Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-02-21
ROOT ON THE TARIFF

ROOT ON THE TARIFF
Elihu Root made speech the other day at the
New York Republican convention. single para
graph in that speech invites our attention and
considerations He took up the subject Of the
tariff, and he did it very gingerly, handling it
with tongs, SO to speak. Inasmuch as most OF
the Republican key-noters and platform makers
have carefully avoided this topic altogether, 1t
is interesting to see what Mr.. Root has to say
about it. Here it is: "Our new tariff law must
be framed SO that American industry Will not
be ruined, especially SO that the manufacture OF
things which the war has shown to be necessary
for the independence of the country shall not be
stopped, and it must be framed so as not to
destroy the export trade to Europe winch, dl-
rectly or indirectly, will enable Europe to pay
her debts and remain solvent" Time was when
the high protective tariff was the great political
asset of the Republican party. Now they roar
about it gently as a sucking dove The plank
proposed by Elhu Root in the tariff reminds US
Of the labor planks Of the Republican party in
the past, which favored wages that were salts
factory to labor and satisfactory to employers
at the same time. If we understand Mr.. Roots
idea of the tariff, he favors one which will pro-
tect the manufacturers OF this country by keep
ing foreign products from competing with those
of the United States. SO far as all articles needed
in the prosecution of the late war are concerned,
and that definition covers pretty near every
thing produced in this country, and at the same
time he wants a tariff SO framed that Europe
will continue to buy our exports and be able to
pay for them and remain solvent. lnasmuch as
Europe cannot pay us in gold for the exports we
are sending her, it is evident that the only way
she can pay US is by sending us goods There
FORE the kind of tariff EHhu Root wants the
Republican party to frame is one that Will keep
European goods from coming in to take the place
of American goods and at the same time let
European goods come in to pay for our exports
It is a lovely combination, but who could frame
tariff that would at one and the same time let
European goods come in freely to this country
to pay debts due US and at the same time keep
them out to protect our own manufacturers!
That no Republican statesman has yet been
able to devise such tariff is evident from the
fact that although the Republican congress has
been in session for nearly a year, nothing what
ever has been done to bring in new tariff BILL
and the Republican leaders have announced that
nothing whatever will be done about it until
after the next presidential election. Why do
they thus leave a Democratic tariff IN operation
all this time? They have told Us often enough
what horrible tariff that was and how it throt-
tied the industries Of the country. They have
told US that they were going to abolish the in
come tax and go back to the good old tariff tax
as means of raising revenue. And then when
the people gave them control Of both houses Of
congress, they fool away their time in making
speeches about everything the Democrats have
done, or failed to do, but they ignore the tariff.
Not blessed thing have they done about repeal
ing the Democratic tariff bill and putting high
protective tariff in its place. The fact is that
they do not know how to accomplish the trick
Mr. Root advises Of keeping out foreign goods to
keep them from replacing American goods and
at the same time letting them in to pay the
debts due our exporters. We admit it is a hard
problem to solve and we understand why the
Republican leaders prefer not to talk much about
the tariff-at least prior to election day.
THE ADRIATIC QUESTION.
FrrOnean neNSnaners generally describe the