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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1907)
mriT j-; "-"?in"n.'lHflffW!Pgf? 1 -'!r$imyt 4 The Commoner. iw . MILES TO FORAKER Tho "Amorican Industries prints the fol lowing lottor written by tho chairman of the tariff committee of tho National Association of Manufacturers to Senator Forakor. New York, August 23, 1907. Hon. Joseph Benson Forakor, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dear Sir: 1 see -by the public press that you object to the 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 tho report of this tariff committee as approved by our association, copies of which are in general circulation. Wo hold, as quoted by Secretary Taft and previously stated 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 these features and nothing more. Standing on this platform, ABOUT FORTY PER CENT OF ALL. TPIE 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-4ess 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 -for rqvision, representing 1,510 members. Sixteen industries voted against revision, representing 102 members. When, on tho 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 be established by congress early in the coming session to investigate and report upon the "Situation, and not one uninformed upon tho subject who merely collects the definition of President Roosevelt, of ourselves and others who have studied the question that the measure of protection should be as above defined. Tho proof upon which the schedules will be made under this definition, you must allow, should not be spread abroad in the public prints,' Washington Letter Washington, D. C, September 16. The president is very busy preparing his seven or eight addresses he 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. u The president, however, might well make his Canton address an occasion for some explan ations to which the public would give more than jnv.oouw tm3 muniment or Ills solemn promise to carry out the policies of Presi dent McKinley. He might explain whether he v.. WuB.uwo may mo uuvmg oeen nresidanh W mroe-iourths of the period of President Mc Kin ey s second term binds him to bow to the 8i?l,rit If iot t0 tt, letler' of our third-term tra dition. The peoplo are at present far more in terested in some presidential remarks along for the truth is found in the cost books of our companies. Those books should bo required by the 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, The public need not ques tion for a moment that we, who are particularly interested in and desirous 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 ho does ask for it, should ask that it be given to him publicly. I suppose you T 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 woul;d 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 they are affected by -the changed and 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 missionr This would be a reflection upon Amer ican commonsense to question the honesty of our securing the establishment of such a com mission, this coming winter. Very truly yours " m , H. E. MILES, Chairman Tariff Committee National Association of Manufacturers. 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 accept an other nomination." " , ?ILdI5arlly'ucl1 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 Bailed numerous tilts with sometime friends resulting in repeated elections to the Ananias club havl cot strengthened popular belief in the sacred ness of Theodore Roosevelt's word. Added 'to this are the persistent and repeated asserting of his closest adherents that the presidenfwm accept another nomination if it is forced upon him. And these assertions have gained a double credence because of the continued RoosovpT? silence and the "Barkis is willin' "attitude tSe president has assumed. me The president seems to be reticent i.nA but one subject, and that is his nomination fnr a third term. His silence in this reject to say ' J8L ' " """ . ' r- '-' 'VOLUME 7,-NUMBER 33 the least is significant. In January of this v ar a. Roosevelt third term league was establish o 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 wide ly circulated, published and commented un The president waB silent. Representative James F, Sherman, ch; ir man of the republican congressional commitiVo and a constant counsellor of the . president has stated repeatedly his "unqualified convicting :' that Roosevelt must be nominated in lftok Senator Elkins 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 fdll in line for the third term. Representative Hull of Iowa, saw the president, and declared that no man could 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 home, liad 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 "Roosevelt 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. thrillh)f 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 Theddore 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 tho 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, &nd 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 ICracke, a naval officer of the port of New York, and one of tho right hand men of Timothy Woodruff, the leader A J I 3 1 A aLLoito-j ik 'tf&ifax&s&i&dltiiNiiti s