Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-26
IMPORTANCE OF THE TARIFF.

When the administration spellbind
ers sing of the prosperity that is EVIL
dent throughout the land they are
apt to forget the conditions that pre-
vailed before the outbreak of the Eu
ropean war. Conditions then were Sc
bad that President Wilson, himself
had to take cognizance of them and
he did to the extent of branding the
depression a psychological one, due
to lack of confidence rather than to
any tangible thing,
Business was decidedly on the
blink" Manufacturing plants were
closed, numerous big concerns were in
desperate straits. many of them had
already gone to the wall and thou
sands upon thousands of work
men were hunting for jobs that did not
exist. The Underwood tariff was IN
/ force and it was giving very fair
Fsample of what happens when foreign
made goods are permitted to displace
American made goods.
The administration was frantic and
there We're threats against certain
chimerical "big interests" that were
alleged to be causing the panic. But
a search for these "big interests"
failed to reveal them and so finally, It
was necessary to tell the people that
the panic was just psychological
in other words that the causes We're
merely mental-people just thought
they were hungry and that the low
tariff had nothing to do with it..
But the fact really was that the
American. business man and the Amer
lean manufacturer foresaw what was
coming and were preparing for It,
That was what caused manufacturers
to stop stocking their storehouses and
to begin selling at cut prices. That
was what caused merchants to buy
less and less as the day grew nearer
when they could buy cheaper from
Europe. g3
American investors had their eyes
open and they knew that money in
weston in American manufactures
which were competing with European
manufactures. was unsafe. Such COM
petition could not be otherwise than
ruinous to- Americans.
And so, every wide awake American
with invested money, whether it was
ten dollars or ten million dollars, be.
gan playing safe in an endeavor to get
his money CIT before the crash came.
And the result was the depression
that preceded the war That it would
have developed into a disastrous pan
ic had it gone few months further,
goes without fear of contradiction. n
Then came the war. WHAT tariff
failed to do, the war did. American
manufacturers saw that they were
safe from foreign competition for
time and that before long they would
be invading European markets, in
stead of having the Europeans over
run our markets. Business picked UP.
It has been picking up ever since The
story of our wonderful trade with Eu.
rope and with markets that ordinarily
belonged to Europe, is history now. To
day there is no idle factory in the
country. War orders provide work for
every able.man.
Contrast conditions today with con-
ditions month before the war broke
out Contrast the state of competition
today, with that which ruled when
Europe's workmen were busy at their |
benches instead of in the trenches.
Can you not see that in spite Of our
free trade tariff, American industry is
today fully protected? Is it not our
safety from competition that is re.
sponsible for our present high tide of
prosperity? If you can make anything
else out of it, we would be glad to
hear It. @a
Consider now. what will happen
when the war is over and wars pro.
lection for our industries ends.
And after considering that, think
we'll as to the important part the tar
1ff deserves in the political campaign
now being waged.