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ill sorts of manufactures, whether cloths or
Nothings or anything else containing a trace
f wool, must bo weighed up under its benign
rovisions. If it oporated merely to amx ex
cessive rates to articles not entitled to them, it
rould bo bad enough: but it operates also to
rine our protective tariff system into ridicule
ind contempt. Why should a fur coat, with a
Jotton lining or no lining at all, bo assessed 50
or cent ad valorem, while with ?2 worth of
rooljining it takes 44 cents per pound and GO
er cent ad valorem? But that is not an ex
treme case. I spoke the other day of a cotton
)lanket, with a fringe of wool to prevent un-
ivelling. received hospitably at the customs
louse and solemnly charged up with the specific
lompensatory calculated a generation ago for
roolen goods, but that Is not an extreme case.
Rubber Boots as Wool
We have in the United States an interesting
Institution engaged in the manufacture of rub
ber goods, advertising in the Boston newspapers
mt it absolutely controls the business, as a
jlgn of good credit, so that people in dealing
rith it will have confidence and persons who
ire purchasing stock will not be without faith
in the enterprise. I notice that in this bill they
:have enjoyed a slight accretion of duty from 30
Fper cent to 35 per cent. But I am not going
o complain about that, because I have not gone
into the practical aspect of the subject. How
ever, the curious thing about it is that through
Out a large list of their merchandise they enjoy
protection which congress in its simplicity
thought it was extending to clothing made of
iWool.
It will interest most people to know that the
gum boots with which the farmers of America
fire wading around in the snows of winter
I are lined usually with wool, and that when a
box of them appears at a port of the United
(Jtates they are not troubled by the 30 per
cent duty on manufactures of rubber. Why?
fir Because they are otherwise provided for. How?
This law which we refuse to even look at with
a view of correcting errors and absurdities trans
fers this merchandise bodily to paragraphs in
tended to protect woolen clothing, and we see
the fine vaudeville sketch of a pair of rubber
boots being solemnly weighed up in the custom
houses of the United States and assessed at 44
cents a pound and 60 per cent ad valorem as
.wearing apparel composed in whole or in part
of wool.
This process of mercorization is exactly like
washing your hands of course you lose a little
in weight.
A Challenge to an Expert
Now, I want somebody I do not care who
to stand on this floor and tell me upon whose
expert knowledge a protective tariff of one
pent, which in many of these cases amounts to
200 per cent and in all of them amounts to 100
per cent, was put on this simple process of mer
cerizing cloth. I want to see again whose
expert knowledge of weaving and finishing cot
ton is behind that proposition. I think I know
him; but I have resolved to bring no more per
sonalities into this controversy. If, however,
these people had contented themselves with
charging a cent on the mercerization of cloth, I
am not certain that I would have been wearying
the senate with this recital here today.
But mark the sagacity of these brethren, not
of the committee; I do not lay these things to
their charge. They are engaged, by the aid
of hired experts, in having their own bill ex
plained to them in and around the capitol of
the United States.
If you will turn to the little schedule of lead
pencils you will find that a group of lead pencil
manufacturers, annoyed by some young German
boys who are trying to make lead pencils by
importing the lead from foreign countries under
the present rate of duty, have had their present
ad valorem converted into a specific which when
stated in plain terms amounts to an increase of
700 per cent or more on the merchandise and
totally wipes out of existence independent man
ufacturers of cheap lead pencils who are selling
them to school children of the United States
for a cent apiece in our market place.
I spoke years ago in the senate chamber on
the subject of the protective tariff system and
the speculative trusts. Very few listened to
what I said, and I never have met anybody since
who appeared to have had any familiarity with
the literature which that speech created. And
yet it is some satisfaction for me to know It
laid down some broad principles and some sound
principles, and among them this that no trust
can master jthis market place in the present state
of American enterprise and the present abun-
The Commoner.
danco of American capital without first monopo
lizing the raw material with which business must
bo transacted. I havo felt over since that a
wiso thing for the senato to do is not to put
trust-made goods on the freo list, a remedy
which would fall equally upon the just and the
unjust, and instead of killing tho trust would
be more likely to kill the struggling competitors
and turn tho entire domestic business over to
tho trust, or, if not, would at least sacrifice
American labor, which must bo entitled to our
consideration, whatever may bo tho offenses of
American capital against our policy and our
laws.
An Impressivo Warning
Therefore I think wo ought to tako these
great materials that lie at tho basis of our
productive industries, which are monopolized
by corporations organized for that purpose, and
give to tho young men of the United States In
the next generation a free hand in these matters.
It is not possible that all our iron and steel is
to be made by one corporation. It Is not fair
to the next generation and it is no improvement
on the business methods of the past. It Is not
right that any great department of Industry
should be brought into one hand, whether in
dividual or corporate, and therefore I should
like to have tho senate study the question of
putting within reach of tho young men of tho
United States these great resources, and say to
them, "Go into these enterprises, and wherever
you find yourself constrained in tho purchase
of your material we will give you relief," so
that in no generation shall it bo said that a
single corporation owns and controls the basic
materials that underlie the Industries of tho
American people.
I do not expect, however, to get such a phil
osophy of life as that into this bill. In fact
I might as well confess it I do not expect to
be able to do more than to state tho case; but
I warn these men who are among those respon
sible for the policy of tho republican party that
If they desire an agitation in the United States
to begin tho day the bill passes and to bo car
ried on until these wrongs and injuries are rec
tified, there is no shorter course to that end than .
that which has been pursued in connection with
tho measure now before us.
Mil. TAFT TAKES HIS STAND
That President Taft not merely means to de-
sert but has in fact already deserted tho friends
of the income tax Is made reasonably certain
by tho recent reports from Washington.
