And State Papers 299 



tides. Sweeping and violent changes in such a 

 tariff, touching so vitally the interests of all of us, 

 embracing agriculture, labor, manufactures, and 

 commerce, would be disastrous in any event, and 

 they would be fatal to our present well-being if 

 approached on the theory that the principle of the 

 protective tariff was to be abandoned. The business 

 world, that is, the entire American world, can not 

 afford, if it has any regard for its own welfare, 

 even to consider the advisability of abandoning the 

 present system. 



Yet, on the other hand, where the industrial con 

 ditions so frequently change, as with us must of 

 necessity be the case, it is a matter of prime im 

 portance that we should be able from time to time 

 to adapt our economic policy to the changed con 

 ditions. Our aim should be to preserve the policy 

 of a protective tariff, in which the Nation as a whole 

 has acquiesced, and yet wherever and whenever 

 necessary to change the duties in particular para 

 graphs or schedules as matters of legislative detail, 

 if such change is demanded by the interests of the 

 Nation as a whole. 



In making any readjustment there are certain 

 important considerations which can not be disre 

 garded. If *a tariff law has on the whole worked 

 well, and if business has prospered under it and is 

 prospering, it may be better to endure some in 

 conveniences and inequalities for a time than by 

 making changes to risk causing disturbance and 



