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MILES TO FORAKER
The "American Industries'i prints the fol
lowing lottor written by tho chairman of tho
tariff committee of the National Association of
Manufacturers to Senator Foraker.
Now York, August 23, 1907. Hon. Joseph
BenBon Foraker, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dear Sir:
3 see -by the public press that you object to tho
j position taken by Secretary Taft in his speech
at Columbus, Ohio, and by the National Associa
tion of Manufacturers in declaring for tariff re
vision without backing up their position -with
full particulars as to the Industries whose sched
ules should be revised and the reasons therefor.
I trust you have read the report of this tariff
committee as approved by our association, copies
of which are in general circulation.
We hold, as quoted by Secretary Taft and
previously statod by President Roosevelt, that
"the minimum measure Is the difference in the
cost of production in this country and abroad."
The protective schedules thus figured must carry
with it a very ample margin for safety; it must
make full allowance for the possibility of hard
times abroad and good times here, for dumping,
and all other contingencies. This done, it is
truly protective a.nd it is only so as it covers
those features and nothing more
Standing on this platform, ABOUT FORTY
PER CENT OF ALL. THE MEMBERS OF OUR
ASSOCIATION, WHO HAVE BY CORRESPON
DENCE PRONOUNCED FOR REVISION, DE
CLARE IN THEIR LETTERS THAT THEIR
OWN SCHEDULES MAY PROPERLY BE RE
DUCED FIFTY PER CENT OR MORE WITH
OUT HURT TO THEIR RESPECTIVE INDUS
TRIES OR TO THE- COUNTRY AT LARGE.
Others name a-less amount,- while, only a few
declare for no reduction. - The letters in satis
faction of this statement are on file in the office
of the president of the association In St. Louis,
and are known to the managing officers of the as
sociation. This in itself, as stated by Secretary
Taft, should be sufficient for Initial action on
the part of congress.
We have divided our membership Into
twenty-seven -different Industries, out of -which
a majority in it of fifty-six industries voted lor
revision, representing 1,510 members. Sixteen
industries, voted against revision, representing
102 members. Whea on the above basis an as
sociation, of the experience and standing of ours
" makes this statement and. you ask for further
particulars, it seems to us entirely proper that
-we return to our demand, which is the bone
and marrow of the present contention, that a
tariff commission high-minded, semi-judicial and
impartial he established by congress early in the
" coming session to investigate and report upon
the "Situation, and not one uninformed upon the
subject -who merely collects the definition of
President Roosevelt, of ourselves and others
-who have studied the question that the measure
iot protection should be as above defined.
Tho proof upon -which the schedules will
bo made under this definition, you must allow,
should not be spread abroad in the public prints,"
r.i
for the truth is found in the cost books of our
conjpanies. Those books should be required by
tho commission, they should not be required by
you for general publication. Establish a semi
judicial tribunal. It is a matter of surprise that
one of your experience and opportunity should
evidence any uncertainty -as to the correctness
of our statements, T,he public need not ques
tion for a moment that we, who are particularly
interested in and desjrpus for protection, that
we who in great measure depend upon it and
that the great president of the United States
and Secretary Taft could make the statements
we had without having ourselves most adequate
information upon which to found these state
ments. The evidence is immediately at hand
and it is past explanation why a great and ex
perienced senator of the United States should
ask for it, or if he does ask for It, should ask
that it be given to him publicly. I suppose you
do it partly because no tariff has ever been de
termined by such semi-judicial, entirely honor
able and accurate investigation and proof as
we would call for. Quite the opposite methods
have prevailed. -A majority of the- members of
congress knowing thfs, privately declare for re
vision and of course, do so upon good informa
tion. Of this we have knowledge. Establish
a semi-judicial tribunal before which we are to
appear, it being determined in advance that we
shall have such protection as we can qualify for
before such a tribunal and that the. moneys of
the public, which after all belong to the indi
viduals who compose that public, shall not be
taken from those pockets for our benefits ex
cept 'as we justify in full judicial manner, and
we are satisfied. Not otherwise. Secretary Taft
calls for-such an investigation. President Roose
velt best of all defined the need of it in his mes
sage to congress in 1902 when he said: "A com
mission of business experts can be appointed
whose duty it should be to recommend action
by congress after a deliberate and scientific ex
amination of the various schedules as Ihey are
affected by -the changed ahd the changing con
ditions. The unhurried and unbiased report of
this confmission would show what changes
should be made in the various schedules and
how far these changes could -go without chang
ing the great prosperity which this country Is
now employing and upsetting its fixed economic
policy."
It Is everywhere conceded that the revision
must come at latest Immediately after the next
presidential election. It can only be "unhurried
and unbiased," without changing the great pros
perity which this country is now enjoying. ' It
can only" be a real protection, protection without
graft, and with equal justice to all through the
previous investigation and labors of such a com
missionv This would be a reflection upon Amer
ican commonsense to question the honesty of
our securing the establishment of such a commission-this
coming winter. Very truly yours
H. E. MILES,
Chairman Tariff Committee National Association
of Manufacturers.
Washington Letter
Washington, D. C, September 16. The
president is very busy preparing his seven or
eight addresses ho will deliver on his western
trip. These speeches will, in all probability,
be mere reiterations of policies already an
nounced in the president's former addresses.
