immigrants, and they should be
held to a strict accountability for any infraction of the law.

There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a
national policy. The first requisite to our prosperity is the continuity
and stability of this economic policy. Nothing could be more unwise than
to disturb the business interests of the country by any general tariff
change at this time. Doubt, apprehension, uncertainty are exactly what
we most wish to avoid in the interest of our commercial and material
well-being. Our experience in the past has shown that sweeping revisions
of the tariff are apt to produce conditions closely approaching panic
in the business world. Yet it is not only possible, but eminently
desirable, to combine with the stability of our economic system a
supplementary system of reciprocal benefit and obligation with other
nations. Such reciprocity is an incident and result of the firm
establishment and preservation of our present economic policy.
It was specially provided for in the present tariff law.

Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first
duty is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case
where it is needed is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for so
far as it can safely be done without injury to our home industries. Just
how far this is must be determined according to the individual case,
remembering always that every application of our tariff policy to meet
our shifting national needs must be conditioned upon the cardinal fact
that the duties must never be reduced below the point that will cover
the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being
of the wage-worker is a prime consideration of our entire policy of
economic legislation.

Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our
industrial well-being at home, the principle of reciprocity must command
our hearty support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade emphasizes
the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal policy in
dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is merely petty and vexatious
in the way of trade restrictions should be avoided. The customers to
whom we dispose of our surplus products in the long run, directly or
indirectly, purchase those surplus products by giving us something in
return. Their ability to purchase our products should as far as possible
be secured by so arranging our tariff as to enable us t