creancy. Nothing should intervene to distract our attention
or disturb our effort until this reform is accomplished by wise and
careful legislation.

While we should stanchly adhere to the principle that only the necessity
of revenue justifies the imposition of tariff duties and other Federal
taxation and that they should be limited by strict economy, we can not
close our eyes to the fact that conditions have grown up among us which
in justice and fairness call for discriminating care in the distribution
of such duties and taxation as the emergencies of our Government
actually demand.

Manifestly if we are to aid the people directly through tariff reform,
one of its most obvious features should be a reduction in present tariff
charges upon the necessaries of life. The benefits of such a reduction
would be palpable and substantial, seen and felt by thousands who would
be better fed and better clothed and better sheltered. These gifts
should be the willing benefactions of a Government whose highest
function is the promotion of the welfare of the people.

Not less closely related to our people's prosperity and well-being is
the removal of restrictions upon the importation of the raw materials
necessary to our manufactures. The world should be open to our national
ingenuity and enterprise. This can not be while Federal legislation
through the imposition of high tariff forbids to American manufacturers
as cheap materials as those used by their competitors. It is quite
obvious that the enhancement of the price of our manufactured products
resulting from this policy not only confines the market for these
products within our own borders, to the direct disadvantage of our
manufacturers, but also increases their cost to our citizens.

The interests of labor are certainly, though indirectly, involved in
this feature of our tariff system. The sharp competition and active
struggle among our manufacturers to supply the limited demand for their
goods soon fill the narrow market to which they are confined. Then
follows a suspension of work in mills and factories, a discharge of
employees, and distress in the homes of our workingmen.

Even if the often-disproved assertion could be made good that a lower
rate of wages would result from free raw materials and low tariff
duties, the intelligence of our workmen leads them quickly to discover
that their steady employment, permitted by free raw materials, is the
most important factor in