DR WILSON'S MESSAGE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1761, 28 May 1913, Page 4

DR WILSON'S MESSAGE.

TRADING PRIVILEGES MUST

BE ABOLISHED.

CHANGED CONDITIONS IN AMERICA. Washington, April 8. President Woodrow Wilson io-day read personally tlio following inessago 'o Congress on the subject of tho Tariff I am indeed to have this nppbrtunity to address tho two Houses directly, and to verify for myself tho impression that the President of tho United States is a person, and not a litero department of tho Government, hailing Congress l'rom somo isolated island <if jealous power, sending messages t.iul ppl speaking- naturally and with his own voice, that ho is a human bcinj; ti.vinj: to co-oporato with other human beings in common service. After this pleasant experience I shall feel quite normal in all our dealings with one another.

To Lighten the Pcoplo's Burden. I hnve called the Congress toKollicr in extrnordinnry session, because a I'ul.v was laid upon tlio party now in ]knvoi' nl (ho recont elections winch it ought to mTtonu promptly, in order that the burden carried by the people under existing law lnny bo lightened ns soon as possible, and ill order, also, that the business interests of tho country may not bo kept too long in suspense as to what tho fiscal clinnges are to be to which they will lie u-cjuired to adjust themselves. It is cleav to tho wholo country that the tariff duties must bo altered. They rn'ist be changed to meet tho radical nltero.tion in tlio conditions of our econoniic life which the country has witnessed within tho Inst generation. ' While tlio whole face and method of our industrial and commercial life were being changed beyond recognition, tho tariff schedules have remained what they wore before the change began,. or liavo moved in tho direction they were given when no large circumstance of our ndustrinl development was what it ".s to-day. Our task is to squnro them with the actual facts. Tho sooner that is done tlio sooner we shall escape from sunt ring from the facts, and. the sooner ovr men of business will bo free to thrive by tho law of nature (tho naturo of free business) instead of by the law of legislation and artificial arrangement,

"Protecting" Industries. Wo liavo seen tariff legislation wnn.der very far. afield in .our day very far indeed from the field in which our prosperity might have had a .normal growth and stimulation. No ono who looks tlio facts 'squarely in tho faco or knows anything that'lies beneath tho surface of action can fail to perceivo tho principles upon which tho recent tariff legislation has been, based. . Wo long ago passed beyond the modest notion of "protecting the industries of the country, ana moved boldly forward to the idea that they wero entitled to tho direct patronage 9f the Government. For a long time—a time so that tho men now active in public policy hardly remember tho conditions that preceded it—we liavo sought in our tariff schedules to give each group of manufacturers or producers what they themselves thought they needed in order to maintain a practically cxclusivo market as against tho rest of tho world. Consciously or unconsciously wo liavo built up' a sot of privileges and exemptions from competition behind which it was easy by any, even tlio crudest, forms of combination to organise monopoly; until at last nothing is' normal, nothing is obliged to stand tlio tests of efficiency and economy, in our world of big business, but everything thrives by concerted arrangement. Only now principles of action will sara us from a final hard crystallisation of monopoly and a complete loss of the influences that quicken enterprise and keep independent energy alive.

Privileges Must be Abolished. It is plain what those principles must be. Wo must abolish everything that bears oven the semblance of privilege or of any kind of artificial advantage, and put our business meu and producers under ,tho stimulation of a constant necessity to be efficient, economical,-and- enterprising, masters of competitive supremacy, bettor workers, and merchants than any in the world. Asfde from the duties laid upon articles , which we do not, and' probably cannot, produce, therefore, anil tho' duties, laid upon luxuries, and merely for tho sake of tho revenues they yield, tlio object of the'tariif duties henceforth loi 1 must be effective competition, the whetting of American wits by contests with tlio wits of the rest of the world.

It would be unwise to' move toward tliis ond headlong. with reckless haste, 'or with strokes that cut. at the very roots of what has grown up amongst us by long process and at our own invitation. It does not alter a thing to upset it and break' it, and deprive it of a chance to change. It destroys it. Wo must mako changes in our fiscal laws, in our fiscal system, whose object is development, a inoro freo ami wholesome riot revolution or upset or confusion. Wo must build up trade, especially foreign trade. We need tho outlet and tho enlarged. field of energy more than wo ever did before.

•Must be Greater Freedom. We must build up industry as well, and must adopt freedom in the place of artificial stimulation only so far as it will build, not pull down. In dealing with the 'tariff, the method <by which this may bo done will be a matter o.f judgment, exercised item by item. To some not accustomed to tho excitements -and responsibilities of greater freedom our methods may i.n some respects and at some points teem heroic, but remedies may bo heroic and yet be remedies. It is our business to make sure that they are genuine remedies. Our object is clear. If our motive is abovo just challenge, and only an occasional error of judgment is chargeable agai.ust us, wo shall be fortnna'te. Wo are called upon to render the country a great service iu more matters than oik'. Our responsibility should be met, and our mothods should be thorough. 93 thorough as moderate and well considered, i;a-;ed upon the facts as they are, and not worked out as if wo wero beginners. Wo are to deal with the facts of our own (lay, witli the facts of 110 other, and ,'to make laws which square with those facts, it is best, indeed it is necessary, to begin with the tariff. I will urgo nothing upon you now at the opening of your session wliich can obscure that first object or divert our energies from that clearly defined duty. At a later time I-may take the liberty of calling your attention to reforms which should press close upon tho licels of the tarifF changes, it' not accompany them, of which tho chief is 'the reform of our banking ond currency laws, but just .now I refrain. For the present I put these matters 011 ono side, and think (inly nf this one tiling—of the changes in our fiscal system which may • best serve to open o.nco more the free channels of prosperity to a great people, whom we would servo to the utmost and throughout both rank and file.