Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1908 — PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IS COMMITTED TO PROTECTION. [ARTICLE]

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IS COMMITTED TO PROTECTION.

Deprecates Hasty Revision and’ Ad- ' vocates Minimum Tariff that Shall Be Adequately Protective. On the subject of tariff revision the President In his annual message if December 3 recognizes unqualifiedly the fact that protection has been installed as the permanent |>olley of the United States. Moreover, ihe records his full acceptance of the proposition that there must always be in such an economic system a stable minimum tariff adequate alike for the purposes of revenue and for the protection of American labor and industry against the unfair competition of lower foreign payrolls. Protectionists will welcome this plain declaration regarding two points of cardinal consequence—first, the permanent cy of protection as a national policy, and second, the maintenance of a fixed minimum tariff that shall at times be adequately protective and only subject to change by legislative action. Carried to a logical and necessary conclusion this Would completely 1 uegative the maxinnnn and minimum tariff plan of the advocates of reciprocity in competing products. It requires instead a minimum and a maximum tariff, if we are to go into dual tariffs for trading purposes.. The minimum shall, as in the case of Germany and France, provide adequate protection, while the maximum, again as in the case of Germany and France, shall operate as a penalty and a discrimination against the exports of countries refusing to grant their most favored tariff ratea to exports from the United States. This is sound protectionist doctrine. IMs also sound economically and commercially. The President says: “This country is definitely committed to the protective system and any effort tef uproot it could not hut cause widespread industrial disaster. In other words, the principle of the present tariff !aw could not with wisdom be changed. But in a country of such phenomenal growth as ours it is probably well tlfitt every dozen years or so the tariff laws should be carefully scrutinized so as to see that no excessive or Improper benefits are conferred thereby. that proper revenue Is provided and that our foreign trade is encouraged. There must al ways be Us a minimum a tariff which will not only allow for the collection of an ample revenue, but which will at least make good the difference' in cost of production, here and abroad; that is, the difference in the labor cost here and abroad, for the well being of the wageworker must ever be a cardinal point of American policy. The question should be approached purely from a business stanch point; both the time and the manner* of the change being such as to arouse, the minimum of agitation and disturbance in the business world, and to give the least play fob selfish anil factional motives. The sole consideration- should be to see that the sum total of changes represents the public good. 'Phtenneany that the subject cannot with wisdom be dealt with In the year preceding a presidential election, because ns a flatter of fact experience has conclusively shown that at such a time it is impossible to get men* to treat It from ilie standpoint of the public good. In my judgment the wise time’'to deal with the matter is immediately,, after gugfar election.!* .i." As to the prpper time for tariff revision that is and must remain a matter of individual judgment. Most certain of all things is the fact that the present would be the worst possible Pure for tariff disturbance. Too much has already been done along that line. I low to undo the mischief already dune, and not how to do more, should be the. study of the day.—American Economist. ■ ... - - For the Farmer** Benefit. Those who are crying out against the tariff laws and say that the farmers are not g«Ong the benefits of protection, should look over the records of the past, and see If there ever was a period when the farmer in this countiry got so rnuc-h for his produce ns within the past ten years. With 7,000 millions of produce to the credit of agriculture this year. It is a good time for those who dig wealth from the ground to look closely ipto the matter and see what part tlie'yroteetlve policy of the Republican party has taken In securing remunerative prices. In the interest of his own financial prosperity let the farmer lay aside any consideration of the partisan view, and do a little flguron the problem of the conditions changed, so that his products would be seeking a market In foreign countries to feed the poorly paid working men there, instead of at home to better paid and better fed and clothed- workingmen.—Mtilhall (Okla.) Enterprise. x .] ' Merely Pontponed. I The fact that the annual message to Congress embodies no recommendation either for such a modification of customs administration as would give a 10 per cent leeway .for undervaluation without penalties or for a “comprehensive pommercia 1 ; treaty"—that Is, a treaty embodying tariff reductions on competitive products of all kinds —does not indicate a policy of non-action on the part of the President. By the terms of the German tariff trade agreement the President is obliged to urge upon Congress both of these recommendations. Failure to do so would violate the compact. The matter is only postponed temporarily. It will come up later in the form of special messages