Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-04-28
James j. Hill Says Revision
Upward Would Result In
Unsettled Business For
Next Two Years.
ONLY POLITICIANS WANT IT
Says Country Can Live and
Thrive Under Present Con-
ditions, If Ordinary Bust
ness Sense Prevails.

New York. April 24.-Proof that
many big business men. formerly
aligned With the old high tariff
interests now are just as unalter-
ably opposed to revision of the tar
iff is contained in the following state
ment OF James j. Hill. president OF the
Great Northern railroad. In present
ing his argument, Mr.. Hill discusses the
subject from the angle of the publish
er and his public and makes it plain
that the newspapers are the most pow
erful medium for molding popular
opinion.
Mr.. Hill was to have delivered his ad-
dress before the members of the AS
sociated Press at their annual dinner
here, but was unable to attend.
He said: zone exercise OF the adj
mitted influence of the newspaper
upon public opinion. ~foreshadowed by
current events. seems worthy of men,
ton here. No one accustomed to read
the signs OF the times can fail to see
that a determined effort will be made
to give the tariff the leading place in
the next national campaign. / refer,
or course. not to any readjustment of
particular items which experience may
nave shown to be out of proportion to
the rest or unsuited to existing bust
ness. but to an effort to secure another
general revision on an ascending scale
or rates. A lumber of political leaders
adhere to the old belief once stated
frankly I'm the words. There is one
more president i'm the tariff And of
course all who believe that they would
De beneficiaries of changes to be mad
are promoting the movement. Upon the
attitude of the newspapers, which are
now being felt out, will depend its
rate. lis 1T not the province of you
gentlemen to consider this matter dis.
passionately before you follow the die
tum of any leader?
Country Can Thrive.
What share. If any, of the business
difficulties of the country is due to
recent changes in the tariff cannot be
determined. We know, on the other
hand. that unfavorable effects have
been produced by legislative attempts
to hamper business, and by the
economic and financial revolution due
to war abroad. We cannot, without
more time and more light, assign eff
rect proportion. That the country can
live and thrive under the existing
tariff is clear to all. Aside from its
purely political aspect. which no truly
patriotic man ought to approve. a re-
opening of the whole tariff question
with a view to the restoration of
practices that brought disaster can
look only toward an increase of prices
and be justified only by a promised in
crease in wages. But are these things
ASLiiS uSSIidDtc. AT lnc cost at which
they must be obtained?
The public certainly does not want
higher prices. And the increase in
wages, which is a benefit only SO long
as 1t is economically justified, turns to
the injury of labor as we'll as capital
When II passes the point where it can
be sustained by general Industrial con-
dltions. For instance. great public i'm
provements in New York city have
been lately held in suspense because
the high rate of wages made it inn
practicable to carry them on. and the
rule that only citizens could be en-
ployed was imposed. The whole power
of the state had to be exercised in
favor of the repeal of that provision.
Was the resulting deadlock a benefit
TO anSnoay Inc question is pertinent
1T must now be answered in
all u industries: and If it is proposed
to make wages higher a large number
of them must curtail or suspend op-
erations.
Must Not Raise Wages Now.
The number of available jobs de-
ponds on the rate of wages. There is
always work for Il larger number of
men If they could be obtained at a
lower figure. And the ranks Of the un-
employed, unhapp:iy so swollen o. late,
are filled not only by those who have
been discharged. but by men laid off
temporarily or indefinitely. These lat
ter can charge their misfortune largely
to wage rate maintained about what
would be the normal figure under the
free Tiay of the law of the market. II
q man can find work only $50 DAYS in
the year-a common condition Just now
at a wage of $3.50 per day, his total
income is 1916 for the year. But II ne
could obtain work for 300 days in the
year at 81 per day, it would bring him
in 5000; The cash gain is great, to
say nothing OF the Generalization that
forced dleness induces. 1t does not
seem that anything could be more
against the interests of working peo-
pie than a plan to raise wages still
further in a period of depression.
This country must either remain in
the ranks Of those completing for the
worlds trade in the worlds markets,
or it must get out. But it has now no
choice. Under the stimulus applied
through many years by tariff subsidies
the manufacturing interest has beer
built up to a point where. as a rule,
the home demand cannot absorb more
than two-thirds Of it's product,
Whether this is a good or bad thing
does not matter now. We are con-
cerned only with the fact and it's i'm
pllcations. What is to be done with
the extra One-third? 1t is a question
to which the .dwindling of all markets
under the pressure of war has given a
keener edge.
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