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Show It ' ' WOOLEN INDUSTRY CONDEMNED. Ill ' The tariff board has made its report on "Schedule K" and Brill ' Present afc nas scnt message to congress recommending a re-frj re-frj duction in the duties on wool and woolen goods, ft I Tho tariff board fails to present any facts that were not known Ht I when Taft vetoe(i tnc wo1 DU1 during the last session of congress? R' I and President Taft has added no new thoughts to the tariff dis- Hf Jfe cussion by virtue of his long delay. The whole proceedings, from ll 9 Taft's veto to the special message of Wednesday, is farcical and K Ir cannot be dignified as other than a play at politics. K ;'& " For forty years the woolen manufacturers of the United States Rf $ have had protection a prohibitive duty. Taft in his message declares HT ', that, after nearly half a century of fostering, the industry remains as Hj helpless as it was in the beginning in this country. Wo are told B- I by the President that this is one of the few industries in the United H States which can neither show efficiency in labor nor ingenuity in B1 V .p mechanical devices as compared with European manufacturers. H i '; If that be true, then to what purpose are the people of the H f United States being taxed? Is it industrial economy to build up B) manufacturing plants that must everlastingly depend on largesse? Be i' The pom-est paid workers in tho United States today are the men K V, and women employed in the woolen mills; and 3ret we are told those Hi men ahd women must get their pittance by virtue of the bounty of the H J ' JL American people. Blr ; President Taft either hides the truth as to real conditions in BJI. i' the woolen trade or his confession must be accepted as proof of the H '. absolute failure of the industry to be of l'eal benefit to the con-B. con-B. . '' sumeis of the United States. ,r B. There is no economic defense for the forcing of human energy fl along unnatural and wasteful lines of effort in a country open to B , vast development and expansions. As to the tariff on wool, western Bl' interests, of course, should be for a liberal duty so long as nearly Hlrj every article produced in tho East enjoys "protection." The West HEy iiGald not yield to the East on. protection until there is a general 1 scaling down of duties. It is not fair to make the West bear all the burden of yielding to the demand for tariff reform. |