They did,
however, subscribe freely to a campaign when the issue was Protection
_versus_ Free Trade.
The duties upon steel were successively reduced, with my cordial
support, until the twenty-eight dollars duty on rails became only one
fourth or seven dollars per ton. [To-day (1911) the duty is only about
one half of that, and even that should go in the next revision.] The
effort of President Cleveland to pass a more drastic new tariff was
interesting. It cut too deep in many places and its passage would have
injured more than one manufacture. I was called to Washington, and
tried to modify and, as I believe, improve, the Wilson Bill. Senator
Gorman, Democratic leader of the Senate, Governor Flower of New York,
and a number of the ablest Democrats were as sound protectionists in
moderation as I was. Several of these were disposed to oppose the
Wilson Bill as being unnecessarily severe and certain to cripple some
of our domestic industries. Senator Gorman said to me he wished as
little as I did to injure any home producer, and he thought his
colleagues had confidence in and would be guided by me as to iron and
steel rates, provided that large reductions were made and that the
Republican Senators would stand unitedly for a bill of that character.
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