Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-15
TIE TARIFF COMMISSION.

The Senate bill for Tariff Commission,
just reported from the Finance Committee
by Senator Bayard, may prove very i'm
portant and beneficial measure, if it is
fairly and impartially carried out. 1t pro-
vides for Commission of nine members,
to be appointed from civil life by the Pres
ident, with the advice of the Senate, the
President himself being member The
Commission is instructed and empowered
to consider all classes of questions in
evolved necessary to establish a judicious
tariff in justice to al interests, and it
may visit all parts of the country, and
must report to Congress not later than
December Sth. 1t is evident that the use
fitness of such Commission must depend
almost entirely upon the character of its
members, and until the Presidents appoint
ments are made it will therefore be i'm
possible to determine what is to be ex-
pected from its labors. The ordinary
political course in such a case would be to
select four Free Traders and four Protec-
tionists. This the politicians would regard
as giving all interests can equal show, +"
and as matter of course it would result
in the failure of the experiment. There
are some men whose ability and experience
IN fiscal and economic matters would natu-
rally point them out as the most eligible
members of such Commission, but we
fear it is almost too much to expect that
the Senate would accept their appoint
ment OF these, such names as Daniel A.
Wells, J. S. Moore, Professor Sumner,
General Walker, Horace White, Professor
Sturtevant, Simon Stern, etc., suggest
themselves as being eminently appropriate
selections. With men of this caliber in
the Commission the country might at least
rely upon securing full and clear demon
stration of the nature and extent of the
evils, abuses and drawbacks which proceed
from the present tariff. There is some
ground for hope in the fact that by the
terms of the bill the President is left free to
eschew politicians entirely in his selections,
and if the Senate had only kept its hands
off the Commission altogether, perhaps the
attempt would have been made to secure
really good Board 1t may, however,
be doubted whether mistake has not
been made in requiring report from
the Commission at so early a date.
There are at present more than two
thousand articles on the tariff, and
it will be necessary to take all of thes
articles into careful consideration to as
certain their commercial relations, their
uses in the manufactures or arts, their
cost, their scarcity or abundance, the indi-
rect effect of taxes levied on them, upon
other articles, and so forth, through long
and complicated course of inquiry. The
difficulties of the task to which the Com
mission must address itself are naturally
very great, because of the complex ramifi-
cations and relations of almost all articles
used in commerce, and to these difficulties
must be added the equally great ones aris-
ing from conflicting interests and conse-
quent misrepresentation. Certainly year
would not have been too long a time to
give the Commission for its work, and we
do not think that it can possibly report
exhaustively upon the whole tariff in a
shorter period.