And State Papers 613 



of the tariff as a means of reaching the evils of the 

 trusts which fall within the category I have de- 

 scribed. Not merely would this be wholly ineffec- 

 tive, but the diversion of our efforts in such a di- 

 rection would mean the abandonment of all intelli- 

 gent attempt to do away with these evils. Many of 

 the largest corporations, many of those which should 

 certainly be included in any proper scheme of regu- 

 lation, would not be affected in the slightest degree 

 by a change in the tariff, save as such change inter- 

 fered with the general prosperity of the country. 

 The only relation of the tariff to big corporations as 

 a whole is that the tariff makes manufactures profit- 

 able, and the tariff remedy proposed would be in 

 effect simply to make manufactures unprofitable. To 

 remove the tariff as a punitive measure directed 

 against trusts would inevitably result in ruin to the 

 weaker competitors who are struggling against 

 them. Our aim should be not by unwise tariff 

 changes to give foreign products the advantage over 

 domestic products, but by proper regulation to give 

 domestic competition a fair chance; and this end 

 can not be reached by any tariff changes which 

 would affect unfavorably all domestic competitors, 

 good and bad alike. The question of regulation of 

 the trusts stands apart from the question of tariff 

 revision. 



Stability of economic policy must always be the 

 prime economic need of this country. This stability 

 should not be fossilization. The country has acqui- 

 esced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. 