The Provincetown speech, in fact, added noth
ing, unless it be denunciation to former presi
dential proposals; and it Is extremely .doubtful
if the speeches at Canton, St. Louis, Cairo, Mem
phis, Vicksburg, or Nashville, will disclose any
thing new or startling. At least that is the
opinion of keen political observers in Wash
ington. it Th? President- however, might well make
his Canton address an occasion for some explan
ations tO Which thfi Till hi to mnnU ! .l.
uu,.uwuu iaoui8 me lumnment of his
solemn promise to carry out the policies of Presi
dent McKinley. Ho might explain whether he
still considfirn thnt ha v.n-.,t 1 . , 7
x if .. : .. """B "ecu president
for three-fourths of tho period of President Mc-
Kinlov'd aannn1 (nrnn Vl-J. -j j.
V 1 i 1 1 it , .umuH mm T0 Dw to the
spirit, if not to tho letter, of our third-term tra
dition. Tho people are at present far more in
terested in some presidential remarks along
these lines than to any lengthy reiteration of
President Roosevelt's already too-often repeated
plans and policies. The people are anxious to
know if the president is going to adhere to the
measured words he uttered on the eve of his
election in 1904 when, with full knowledge of
their meaning, he said: "Under no circum
stances will I be a candidate for, or accent an
other nomination."
Ordinarily, such words coming from as dis
tinguished a public man as Theodore Roosevelt
would be accepted as final. But the president
has a reputation in Washington, if not elsewhere
for taking frequently the woman's privilege of
changing his mind. Controversies with his
presidential opponent, with Harriman, with
Whitney, with Chandler, Tillman and Bailev
numerous tilts with sometime friends resulting
in repeated elections to the Ananias club have
not strengthened popular belief in the sacred
ness of Theodore Roosevelt's word. Added to
this are the persistent and repeated assertions
of his closest adherents that the president will
accept another nomination if it Is forced upon
him. And these assertions have gained a double
credence because of the continued Roosevelt
silence and the "Barkis is willin' " attitude the
president has assumed.
The president seems to be reticent unon
Tmt one subject, and that Is hia nomination for
a third term. HIb silence In this respect to say
the least is significant. In January 0f this v ar
a Roosevelt third term league was establishr (i
In Chicago, and a magazine called "Limelight"
was brought out in the interest of the move
ment. The platform of the league calling for
the re-election of President Roosevelt was wim
ly circulated, published and commented up'. 1
The president was silent.
Representative James F. Sherman, ch. h
man of the republican congressional comrniti.o
and a constant counsellor of the president h..s
stated repeatedly his "unqualified convictio '
that Roosevelt must be nominated in I9nx
Senator Blklns of West Virginia, has declared
for a third term; Senator Warner of Missouri
a close friend of the president's, said that tho
republicans of Missouri, were merely waiting for
the word from Roosevelt to fall in line for tho
third term. Representative Hull of Iowa, saw
the president, and declared that no man con id
get the delegates from that state until the peo
ple were absolutely sure that the president was
not in the running. The governor of Iowa a
presidential possibility himself, said that the
people of the west will insist upon Roosevelt s
nomination, and he must accept. Eben W. Mar
tin, until last March a congressman-from South
Dakota, saw the president before going homo,
had a long talk with him, and then gave out
an interview favoring the chief executive for
four years more. "The republicans of the coun
try will .nominate Hoosevelt and he will accept."
said Senator Hansbrough of North Dakota, after
an Interview with Roosevelt. Senator Burkett,
of Nebraska, visited the president, and an hour
later gave out an interview favoring him for
a third term. Senator Bourne has visited the
president and his secretary fifty times in the
last few months, and yet he comes out after each
consultation with the president in more thrilliw
interviews for the third term. Senator Bever
idge about to start for Europe saysvthat tho
issues' of the next campaign will be "Roosevelt."
In July Judge Selden P. Spencer of St. Louis
gave-out an interview saying that he had been
to Washington "on matters political, and in con
ference with persons authorized to speak for the
president' and that he was "in a position to
say that President Roosevelt had decided that
he could not decline the nomination .it tendered
to him unanimously. These are but a few of
the statements given out by friends of the presi-
dent. If Theodore Roosevelt has any Influence
' with his friends, and that is one thing that all
men give him credit for having, and If he was
seriously desirous of not being nominated for a
third term, why does he continue to receive
these friends and send them away from the
White House door more persistent and enthu
siastic third-term boomers than ever. If he
can't persuade them to' respect his wishes In this
matter, why is he so silent when they assume
to speak so authoritatively in his behalf? It
does look very much as if the president was
winking at a renomination, and that like Barkis
he "is willin'."
Numerous newspapers throughout tho
country have conducted canvasses of the politi
cal situation, and, the more the matter is can
vassed among the republicans the more it is
considered by republican state chairmen, and
the republicans in state legislatures, the more
it becomes evident that there is a movement to
force the nomination upon Mr. 'Roosevelt. Tho
recent action of nearly a score of chairmen of
state committees, following resolutions passed
by more than a dozen state legislatures, of which
the action by the Michigan legislature is espe
cially pronounced, it is difficult to see how the
president can remain silent if he really does
not desire a re-nomination.
The movements of the president's cabinet
and their published interviews at the end of
each new -trip is a suspicious circumstance that
lends color to the assertion that the president
is really seeking to have the nomination forcod
upon him, and this fact should urge him to make
some definite announcement in regard to the
matter. Assistant Postmaster General Hitch
cock made two trips throughout the south osten
sibly on official business, but upon his return
on each occasion it was noted that his interview
consisted entirely of the announcement; that the
south insisted upon the nomination of Theo
dore Roosevelt. The president's private inves
tigator, James B. Reynolds, toward the end of
April, made a suspicious investigation In New
York state as to the sentiment there for Roose
velt, and letters were published marked "con
fidential" which had been sent out by an organi
zation with which Reynolds was connected in
quiring into this matter, Fred Kracke, a naval
officer of the port of New York, and one of tho
right hand men of Timothy Woodruff, the leader
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