Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1908 — “May Be Reduced Fifty Per Cent.” [ARTICLE]

“May Be Reduced Fifty Per Cent.”

On August 23, 1907, Mr. H. E. Miles, chairman of the tariff committee of the National Association of Manufacturers, w rote to Senator Foraker a letter in which Mr. Miles said: "About forty per cent of all the members of our association who have by correspondence pronounced for revision declare in their letters that their own schedules MAY PROPERLY BE REDUCED FIFTY PER CENT OR MORE WITHOUT HURT TO THEIR RESPECTIVE INDUSTRIES OR TO THE COUNTRY AT LARGE.” How exorbitant must be this precious tariff fostered by the Republican party when even forty per cent of its beneficiaries, frightened by the rising tide of public sentiment, admit that their own schedules “may properly be reduced fifty per cent or more without hurt to their respective industries, or to the country at large.” If the common every-day experience of the consumers is not sufficient to awaken Republican voters to ( the iniquity of the existing tariff system, surely the confession in the letter referred to ought at least to challenge attention and invite thoughtful investigation. r . ..■/ ' 1