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Show TAFT ALMS I FOR REVISION, I SAiyiLLES I National Republican Commit-tee Commit-tee Chairman Reviews Presi-dent's Presi-dent's Consistent Record . Jt Upon Tariff Legislation. BLAMES DEMOCRATS H FOR BLOCKING PLANS ' H Declares Wilson Would De-stroy De-stroy Protective Principle, and Roosevelt Overthrow the Constitution. By CHARLES D. HLLLES. H Chairman National Republican Com- mittee. IH By International News Service. 1 TEW TOEK, Sept. 17. Shall we I uphold the constitution and the protective policy J These are the two important issues of thin j campaign, the two which are gradually ' jH forcing themselves on the attention oil tho American peoplo. Theodora 32oosc M volt stands for what amounts to an overthrow of the constitution, and Woodrow Wilson would destroy the pro- IH tective tariff policy under which tho United States has so greatly prospered and attained to a wealth and im IH portanue undreamed of a fair decadel IH President Taft is both a "protection- '!H ist and revisionist. He was the first leadiug Republican to declare for a thorough revision of tho tariff schedule. This he did at Bath, Me., two years before he was nominat6d for tho presi dency. Taft for Revision. President Poosevclt, who read Mr i Taft-'s speech before it waa delivered, warned him that ho was treading on delicato ground, and that ho would jH make a host of. oneraios, but with that jH fearlessuess which has always charao '1 torized him whero matters of prin-ciplo prin-ciplo are concerned, Mr. Taft delivered an address in which he expressed his exact sentiments and braved tho ani-moaity ani-moaity of the "slandpat" element of his party. fl During the seven yoara of his ad-ministration ad-ministration Air. Roosevelt remained si-lent si-lent on the subject of the tariff. 1 On tho one occasion when he became convinced that it was his duly to nrgo congress to revise tbo Bingloy law and 'M inserted in an annual message a prom-iso prom-iso of a special message on tho subjoct, Mr. Eoosevelt's friends in congress went (o the White house and pointed out tho danger to his popularity of attempt- 1 ing to change the duties, and Mr. Poose-volt Poose-volt promptly caused to bo stricken from his message which had been printed but not yet published, tho pas-sage pas-sage reforriug io tho tariff. jH Found Needs Conflicting. No sooner had Mr. Taft been inaugu- JM rated president than he oalled congress , in special session to revise tbe tariff and during the consideration of the measure framed at that session, all jJ his influence was exerted to secure I an equitable adjustment of the rates. But during that session Mr. Taft j found that it was impossible to se-euro se-euro a just or a satisfactory revision of the tariff without definite and im-partial im-partial information on which to base ' such revision. He found the widest differences of opinion as to what con- , stitutcd tho differences between the cost of production at homo and abroad, , jH to which difference the Republican I party was pledged to mako the duties conform, and whatever might be his personal viowa he had no proof, no ' unquestioned ovidenco by which to prove his contentions. j jH Board Studies Question. The great essential, therefore, the president determined, was to provide n board or commission, bipartisan in character, if possible, as freo from poli-tics poli-tics as possible, which would tako up t the industries which enjoy protection, investigate the cost of production here jH and abroad, and report both to the a president and to congress that differ- I enco, in tonus which would make evi- j dent the rates of duty which should be impoaod. And for the foundation of f , -H such a board tho Payne tariff bill pro- ' (Continued oa Pago Ninfc). !' : REVIEWS PRESIDENTS POSITM OH TARIFF (Continued Prom Pago Ono.) vided for that, roasoueaDovo all others, the president, signod it. Tho correctness of I113 viowe in thia respect has boon amply t demonstrated by tho Democratic attempts to revise the tariff during tho last two sessions. ses-sions. Democratic Mistakes. Tariff bills, framed by the old log rolling methods, would "havo reduced tho duties in many instances to ;i point which would havo destroyed the industries in-dustries affected. And yet other reductions re-ductions which could easily havo been mado in tho interests of the consumers wero overlooked entiroly, Democratic senators from cotton manufacturing states sought to roduco tho duty on certain bleaching powders by 2o per cent. The bill thoy passed increased the duty -10 per cent. In;tho cotton bill passed by the Democrats in the houso and a coalition of Democrats Demo-crats and insurgents in the senate, although al-though tho measure was designed to make swooping reductions, the Democrats Demo-crats in their ignoranco had inserted provisions which would havo incroasod various duties nil the way from 5 to 100 per cent. The Wool Bill. The wool bill, passed In the same way, provided for an Incrcaso of the dvity on carpet wools of 10 per cent and yot tho tariff board had shown conclusively that this was the ono class of wools on which the greatest reduction should be made; and that, moreover, a reduction on carpet car-pet wools would actually stimulate the use of other fine wools and benefit the woolgrower and the manufacturer, besides be-sides giving tho consumer cheaper carpets. car-pets. Can any sane man blamo President Taft for promptly vetoing such tariff hills as those? The tariff should be revised gradually to meet changing conditions. To whom would you entrust tho task? To Mr. "Wilson, who stands on a platform plat-form which declares that any tariff imposed im-posed for protective purposes Is unconstitutional uncon-stitutional and whose party mado a hodge-podge of the tariff bills It passed through the house during the present congress; to Theodore Roosevelt, who during dur-ing his more than seven years In tho White houso never had the courage to urge congress to revise the tariff, or to William H. Taft. who stood courageously and undevlatlngly for the protective tariff, tar-iff, a tariff board which would ascertain tho exact difference between the actual cost of production at home and abroad and who with the reports of such a board and a congress Republican ln both Its branches would compel a readjustment readjust-ment of the duties to those differences? Congressional Obstacle. And do not forget that during the first congress of his administration President Taft secured the authority to appoint a tariff board, or commission, and set it to working. Had the voters given him a Republican house In the second congress con-gress of IiIh administration he would before be-fore now have accomplished a revision of all tho more Important schedules ln accordance with the platform of the Republican Re-publican party. |