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The Commoner0
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CHARLES W. BRYAN, PUBLISHER
VOL. 8, NO. 32
Lincoln, Nebraska, August 21, 1?08
Whole Number 396
JUSTICE TO ALU
Recognizing that I am indebted for my nomination to the rank and file of our party,
and that my election must come, if it comes at all, from the unpurchased and unpur
chaseable suffrages of the American people, J promise, if entrusted with the responsibilities
of this high office, to consecrate whatever ability 1 have to the one purpose of making this,
in fact, a government in which the people rule-a government which will do justice to all,
and offer to every one the highest possible stimulus to great .and persistent effort, by
assuring to each the enjoyment of his just shaie of the proceeds of his toil, no matter
in what part of the vineyard he labors, or to what occupation, profession or calling he
devotes htmself. Prom Mr. Bryan s Speech of Acceptance.
MR. BRYAN O
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THE TARIFF
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'Delivered at D1!Vn7aHiV5aS'iS,' v: v ....
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
In my notification speech I stated that, as the campaign progressed,
I would discuss the question, "Shall the People Rule," as it applies
to the various issues involved in this campaign. I begin with the
tariff question, because it is the most lasting of our economic ques
tions and the one upon which the leading parties have most fre
quently opposed each other. Other questions may come and go, but
questions which affect taxation, like Tennyson's "Brook" "go
on forever." As the Government is not a Lady Bountiful, with
unlimited means, but merely an organization which must collect on
the one hand what it pays out on the other, the subject of taxation
is an ever present one. We may discuss how much we should collect,
what methods we should employ in collecting, and how best to dis
tribute, through appropriations, the money collected, but we are
never far removed from the subject of taxation. Iowa has been se
lected for the presentation of what I desire to say upon this subject,
because the Iowa Republicans were pioneers in the effort to secure
tariff revision at the hands of the Republican party. I come among
them to define and defend the Democratic position on the tariff
question; because I believe it will commend itself to them. That the
issue may be clearly stated, I shall read you the Democratic plank
on this subject, and then the Republican plank:
The Democratic platform says:
"We welcome the belated promise of tariff reform now offered
by the Republican party as a tardy recognition of the righteousness
of the Democratic position on this question; but the people cannot
safely entrust the execution of this important work to a party which
is so deeply obligated to the highly protected interests as is the Re
publican party. We call attention to the significant fact that the
promised relief was postponed until after the coming election an
election to succeed in which, the Republican party must have the
same support from the beneficiaries of the high protective tariff as
it has always heretofore received from them; and to the further fact
that during years of uninterrupted power, no action whatever has
been taken by the Republican congress to correct the admittedly
existing tariff iniquities.
"We favor immediate revision of the tariff by the reduction of
import duties. . Articles entering into competition with trust-con
trolled products shouldbe placed upon the free list; material reduc
tions should be made in the tariff upon the necessities of life, espe
cially upon articles competing with such American manufactures
as are sold abroad more cheaply than at home ; and gradual reduc
tions should be made in such other schedules as may be necessary
to restore the tariff to a revenue basis.
"Existing duties have given the manufacturers of paper a shelter
behind which they have organized combinations to raise the price
of pulp and paper, thus imposing a tax upon the spread of knowl
edge. "We demand the immediate repeal of the tariff on wood pulp,
print paper, lumber, timber and logs, and that these articles ba
placed upon the free list."
The Republican platform says:
"The Republican party declares unequivocally for a revision 'of
the tariff by a special session of congress immediately following the
inauguration of the next president and commends the steps already
taken to this end in the work assigned to the appropriate commit
tees of congress, which are now investigating the operation and effeot
of existing schedules. In all tariff legislation the true principle of
protection is best maintained by the imposition of such duties as
will equal the difference between Ijjie cost of production at home and
abroad, together with a reasonable profit to American industries.
"We favor the establishment of maximum and minimum rates to
be administered by the president under limitations fixed in the law,
the maximum to be available to meet discriminations by foreign
countries against American goods entering their markets and the
minimum to represent the normal measure of protection at homt;
the aim and purpose of the Republican policy being not only to jre
serve, without excessive duties, that security against foreign conv
petition to which American manufacturers, farmers and producers
are entitled, but also to maintain the high standard of living of the
wage earners of this country, who are the most direct beneficiaries
of the protective system.
"Between the United States and the Philippines, we believe in a
free interchange of products, with such limitations as to sugar and
tobacco as will afford adequate protection to domestic interests."
Secretary Taft refers to this subject briefly in his notification
speech only briefly but as. I sliall quote such passages from his
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