly thereby; but that will be no
excuse for a failure to provide our
own transportation facilities for fu-
ture use.
We should modify the spirit and
temper of those policies which relate
to the control of government over bus
mess. Conditions had developed in
this country which seemed unWise.
and we have attempted to correct
them by legislating against their re.
suit, instead of against the conditions
themselves. In doing so, we have i'm
posed restrictions and a policy of CO.
'ercion which, 1 think, has produced in
many cases unfortunate results. What
we should do if we are to continue
legislation of that character is to legis-
late to control specific actions so that
business would know what it could do
and what it could not do without its
being necessary to depend on the