Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1905 — MERRY WAR PROBABLE [ARTICLE]

MERRY WAR PROBABLE

Tariff Sure to Bring Division to Republican Ranks. ACTION OP CANAL COMMISSION. Worst Blow the Protection Element Has Received In Year.—Stand Pat Crowd An acred Over Expoae ot Tariff-Robber Prices In Connection With tbe Panama Enterprise. The sorrows that have fallen upon the Republican camp these halcyon days of the verdant springtime have developed n condition which may have Important bearing upon the presidential aspirations of at least two eminent Republican leaders. That the Republican party Is badly Bplit up over the expose of tariff robber prices in connection with the Panama canal enterprise there can be no question. The announcement that in the absence of positive action to the contrary by congress the canal commission will make its purchases in the markets of the world, thus forcing American manufacturers to meet competition from abroad, has proved the worst blow the high tariff element has received in years, and that such a blow should have been delivered by a Republican administration has made the stand pat crowd howl out loud and threaten dire things. There are wheels within the administration wheels, all of them more or less political. Immediately the old tariff leaders like Uncle Joe Cannon, General Grosvenor and John Dalzell gave evidence of resentment toward the action of the canal commission and the administration, our old friend Leslie M. Shaw, secretary of the treasury and foxy politician of the lowa stripe, thought he saw his chance. He has been quietly nursing a presidential boom for many days. With the mighty Taft implicated In this “treason” to the blessed tariff wall, why was not this the chance of Uncle Leslie’s life? So he thought, and at once he Jumped to the fore as critic of the action of the “traitor” commission and the “traitor” secretary of war. Uncle Leslie began by repudiating the suggestion that President Roosevelt Indorsed this Panama business. Since It has been shown that the president himself approves the policy outlined by the commission and the secretary ot war, be has refrained from discussing bis chief in connection with it, but he Is none the less positive In the position he has taken against this “Iniquity” of taking from the trusts the opportunity to unload their products upon the canal builders at their fancy American prices. He believes thoroughly in the righteousness of this government’s paying the steel trust, to illustrate. $30,000,000 for machinery and materials which that benevolent organization would sell to foreigners at $20,000,000.

The secretary of the treasury sees ahead the possibility of securing for himself the hacking of that high protection element which would add to the tariff wall rather than substract from It, and he Is happy. He should not, however, heap congratulations upon himself too early in the game. It may not he as good politics as he now thinks to shove Mr. Taft Into the limelight as the representative of that sensible tariff revision policy Implied in the canal commission’s action. Mr. Taft Is a coy young thing who says he has no presidential aspirations, but sometimes a man who is uot anxious to Jump to the center of the stage is willing enough to be shoved there, and a presidential candidate who stands on a platform of good, sound, business sense is a dangerous opponent even inside the Republican party. Tills tariff controversy Is sure to bring abopt serious divisions Inside Republican ranks. The stand patters will attempt to force the Republicans of congress to repudiate the action of the canal commission, and a merry war Is in prospect. This may overshadow the present division between the secretary of the treasury and the secretary of war, or it may operate to push these gentlemen to the tore as leaders of the two factions in the great scramble for the Republican presidential nomination. Just now, however, this Shaw-Taft division Is the biggest thing of its kind In sight, and we strongly incline to the opinion that the American people are with Secretary Taft.—Atlanta Constitution.