But the issue was there deep in men’s minds; something oppressive, puzzling, and complicated, but not to be avoided for that reason. So strong and genuine was this popular conviction that the Republican party was forced in 1908 to declare for a downward revision of the tariff, and because of that declaration chiefly, it was able to elect its candidate for the presidency, William H. Taft. CHAPTER XII THE MAKING OF THE BILL OF 1909 No one can study the drift of public opinion in each of the great agitations of the tariff question in the last fifty years without realizing that at least nine-tenths of the people have stood only for such duties as would produce needed revenue and would give industries which were trying to prove their ability to exist in the United States, protection through a limited period. But when it came to the point the people have never had such duties. To those familiar with the methods of tariff-making which have prevailed over this half-century, it was obvious that the bill of 1909 would result as had the bills of 1883, of 1890, of 1894, and of 1897. There were optimists who said that this could not be. This time the “voice of the people” was too clear, this time the game was too apparent. But the game was no more clear and “the voice of the people” no louder than in other years. The preparatory work for the bill was preceded as always by long months of “Hearings.” The absurdity of this method of seeking facts on which to frame a bill would be obvious enough if the country had not grown so accustomed to it. The reports published of the hearings before the Ways and Means Committee for the last bill cover something over 8725 pages. It is unbelievable that any serious body of men would consent to sit day after day to listen to such a conglomeration of narrow and selfish notions of what the witnesses’ personal enterprises need to help them along—much less consent to print them at public expense. White-haired men came to repeat the pleas that we heard in war times—sons repeated the jargon they had learned from their fathers. And never has the “infant industry” argument been more alive. All sorts of little trades sought help; for instance, from New York State came a cry for duty on basket willows; the suppliant (a woman) complained that she was obliged to compete with foreign-grown willows sent into the country by the shipload and sold far below what willows can be grown for in this country. From Virginia came a cry that mountain ivy root for making pipes be protected from the competition of brier wood. There were many more industries like these which in the nature of the case could affect but a small number of people that asked that the whole country be taxed that they be taken care of. There has never been a completer demonstration of how general the notion has become that no matter how few are benefited by a duty, it is fair to ask