On April 21 the Now York Tribune, chief, as
always, of tho administration cuckoo papers,
published prominently a Washington dispatch
from which these excerpts are taken:
"The president indicated to some of his callers
today that the senate substitute for the Payne
tariff bill met with his approval, that he was not
disposed to urge the adoption of any form of
special taxation. President Taft said that
while he was not opposed to an income tax per
se, he would distinctly favor two other forms
of taxation as preferable, and would regard a tax
on incomes as a last expedient. Ho ad
mitted that he had cherished some regard for
an income tax, but that he had come to regard
it as injudicious legislation, except as a last
resort. Those who have discussed tho
Aldrich bill with the president believe that ho
has been completely won over by tho arguments
of the chairman of the finance committee and
that he will lend his influence, so far as he
deems it proper to exert it, to tho adoption of
the measure by the senate and its acceptance
by the house."
On tho same day this carefully worded and
evidently authorized dispatch was carried by the
Associated Press:
"Washington, April 21. Recent agitation, It
is said at tho White House, has in no wise
changed President Taft's views that an income
tax should bo In tho nature of a last resort for
raising revenue for the national government.
The president announced when the Payne bill
was in the house that he favored the Inheritance
idea, an excise tax on the dividends of certain
corporations and tho application of a modified
stamp tax in preference to an Income levy. He
had reiterated this idea almost daily during tho
past few weeks In discussing the tariff with his
callers. The president believes an income tax
hardest to collect of all the special taxation de
vices under consideration and he favors the
levy of such taxes as will cause the least friction
with the people. President Taft, it Is said, has
implicit confidence in Senator Aldrich and be
lieves that a satisfactory solution of the tariff
question and of raising increased rovenuos soon
will bo reached."
It appears, therefore that Mr. Roosovclt'o
successor has taken his stand, definitely and de
cisively, exactly whore Mr. Bryan and tho demo
cratic party charged ho would in tho campaign
last fall. Ho has allied himself with tho Aldrich,
high-taTlff, corporation oloment of tho party and
against tho LaFollotte-Cummins progressive
element.
Ho "chorlshed somo regard for an Income
tax," as ho now cheerfully proclaims last fall,
when ho was a candidate for election! But now
that ho Is in ofllco, and tho responsibility is
beforo him; when tho opportunity is given him
to keep faith with tho people, ho "has come to
rogard It as Injudicious legislation, oxcopt as a
last resort!"
Similarly as to tho question of tariff revision.
When ho was a candidato for oloctlou ho de
fined tariff revision as promised In his platform
to mean "on tho whole, revision downward."
But now that ho is In ofllco, ho Is satisfied
with tho Aldrich bill, which, according to tho
statement of Senator Aldrich himself In his open
ing speech, would have raised $8, 000,000 moro
revenue applied to the importations of 1907,
than were raised under tho DIngley law! Presi
dent Taft now stands, thorefore, not for revi
sion downward, but for revision upward. Ho
stands not for an income tax, to place on wealth
a portion at least of Its Just share of the burdons
of government, but for an increased direct tariff
tax on consumption which is to say, a tax on
poverty!
Tho republican party, from tho president
downward, is engaged in a doliborato and shame
less breach of faith with tho people. It prom
ised a special session of congress, not to raiso
moro rovenues by higher taxation, but to revise
tho tariff downward. It is doing that which no
body asked, and refusing to do that which was
promised. It is meeting tho widespread com
plaint against tho enormities of tho Dingloy law
with a' tariff bill which makes them moro, not
less, outrageous.
Tho tariff is being "revised by its friends."
It is as If tho criminal codo should bo revised
by tho Amalgamated Association of Professional
Lawbreakers. For the friends of tho tariff are
thoso whom tho tariff gives permission, under
form of the law, to rob andoppress their follow
citizens. Omaha World-Horald.
EVEN THE NEW YORK SUN IS AMAZED
The following editorial is from the New York
Sun:
In a speech delivered on the floor of tho house
on March-26 Representative Fordnoy of Mich--igan
made tho following statement:
"Our present good president, Mr. Taft, has
agreed In my presence that during his adminis
tration he will not permit, as far as ho can
avoid It by his action, any further reduction In
the sugar schedule if wo (presumably referring
to tho domestic beet sugar interests) will accept
this agreement and lot the 300,000 tons come
in free from tho Philippines."
Were this statement less explicit, or had 'it
been made in private conversation, there would
be a strong Impulse to declare it incredible and
impossible. It Is little short of inconceivable
that Mr. Taft, either before or after his inaugu
ration, should pledge his ofllcial Influence during
his administration to a policy designed to pre
vent any reduction In the price of one of the
most important articles of daily use and con
sumption in every household, in order to obtain
for the Filipinos a fraction of what should be a
moral obligation. The tariff Increases the-prlce
of sugar to consumers by approximately one and
a half cents a pound on the nearly 7,000,000,000
pounds annually consumed In this country. A
reduction of half a cent a pound would put
about $35,000,000 a year in the pockets of con
sumers. A reduction of a cent a pound would
double the benefit. Is it conceivable that such
a possible advantage has been bartered in order
to afford tho Filipinos a market for a limited
quantity of sugar, a market which should bo
given them as a matter of right?
Surely there is some explanation for so as
tounding a statement. If such a trade as that
reported by Mr. Fordney had been made, nothing
would remain to be said except that the trans
action was indefensible in law and In morals.
New York Sun.
Reader: Yes, the republican party Is to blame
for the late spring. It Is due to the coldness
that has developed between the Aldrich-Payne
protectionists and the tariff reform element of
the party. The peach crop might have been
saved if the freeze had come about election time.
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