The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-07-12
TARIFF
FATAL TO
REPUBLICANS
Senator La Toilette
Warns Stand Pat
Leaders That Tariff
Bill Means Defeat
For Party

! Washington, July In an at
! tack on the administration tariff
! bill, Senator La Toilette Of Wis
consin. Republican member of the
! finance committee. declared today
! in the senate that passage of the
i measure would mean the defeat Of
/ the Republicans in the elections in
Nevember and in the presidential
/ elSetion in 1924.
! II do not understand, said Sem
akr La Toilette, "how men charg-
ed with the duty Of upholding and
pre-erving the principles of the Re-
j publican party, even if they feel no
responsibility to the people who
! elected them. can deliberately force
| through legislation which they
must know means the defeat, if not
tie utter ruin. Of the party.
'If the elections of 1910 and
1914 and 1916 mean. nothing to
them. then let them look to the
!, Republicans primaries held in In
! diana, in Iowa. in North Dakota
and other states within the last
I few months. Powerful indeed must
! be the influences which can blud>
geon through this legislation when
/ the political leaders responsible for
! it know that it means the defeat
! Of their party and the end of the
political lives of most of the lead
ers responsible for this bill"
Reviewing the political upsets
which followed passage of the
j Pavne-Aldrich law, Senator La Fol-
lctte declared that had it not been
for the resentment of the people
against the Wilson administration
!. growing out of the war and what
I followed. there is no doubt that the
Republican party would never have
returned to power unless it reform
/ ed its tariff policy and gave salts
| factory guarantees that its reform
j alton was permanent.
ut would seem that the men re-
sponsible for this Republican ad-
j ministration in the light of his
tory would with the return of the
! Republican party to power frame d
tsriff bill with at least some show
of a decent regard for meeting the
undoubted will and desire Of the
j vast majority Of the people. But it
seems that the same interests which
/ fostered the Dingley and, the even
worse Payne-Aldrich tariff upon q
long suffering public are strong
enough to write into the statutes OF
this country the far worse tariff
provisions contained in the pend
ing bill.
DO the gentlemen responsible
+! for this bill imagine that the peo-
pie have forgotten? Do you think
/ that the people will calmly accept
the burdens in 1922 which they
so decisively refused to carry in
1910 and 1912? There is just one
way, Mr.. President. in which to
save the Republican party from
defeat in the congressional election
of 1922 and from disaster IN the
presidential election Of 1924, and
i that is to return this bill to the
committee and rewrite all the
schedules of it SO that they con.
form TO the Republican principle ei
protection by merely equalizinG the
! cost Of production at home and
abroad, and if they are unable to
do so then to abandon general tar
if legislation at this time.
Discussing specifically the cottop
schedule in the pending bill. Sena-
/ tor La Toilette declared the rates
as reported to the senate averaged
! generally from Il to 90 per cent
higher than those in the "infa-
nous" Payne-Aldrich act and in a
majority of instances from 100 to
! 200 per cent. than in the existing
! Underwood law.
The Wisconsin senator said thai
since he had made his study of the
schedule the finance committee ma
jority had cut down some of the
rates and slipped out one OF the
many jokers that We're slipped into
! the cotton schedule" but that ev-
en- with the reductions made. he
understood that the committee ma,
jori.y intended to reduce the
rates TO the level in the Payne
Aldrich schedule. He argued that
these rates were entirely too high
To support this part of his arsu,
ment. Senator La Toilette present,
ed tables showing the growing eN-
ports and decreasing imports in
cotton goods and presented also
reports prepared by Boston brok-
/ erase firm 10 show that many cot.
ton manufacturers of the country
in recent years have been making
high profits.
Senator La Toilette declared
there never was falSer claim
made by mortal man than that the
tariff wall. w h ich h wall the
bill proposed to erect for the bene
tit Of the cotton manufacturers
will in any way. benefit the laborel
in the cotton mill.
The cotton manufacturer, he
said. pays his labor just as little
as possible without regard to tar
if legislation or TO his profits. The
wage paid in the cotton mills Of
this country and the manner il
which women and children have
been worked in those mills is nat
ional disgrace.
.-----Se-o-
Birmingham. July 1o.-The fu.
neral of Edward Ware Barrett
editor ard publisher OF the Age
Herald, who died suddenly last