Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-24
THE TARIFF AS
A MORAL ISSUE
Protection Is Part Of Americas
Obligation to the Signers of the
Declaration of independence.
It's the Payment of Debt
By B. X. LITTLE

| This is e.:
A protective tariff became a necessity 4
this country the moment that the Declara'
tlon Of Independence was signed in this cit,
on July 4, 1879. This is why:
The men who signed that document
ushered in a new era on enrth.
They did enough in drawing up tho pot-
! ical principles OF this freer life for men
They did not actually define the means and
terms by which their new system was TO be
sustained and maintained. But in creating
system so fine they created the necessity
OF its maintenance. Giving us what they did
they gave us the obligation Of carrying It
on. That obligation is written between every
line they composed. Those men did more
thaa sign declaration of rights; they dedi-
Gated us to the preservation OF those rights.
Thus far we have discharged the duty
fairly well. We have thought and we have
fought for those rights. But you cannot
have merely by fat new political system
and the new life growing out Of II. other
wise the Declaration is nothing but spoiled
parchment. II is not enough that the new
life shall be loved and fought for. II has
got TO be paid for i'm cash. The Declaration
we are so proud Of and spout so freely isn't
the collection of words we have come TO
think it. We are living 1t every day. And
like every other living thing, it must have
its sustenance.
In other words, you can't keep n Declara-
ton Of independence going without a tariff.
How Nations Succeed
While the rest OF the world remains as
II ls men cannot set up men to live
larger life Of free industry and opportunity
without taking mighty good care to provide
practical means of carrying out the prin-
ciple. We all know we'll enough what
life has sprung up here since 1875. We know
we'll enough that the working man is the
backbone Of it all. No country ever lasted
very long that failed to give its workers
chance. Ours has been made what 1t Is
by printers apprentices, by rail-splitters and
canal boys. It's great men and its average
men have always been workers This coun-
try is what It is because its workers have
always had a chance.
But now their chance has to face new
dangers. For a long time our tariff con-
sisted OF the Atlantic Ocean. It left us to
develop our chances without competition
that is competition with workers who
yearned for no such chances as ours. But
now steam navigation, the cable, the whole
business of progress have thrown our work.
ers into competition with all the other
workers OF the world. In point of brains
there is no danger of that. In point of
brains our workers are removed from COM
petition. But that's only why the competi-
tion on other grounds is so dangerous.
On the day the Declaration was signed
we had to have a tariff The necessity was
postponed for time. But on the day the
first steamboat crossed the Atlantic the
IN
That first steamboat asked us stern ques-
tion.
1t asked just this-Are we going to have
American workers and American homes in
,merica? Or are we going to have German,
italian, Japanese workers and homes in
america?
What does the Declaration say on this
point? What are we going to make the
tariff say?
The man on the street is bored by the
tariff. He thinks it is a complicated mathe-
matical problem a far-away business propo-
sition. 1t is that. but it is more. 1t is a
biting. burning, immediate moral issue. On
it's face it isn't very poetic; underneath it is
just as much burning issue as the preser-
walton of the Union was in 1860. We needed
a Lincoln to make us see that government
of the people was in danger then. that tear
ing up the Union was tearing up the Declara-
ton Government of the people was in
jeopardy then. Prosperity OF the people
and all that depends upon It, is in danger
now. And we need a business Lincoln to
make that clear.
The True Old Sayings
All the old sayings about the tariff are
truer than ever. 1t is as true as ever that.
on brains, on business organization, on
scientific economies. Yankee manufactures
can compete with any other. manufactures.
1t is true that a protected manufacturer is
apt to become rich What of It, II the
American worker and all his chances are
protected, too? The tariff isn't for the
manufacturer. Too much has been made of
that. The tariff is for the worker He
comes first. If American fortunes become
swollen, they become swollen at some point
between the worker and his employer. not
at some point between the worker and the
tariff The tariff is no answer to that prob
lem. The worker is the man TO protect, ana
1t is more important TO protect him from
poverty than from riches. Save him from
the poor. and he will save himself from the
rich
No matter what are the economic aspects
OF the tariff. they all come down TO a moral
basis Here is the American worker. the
man who has made this country. He has
done II because he has had his chance 10
do IL. Ever since l77g ba he. -. Al,