Mr. Roosevelt has been received enthusiastically in the States of
the Middle West during his speech-making tour. He has made three pronouncements which have caused extra- ordinary interest,—first, on the tariff ; secondly, on the fortification of the Panama Canal ; and thirdly, on conserva- tion. In the case of neither the tariff nor conservation did he say anything that could be embarrassing to Mr. Tan. After protesting on Thursday week against being called an Insurgent rather than a Progressive, he reached the tariff question last Saturday. He declared strongly, according to the Times correspondent, in favour of the Progressives' plan of revising the tariff gradually by sections. He praised Mr. Taft's handling of the problem, and agreed with him that the tariff is not bad, though it obviously needs modification. He further considered that the Government had done excellent work in "including Agreements with foreign countries under the maximum and minimum clause." This is the first time that Mr. Roosevelt has spoken on the tariff for some years. Throughout his Presidency he avoided the whole question. It has been said that the Republican Party would shatter itself on the tariff. At all events, whether Mr. Roosevelt is moving nearer to the Insurgent camp or not, there is evidently no quarrel between him and the President as to the tariff.
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